27/12/06
The Editor, AMANDALA
Sir,
What is it in Belize City with politicians and football fields, that they always seem compelled to destroy our earthen playgrounds in pursuit of some lofty goal, usually involving votes for the politician?
As one who grew up in an area of the City where there were no public playgrounds of any sort, I am especially sensitive on this issue, not just being sentimental about the illustrious past of one of our most renowned local educational institutions.
On West Canal Street between Water Lane and Regent Street West where I grew up, the streets and our little yard spaces had to become our neighborhood playgrounds until we were old enough to venture further distances. With today’s traffic it would be even more difficult for youngsters to use the streets for their outdoor “fun and games”. But I guess that is what some people in authority would prefer.
As a young “ball per” I have enjoyed playing football on playing fields that no longer exist. The Barracks, that used to have enough open area for two and sometimes even three football games at the same time, and where I used to train on teams like Diamond A and Charger, it was “saved” by politicians for progress with the Ramada, later changed to the Princess Hotel that now stands there. And the old BEC football field, on which I trained with my first senior team – ASC (Amateur Sporting Club), a fire station and some residential houses now sit on that hallowed ground.
And now Technical. For ten years in the eighties, while I was a member of Milpros Football Club, our team trained on the Technical football field. Then team captain, Egbert “Chana” Kisling, and a few other team members were Technical graduates and the principal, Owen Morrison, had given them permission to practice there. Technical field became our football home, and though I am a graduate of SJC, I came to appreciate the atmosphere and the spirit of Technical.
At the time I started training at Technical, there were two fields – the big one with the goalposts that is now prominent behind the wire fence and another smaller field to the west of the building that separated the two fields. Our junior team would be training on the small field while the big guys ran things on the big field. Eventually some piles were driven on the smaller field, so it was our understanding that this field would be sacrificed for another classroom building. The piles are still there, hidden under the high grass.
But now it is said that a building will be placed on the main football field.
Any encroachment on this football field means that it will not be an adequate field any more, as it is already a bit smaller than the FIFA regulation size.
Milpros had many battles with the football establishment over the years. On one occasion when the club went on strike, we gathered on the Technical field on a Sunday afternoon, and took a team picture in our uniforms in the middle of the field. Technical football field means something to a lot of people – past and present students, as well as footballers on the various Plaza teams that have trained there over the years.
The youths need to play. A healthy mind in a healthy body. They need more open spaces, not less. And not all of us are basketballers. Football is still the number one sport in Belize. It is time for our authorities to stop destroying football fields and figure out a better way to solve our building issues. Nobody is saying that there should not be an IT building: just find somewhere else to put it. I fully support the UB/Technical students in their stand to save the Technical football field. In fact, I would propose that the field be officially named the Technical Football Field as a historical monument to that once great institution.
Sincerely,
Charles X Hyde