The recently announced US$125 million (BZE $250 million) grant to Belize from the USA is a huge bonanza, almost like what landed in the laps of the new 2008 UDP government when the BNE oil started flowing, along with the continued blessing of the Petro Caribe project. Many have questioned how much good use was made of that largesse by the UDP administration. Now it is the PUP that have a huge financial package of “free money” to make an impact on the Belizean economy. According to information revealed in Thursday’s House meeting, the US- approved grant money is to be utilized in two areas: education and energy. It is to be surmised that, when our government representatives negotiated the grant with the Americans, they were asked to pinpoint the areas most in need of the cash infusion for development. At the least, our government agents must have had a golden opportunity to lobby strongly for the areas we found most needy.
Demonstrating how close is the perceived relation between sports and education, a couple years ago, on December 14, 2022, the Ministry of Education (MoEST) signed MOU’s with both the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) and the Belize Basketball Federation (BBF); and there have since been other MOU’s involving FIFA, the FFB, and both ministries of sports and education in Belize. There has not been much feedback on progress in those initiatives, although the National Sports Council continues to oversee football competitions for primary and secondary schools. Meanwhile, the current Minister of Sports, Hon. Rodwell Ferguson, has made public his commitment to do a major upgrading of facilities at the MCC Grounds “later this year”.
When the Belize National Basketball Team won Silver at the COCABA championships in Mexico in August of 2009, then prime minister Dean Barrow promised our basketballers “a first class basketball facility”, and following the commencement of works in 2015, the “state of the art” new Belize Civic Center was opened to the public in early 2018, having been built at a cost of around BZ$33 million. It was a huge investment, but already the social and economic impact on the community has been felt in hosting of international volleyball tournaments as well as an upscaled Belize Elite Basketball League, and it has also been utilized for major functions by a number of organizations.
It is almost a poetic “God send”, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the US, potentially to the rescue of the derelict MCC Grounds, named for its original donor, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) of the U.K. It is hard not to believe that some serious lobbying must have been done by Sports Minister Ferguson to have the MCC Grounds included in projects that were to be implemented as part of the recent BZE $250 million bonanza. It would not take $25 million for the dreams of Belize City football fans and generations of footballers across the country to be realized with such a historic undertaking.
The continued reluctance of the John Briceño administration to assign the MCC Grounds front burner status begs some questions, considering the fact Mr. Briceño himself was once a credible goalkeeper in Orange Walk football. There have been repeated reports over the years that FIFA is ready and willing to rebuild the MCC to international standards; all that they require from government is a 20-year lease from GoB to the Football Federation of Belize. Transferring title to the FFB may be posing some difficulty; but everything is possible with negotiation and understanding.
Well, if there was a problem with that FIFA proposal, now at last there is some money available, and GoB should have the latitude to include sports in education as a part of its priorities in Belize, and thus get some of these grant funds to give the nation’s population center a credible and respectable MCC Garden for the sport to thrive once again. Sports is big business in America, and they know the potential for economic impact with a first-class football facility.
When the veteran 1960’s star goalkeeper, Nelson “The Roo” Robinson retired in the U.S. and visited his old hometown a decade and a half ago, he was at the MCC to see the games before the field was temporarily closed for “renovation” in June of 2013. When another star goalkeeper from the 1970’s, Rupert “Canalete” Anderson, ailing after a heart operation, visited the Jewel a decade ago, he also came to the MCC to meet old friends of the sport. And when the severely ailing 1970’s star midfielder, Rudolph “Peru” Olivera returned home from L.A. in June of 2019, unfamiliar with the much changed Belize City landscape, it was to the MCC that Peru would go in the mid-mornings and spend some time alone just sitting on the empty weather-beaten bleachers and reminiscing on the events that once transpired on that MCC field where he was once a major star on the football stage.
The urgency of the situation can be underscored with a couple excerpts from an Amandala story on the first “Mugger Day” held at the Third World field in Belize City in September 2013 (Mugger had passed in June of that year):
“… the Third World field was temporarily blocked off yesterday afternoon by a congregation of relatives, friends and football fans and veterans who came to share in the festive occasion to honor the memory of perhaps Belize’s greatest football legend, Louis ‘Bembe, the Mugger’ Garbutt, who passed away in New York on June 28 of this year …”
Among those who shared their thoughts on the Mugger were “… Hilbert ‘Areas’ Craig, Bert Cattouse, Vincent ‘Winty J’ Johnson, and the Roo, who then exhorted everyone present to enjoy the rest of the evening – music, food and drinks were provided under a tent in the yard.”
It is noteworthy that all four mentioned above – Areas, Bert, Winty J, and the Roo – have since passed.
The Golden Generation of the 1960’s and 70’s are fast leaving us. Even some of our stars of the 80’s and 90’s have gone, though many are still around, and would be overjoyed to return to a newly rebuilt MCC Garden.
When our promising young players graduate from their Mundialitos at the Berger 5-a-side field, where will they go to join the legacy and the history of their forebear legends, if not to the MCC?
Whether it is FIFA money, or GoB money from this US grant funding, there is no more time to lose on this urgent matter. Otherwise, an MCC Project Trust Fund could be set up with clear guidelines and management structure, controlled by a board of reputable individuals including the FFB project manager appointed as overseer, and Belizeans will put their money where their hearts are, in getting the Garden back in condition as the Mecca of Belize football once again. Whichever way, just let’s do it!