October 22, 2022, Balmain, Couva: The Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) would like to set the facts straight with regards to a recent two man protest in front of the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella.
In the activity the two persons indicated that there is no activity at the venue and people are being forced to go as far as Port of Spain due to the perceived inconvenience. Currently the Marabella Stadium hosts ten different track clubs, a national U-17 boys’ team and even football fete matches. All of these groups have access by using our booking mechanism.
SporTT has a strict policy when it comes to use of venues. It has been reiterated many times in the past that persons seeking to use any of our managed facilities can go to the bookings page at www.sportt-tt.com or email the bookings department at [email protected]
This enables a better control and flow of activities and prevents conflicting schedules while allowing us the opportunity to provide cleaning services if needed before and after activities This included small, community related and large national, regional and international sporting and non-sporting events. While we may provide the occasional exemptions for fees affiliated to use, there is no exemption from the booking process.
SporTT can reliably state that in the past, one of the the two protesters has refused to comply with the the above-mentioned protocols which are for everyone.
With regards to the protester’s comment on the state of the facility, both the Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe and the Chairman of SporTT Douglas Camacho have stated on separate occasions that assessments of all facilities are currently being done to determine the refurbishment needs and develop the scope of works at the various facilities under SporTT’s remit.
Minister Cudjoe has also stated that a full refurbishment is preferred, rather than the patching of bits and pieces of these legacy facilities. Refurbishment works at the Mannie Ramjohn and Larry Gomes stadia will be addressed in fiscal 2023. However, the Ato Boldon and Dwight Yorke Stadia would be given priority in order to facilitate the Commonwealth Youth Games being hosted in Trinidad and Tobago in August 2023.
SporTT will continue to maintain all of the nationals (legacy facilities) and provide metered access to any person, with the obvious priority towards sporting activities once that party applies through the publicly available booking mechanisms.
***ENDS***
