Carole Beckford | Sporting clubs – reconnecting communities

Jamaica’s Summer Olympics pursuits will celebrate 80 years of attending the Games, come 2028. So much of who we are as a people comes from what our athletes from various sporting disciplines.

The nation will enter those Games with 94 medals overall.

The athletes all come from different communities across the island and post Games celebrations are done at the national level. But, more importantly, the community the particular athletes are from.

Because the Games are held every four years, there is a gap, which can be addressed if communities feel closer to the athletes who represent them. Track and field does a lot, but not enough.

FOOTBALL AND CRICKET

A significant spread of football and cricket teams is in communities across the length and breadth of Jamaica. There are 14 premier league football teams and 20 cricket clubs, all based in areas with access to large communities that could benefit mutually from support.

The Social Development Commission (SDC), the agency with responsibility for community development, should reorganise its effort to focus on how these teams can influence how these townships respond to the growth and development of these teams.

The SDC’s website states: The Social Development Commission (SDC) is the principal community organization agency working with Jamaica’s 775 communities. Positioned in the Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development, the SDC continues to execute its legal mandate to inter alia, “promote and control schemes for, and to do any act or thing which may directly or indirectly serve the advancement of – sport, social, cultural & economic development – for the people of Jamaica and workers in particular”(S7/1965).

The proposal is to coordinate, as part of its strategic output, a subscription process to galvanise support; but also to mobilise folks in the communities to feel a part of their respective teams.

Membership is one way to get involved. And the team’s constitution would have categories of membership to support its people involvement. A nominal fee is normally charged and that will give access to a copy of the by-laws, games schedules and any other event that the club may host on its calendar.

It can facilitate members to purchase team merchandise at reduced costs; and, at the more advanced stages, assigned tasks with the team that could include travel.

Most of these teams have a clubhouse where games are held and there are a number of ways to participate in the club’s activities for events.

VOLUNTEERING IS A GREAT START

Residents should be encouraged to become volunteers for a club, which is probably one of the best ways to get in. That can be anything from making sure the clubhouse is clean for matches, benches for home and away teams are ready; getting hydration for the teams, to even attending practice so you can meet the players and management. Volunteers may even have homework sessions at the clubhouse on assigned days. These activities are important to residents connecting with each other in the community.

CLUB MANAGEMENT

The management should reach out to the wider community via the schools – primary, high and college, church and the service clubs. Then, it is very important to know who the business people are. That kind of connection creates the network that will form the basis of your support for at least three seasons. This is hard work, as a database will have to be created so you know how to reach as many people as possible.

Engaging those close to you is important, and as many of the management team that can be a part of this should participate.

SOCIAL INVESTMENT

When you are from a community and its teams have people from the community with family in the community, you almost feel obligated to get involved. The incentive is when the team is doing well at whatever competitions and the community then gets a sense of growth and progress when this happens, over a consistent period of time.

The venue is primarily for the sport, but is also a space which the community can use appropriately for events. At this level, there are other ways to participate, either as a member of the team that is putting on the event or as a paying patron. If the venue is multi-faceted, that is more beneficial, as the income-generation potential is an attraction to other investors.

There are existing templates to this and these should be allowed to be used to reconnect the communities. The man/woman on the ground connects to a school, college, church and office; why not a sports club?

The SDC’s Operational Plan 2021 - 2025 speaks to “increasing community involvement” - the recommendation here is to use the sports network with football and cricket clubs as the centre of that process. Over the years, the sugar and bauxite companies were integral to this process. Most have scaled down but the network of football and cricket teams has the reach.

A three-year programme could be devised with an aim to ultimately support teams and the sporting disciplines for the Summer Olympic Games of 2028. Cricket has been added and, if Jamaica is able to qualify, then perhaps a few communities will be celebrating.

The investment of our people is critical to national development, so is the investment in sport.

Carole Beckford is an educator and sport marketing specialist. Send feedback to carolebeckford68@yahoo.com