We won’t say no!
That’s the word from chief executive officer of Kensington Oval Management Incorporated (KOMI), Henry Inniss, after the country’s most historic sporting venue successfully hosted three of the island’s largest events in the space of 14 days.
According to Inniss, the multi-million dollar facility continues to defy the odds, with its state of the art turf remaining virtually undamaged, after hosting the finals of the LIME/Pelican Football Challenge on Independence Day, the Hennessy Artistry reggae concert on December 3, and the championship match of the David Thompson Memorial Football Classic the next day.
“The turf has been worth its weight in gold,” Inniss told the DAILY NATION in an exclusive interview. “People may have been wondering what could have happened with so many people trampling over the field during those events, but it has more than held up. If it was normal grass it may not have held up, but that’s the way it is manufactured, to handle this kind of heavy workload.”
According to the CEO, the turf, which is sand-based, tends to firm up after rain, which makes it ever more resilient to under-foot damage.
“We did have a heavy dose of events in a very short time frame, but the rains also helped.
“People have to understand that this facility came at a high cost, and we can’t just leave it for Test cricket or international cricket events alone. We are here to make money, and that’s why a modern, state-of-the-art facility was built in the first place.
“Kensington Oval will remain a multi-purpose facility, and we have to be creative in how we market it as just that,” Inniss added.
The CEO noted that preparing the turf for the recent three events was not a major challenge in spite of the short time frames involved.
Inniss said the turf did sustain some wear and tear after the Cohobblopot show in August, but was back to its pristine condition in less than a month.
“This is the way forward for us. We can’t say no anymore. This is what a multi-purpose facility is supposed to provide.”
And it is not over by any means, as the Oval will be in serious use again this weekend.
The first semi-final of the Barbados Cricket Association’s Sagicor Twenty20 tournament will be held there tonight, the second one is tomorrow, and the championship match will be on Sunday.
“The pitch may be a tad slow on the first day because of the work we have to do, but we expect a perfect playing pitch for the final on Sunday,” the CEO said.
He noted that KOMI officials were always mindful of what amount of remedial work needed to be done on the turf during make-up time between events, and they were able to successfully do that for the two football finals and reggae concert recently.
