Track and field CLUBS have had mixed reactions to a decision by the management of the National Stadium to enforce a user fee and to have public liability insurance to the tune of $100 000.
The rental fee of $690 is for the period January 1 to July 20, 2011. Public liability insurance is to protect the club and the Stadium in the event that there is an injury sustained by an athlete while using the facility.
Wendy Barrow-Smith of BC Trac Club said her club had already paid the fee and taken out insurance for the whole year. Her club stages three meets each year – Twilite, Austin Sealy Classic and the Young Olympians.
“They said it was part of the conditions for using the stadium, so I paid it,” she said.
“Last year we paid the stadium fee and the insurance, so we are covered for the whole year. We have equipment as well, so I have no opposing position to it.”
However, Gabriel Burnett of the Quantum Leap Programme is opposed to both fees, especially the rental fee.
“I don’t think if you have one track that athletes should have to pay to use it. We are not like other countries where you have four or five different tracks and have to pay.
“It is okay to say use the fields, but the fields are not in good condition and we have to compete with football and cricket,” he explained.
“And if you have field events and hurdlers, you have to carry all of that equipment.”
Burnett’s beef with the insurance is that he is now doubly covered.
“My programme already has insurance, so I have to take out insurance again to use the National Stadium. If I have insurance and someone else doesn’t have insurance and my athlete runs into them, insurance doesn’t cover that.
“It is not fair to ask young people who are using track and field to try and improve themselves to pay when there are people using the stadium just to lose weight and they are not paying,” he added.
Alwyn Babb of Rising Stars Club is concerned that they will be paying almost $900 in fees for the use of the stadium when there are casual walkers who use it for free and schools are also exempt.
His other concern is that he uses the venue one day each week and would have to pay the same fees as those who use it for the whole week.
“It is almost $900 for a sport that the coaches are expected to do voluntary work every evening and on weekends to ensure the youngsters are properly prepared to represent Barbados.
“I want to know why you have to pay for this. Coaches are not paid and clubs are not sponsored,” Babb said.
“Some people are using it five days a week and I have to pay the same amount of money.
I am not against paying, but $690 is too much.
“When you buy uniforms for the club, that can cost $6 000, sometimes the total amount of money that the club collects in dues,” he added.
Another beef by the athletics coaches is that they have to give way to football.
It is only within the past two years that these fees have been enforced, and the Barbados Cycling Union also pays.
“When we get a bill it is for the use of the stadium and the lights,” public relations officer Colin Forde said.
“We are charged if we are putting on a local or international meet. If we use the lights, we also have to pay for them and whenever we have a meet, we take out insurance.”
Charles Husbands, senior assistant secretary of the Barbados Football Association (BFA), the other sport which uses the facility, said the association had been paying for years.
“We pay all the time, so it is not a problem. We have been paying public liability insurance, rental fees and for the lights for as long as I have been on the council, since 1994 or so.
“We also have it for all of the grounds we play at, and it is required for anyone staging an out-of-season competition.”
Husbands said an electricity bill of $100 000 for the facility, which they struggled to pay, forced them to use other grounds where possible to lower costs.
Erskine King, director of sports at the National Sports Council (NSC), said anyone who used NSC property was required to have public liability insurance.
“It is a question of constant reminder to associations,”
he said. “The executive council of an association changes from time to time and there is no continuity, so we are bringing people up to date on what is existing, what has existed and if there are any changes.”
King said the NSC was open to discussion about the fees.
“If they want to voice that reservation, they can voice it to us, but we haven’t received any such. Any concerns will always be examined by the council.”
