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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%"><TBODY><TR bgColor=#ffffcc><TD vAlign=top align=left width="18%">
</TD><TD align=left><HR style="COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=1>Here's an article (taken from today's Nation (Barbados) discussing sports and cost, mirroring the debate going on in Jamaica relative to investment/infrastructure.
It seems that everyone agrees that sport is a vehicle that can create wealth and ameliorate economic plight, but the question is how much is anyone willing to spend to get there?
Costs versus benefits .... what's a happy satisficing point?
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote: <HR>IT IS TIME to stop making sport with sports and set up a separate Ministry of Sports. That is the wish of former Minister of Social Transformation, Hamilton Lashley, who yesterday also called for the investment of millions of dollars in community sport.
"I believe that the time has come when sports should be a separate ministry in Barbados ," Lashley told the SUNDAY SUN.
He acknowledged that the redeveloped Kensington Oval is a "wonderful facility and a good investment" but said at least four more venues across Barbados should be financed to have that kind of facility, including the National Stadium.
"I am saying that kind of investment is necessary and critical now and that as we seek to move in a new globalised environment, that we create a ministry for sports only. The time has come for that," Lashley said.
"And if you must do something, I am also proposing that you put sports and culture together, because you could develop your cultural and sporting industry as a new revolution towards employment interest for all youth in Barbados," Lashley suggested.
"But outside of Kensington, I really believe the National Stadium should have the same kind of facility, especially in terms of the surface.
"Furthermore, I believe that sometimes, we are making sport at sports. I seriously believe that," he added.
Lashley also called on governments in the region to invest in sports in a big way.
"Why is it that when we are budgeting in our Estimates, we can't put for sports, at least $100 million or $200 million and then lift sports into the whole economic development of Barbados.
"Get the Ministry of Commerce on board, get the Board of Tourism, get all the relevant ministries on board so that those players that are engaged and involved, could earn a living," Lashely remarked.
This year, Lashley became adviser to Government on Poverty Eradication and the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals after serving as Social Transformation Minister from 1999.
He said there had always been a lot of talk about finding employment for the youth, but this had only been explored in the traditional ways.
"I really feel that at some point in time, the Government will have to bite the bullet and invest $40, $50 or $60 million in community sport,"* Lashley said.
"The fact is that we have to take sports real seriously. We have to forget the old methodologies and the old traditions and now get aboard what is happening globally in terms of sports," added Lashley.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
*Figures mentioned are possibly in Barbados dollars, so divide by 2 to get the USD amount.
Because there are so many pressing and competing needs in a national budget and because the choice of these needs are identified with opportunities to influence the electorate/ create political vulnerabilities s
</TD><TD align=left><HR style="COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=1>Here's an article (taken from today's Nation (Barbados) discussing sports and cost, mirroring the debate going on in Jamaica relative to investment/infrastructure.
It seems that everyone agrees that sport is a vehicle that can create wealth and ameliorate economic plight, but the question is how much is anyone willing to spend to get there?
Costs versus benefits .... what's a happy satisficing point?
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote: <HR>IT IS TIME to stop making sport with sports and set up a separate Ministry of Sports. That is the wish of former Minister of Social Transformation, Hamilton Lashley, who yesterday also called for the investment of millions of dollars in community sport.
"I believe that the time has come when sports should be a separate ministry in Barbados ," Lashley told the SUNDAY SUN.
He acknowledged that the redeveloped Kensington Oval is a "wonderful facility and a good investment" but said at least four more venues across Barbados should be financed to have that kind of facility, including the National Stadium.
"I am saying that kind of investment is necessary and critical now and that as we seek to move in a new globalised environment, that we create a ministry for sports only. The time has come for that," Lashley said.
"And if you must do something, I am also proposing that you put sports and culture together, because you could develop your cultural and sporting industry as a new revolution towards employment interest for all youth in Barbados," Lashley suggested.
"But outside of Kensington, I really believe the National Stadium should have the same kind of facility, especially in terms of the surface.
"Furthermore, I believe that sometimes, we are making sport at sports. I seriously believe that," he added.
Lashley also called on governments in the region to invest in sports in a big way.
"Why is it that when we are budgeting in our Estimates, we can't put for sports, at least $100 million or $200 million and then lift sports into the whole economic development of Barbados.
"Get the Ministry of Commerce on board, get the Board of Tourism, get all the relevant ministries on board so that those players that are engaged and involved, could earn a living," Lashely remarked.
This year, Lashley became adviser to Government on Poverty Eradication and the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals after serving as Social Transformation Minister from 1999.
He said there had always been a lot of talk about finding employment for the youth, but this had only been explored in the traditional ways.
"I really feel that at some point in time, the Government will have to bite the bullet and invest $40, $50 or $60 million in community sport,"* Lashley said.
"The fact is that we have to take sports real seriously. We have to forget the old methodologies and the old traditions and now get aboard what is happening globally in terms of sports," added Lashley.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
*Figures mentioned are possibly in Barbados dollars, so divide by 2 to get the USD amount.
Because there are so many pressing and competing needs in a national budget and because the choice of these needs are identified with opportunities to influence the electorate/ create political vulnerabilities s
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