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Apples and oranges

James Whittaker

Football and cricket took another unnecessary pounding in the Gazette today for the size of their Government grants.
‘They didn’t get $15m like the BFA or $11m like the BCB, but Bermuda’s athletes have continued to defy the odds’ crowed the RG’s headline before going on to trumpet the acheivements of swimmers, sailors and Bermuda’s golf team at the Island Games.
Aside from the fact that pure success on the field is a poor barometer of funding requirements (The BFA for example supports 19 clubs, many with a membership exceeding that of the swimming association), the daily is applying a wholly different criteria for success in ‘other sports’.
Imagine if the national cricket team competed against the Faroe Islands, Menorca and Shetland and picked up a bronze. It wouldn’t be considered ‘glory’ would it?
Our cricketers may not have stood out in South Africa earlier this year but they are still competing at a higher level internationally than any other local sports team, with the possible exception of our individual Olympians.
There is a double-standard at work here. For our cricketers to be considered a success they have to be holding their own against India and Sri Lanka.
They were widely ridiculed for losing to Afghanistan – a nation of 32 million people, where cricket is emerging as a national sport.
Sports like sailing, which enjoys huge financial support from the private sector, and golf, which is a profit making industry in Bermuda, simply have to negotiate Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
It's like comparing apples and oranges.
It’s great that some of our athletes are enjoying success at the Island Games – a wonderful event that allows us to compete on a level playing field by restricting entry to countries with populations of 125,000 or less.
But why does any recognition of their success have to come with a snide dig at our national sports?

May 24th predictions

Don Burgess
The smart money is on Chris Estwanik to defend his Marathon Derby title. He's in another league right now and it's unlikely that anyone else will be able to run a sub 1:10 which would be required to challenge him.
But if the unthinkable happens and he doesn't win, who is likely to pick up the trophy? Three-time winner Terence Armstrong - if he runs - would have to be considered a good choice as well as a trio of young guns - Lamont Marshall, Chyace Smith and Sean Trott. Marshall's actually the 'old man' of the group at 23. All three ran sub 1:20s last year and are capable of good improvement in the future. Kavin Smith is always in the mix, and finished fifth last year and may have one more great race left in his legs.

Where now for Bermuda as Logie quits

By James Whittaker
Unsurprisingly Bermuda coach Gus Logie has confirmed his decision to quit the national team today. Well documented frustration over lack of discipline, ambition and work ethic from the players are at the root of his decision and after persevering for four years few can blame him for deciding to move on. His tenure will have to go down as a qualified success. History will record that he was the first and so far the only coach to get Bermuda to the World Cup and win the Americas tournament, though critics will point to his inablity to change the culture of apathy in the local game and a losing record against almost every international opponent over the last few years as evidence that his reign was not all it was cracked up to be. My own view is that he did the best he could with the resources at his disposal. So what now for Bermuda? The next appointment is critical and though some will favour a local coach I believe a technical director with strong international credentials and a remit to overhaul the local game from the national team down, as Derek Broadley is attempting to do in football, would be the best way forward.

The truth is out there..... we just have to acknowledge it

By James Whittaker
Interesting conspiracy theory from Clay Smith in the Royal Gazette today. Apparantly the ICC and CricInfo are to blame for Bermuda’s failure to qualify for the World Cup… Really? I can’t think of any possible format the ICC could have contrived where Bermuda would have qualified by finishing fifth in a six-team group. And the decision to make the final two places in the Intercontinental Cup discretionary can, at this stage, only work in Bermuda’s favour.
And what does it really matter what CricInfo say? They did seem to enjoy Bermuda’s demise a little too much and the $11million men tag has, perhaps unjustly, seen us pegged as the team with ‘all the gear and no idea’. But, like it or not, that is the impression a lot of the other teams, press and officials out there in South Africa had of Bermuda – as a team who had not made the most of the opportunities afforded them.
It’s a perception reinforced by coach Gus Logie, who cited poor attendance at a training session with the world’s top fielding coach Mike Young, as one example.
Clay also cites four or five players who did perform well - not just David Hemp. It’s a fair point and one that we made in the Bermuda Sun in our report on the tournament. But you need more than a handful of players at the top of their game to excel and as an observer (and a supporter) of Bermuda at this tournament it is impossible for me to escape the notion that the other teams were fitter and more focused than us.
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what I, Will Luke or the Royal Gazette might have to say about Bermuda’s performances and approach. It matters even less what we have to say about Scotland (and CricInfo has criticized them as well, though not as vehemently). The real analysis has to come from within. And unless the national team leadership, including Clay Smith – who may well turn out to be the next coach of Bermuda — are brutally honest about what went wrong in South Africa, then nothing will change.

Down and out in Johannesburg

By James Whittaker
I'm feeling pretty deflated after just watching Bermuda's fourth comprehensive defeat in five games in South Africa. Like many of the players and coaching staff, I had high hopes for Bermuda in this tournament and they haven't been met. All I can say from having seen the games is that a lot of the other teams are simply better - fitter, more energetic in the field, more cohesive as team units and in a lot of cases just more talented cricketers. It's tempting to lay all the blame at the door of the 14 men who are out here but I think we all agreed before the tournament that they were the best available. Injuries, other commitments and a few selection tweaks might have made a bit of difference - but not much. What has really been exposed here is not the shortcomings of one team, but the shortcomings of the national game as a whole. There is simply no strength in depth and not enough quality cricketers with the desire to play for their country and to put in the work that is needed to succeed. Associate level cricket has got a lot tougher in the last four years and Bermuda hasn't taken advantage of the opportunities afforded it. The national team has gone backwards while others have moved forwards. No home one-day-internationals, no significant improvement in facilities or in the quality of the domestic structure and certainly no improvement in the national team. The Bermuda Cricket Board believes it has a good development programme in place, an assertion that is backed up by a couple of ICC awards. Maybe now is the time for those young players to step up to the first team. Relegation to Division Two or Three of the World Cricket League (depending on how the next couple of games go) will give them the chance to do so at a less competitive level - an intermediatry step between youth and club cricket and the big time. There is talent out there, but nothing will come of it unless Bermuda's next generation can match the attitude, professionalism and desire of their contemparies at associate level. Most of these other teams are not pros. The Dutch players are losing money by taking time off their jobs to be here. As former national football coach Kenny Thompson likes to day 'you don't have to get paid to be a professional'.

Can we do it?

By Don Burgess
Yes we can! If we can just get Barack Obama on board the possibilities are endless for our cricket team as they aim to qualify for the World Cup in 2011. The loss of Chris Douglas is a bit of blow, but Bermuda still has enough talent to finish in the top four and make it back to cricket's biggest stage. How do you think our team will do? My colleague James Whittaker is in South Africa to cover the team and he's predicting a top four finish.

Gag order

By Don Burgess
There is a long list of exemplary athletes over the years who have spoken out against Government for a lack of financing. And Roy Burch wasn't the only athlete last year who complained about a lack of money. Olympic long jumper Tyrone Smith said he was forced into selling cars to help support his dream of making the 2012 London Games. Toriano Wilson's dad bemoaned the lack of support for his son and yet he received an award on Saturday night. The Bermuda Sailing Association had their funding slashed by $140,000 and also complained in this newspaper about what Government had done, yet they also received an award on Saturday night. If Burch wasn't given the award because he spoke out, then that sends the wrong message and it was the wrong decision to deny him the Athlete of the Year award. If it was because the Olympic athlete was deemed not worthy because of his accomplishments, then it calls into question who is worthy. Part of the reason that Stout won the award, according the Gazette, is that he is the world champion. If that's the case, then Government should have given the Female Athlete of the Year award to Teresa Perozzi a few years back when she won the world middleweight boxing title.

Borden is a big loss

By Lionel Cann
The loss of Delyone Borden from our World Cup qualifying squad is a huge blow. In my view he is as valuable to our team as Shane Warne was to Australia or Muttiah Muralitharan to Sri Lanka. I believe he has been our top spinner over the past 18 months and it will be doubly hard to qualify without him in the team.
The decision not to select him because of the issues on the recent tour is very disappointing.
There is much more to the story than people know and I am sure the truth will eventually come out.
In my experience Delyone is a player that has always given 100 per cent and I would ask people not to judge him too harshly.
He obviously has to take his share of the blame and maybe he should have handled the situation differently.
This is the third time I have been with him on tour and his pay has not come through. It happened at the World Cup in 2007 and again at the Americas Championship in Florida last year.
Maybe he should have taken the higher ground and played on, but everybody has a breaking point.
I know he was offered an advance by the board but I think by that point the damage had already been done.
Everybody could see that he was down and was in no mood to play cricket. He didn’t walk off the pitch in the middle of a game, he asked to be substituted because he was not in the mood to play.
I’m not excusing that but I understand where he is coming from. He felt let down and he was not in the right frame of mind to play.
Everyone has to take a share of the blame in this, including Delyone. But the worst thing about it is that this could have been avoided if things had been handled properly from the start.
We’ve been contracting players for four years now and it’s a shame to lose a player on the eve of one of the biggest tournaments in our history because of something like this. I hope that Delyone bounces back. He’s always shown a good attitude in the past and I think it would be unfair to judge him solely on the basis of what has happened over the past few weeks.

Borden, Hurdle miss out

Picture: Delyone Borden
By Don Burgess
Okay, here's the squad: Irving Romaine (Captain), David Hemp (vice-captain), Chris Douglas, Fiqre Crockwell, Lionel Cann, Stephen Outerbridge, Jekon Edness, Janiero Tucker, Glenn Blakeney, Dwayne Leverock, Rodney Trott, Tamauri Tucker, Stefan Kelly, Kyle Hodsoll, George O'Brien. Reserve: Jacobi Robinson, Jordan DeSilva, Kevon Fubler. I missed on Jacobi, Delyone and Hurdle. It's still a strong squad with youngsters Hodsoll and Tucker likely to be lightly-used.

Decision day approaches

Pictured: David Hemp
By Don Burgess
The cricket team will conclude its successful tour today - so successful that several players that may have been on the fringe of the selectors minds they have to be serious contenders to be picked. I'm going to toss out 15 names who I think should be on the squad and would like you to put up your 15 as well. In no particular order: Irving Romaine, David Hemp, Sluggo, Lionel Cann, Chris Douglas, Kevin Hurdle, George O'Brien, Stefan Kelly, Rodney Trott, Delyone Borden, Glenn Blakeney, Janeiro Tucker, Fiqre Crockwell, Stephen Outerbridge and Jacobi Robinson.