Disgraceful
Editorial
THE nation has to hang its collective head in shame at the disgraceful behaviour by the mobs that surged on to the Bourda cricket ground yesterday afternoon, disrupting a match that was heading for a classic finish. For the damage that has been done to the international image of a country struggling against immense odds, it would have been better if the bad weather which had threatened the match yesterday morning had prevailed and there was no game. This fifth one day international between the West Indies and Australia had all the makings of a thriller. Seats were sold out and with the series deadlocked at 2-2, real fans of the game were looking forward to a treat. Thousands endured the agony of the cat and mouse waiting game for about four hours before the decision to play was taken and the roars of exultation reverberated as cricket-starved fans settled down for a thriller. And those in the ground and following the progress on television and radio in and out of Guyana got a thriller - except for the repeat of the hooliganism that marred another near classic at the same ground in 1993 between the West Indies and Pakistan. Because this had happened at Bourda before is one factor that makes what happened yesterday afternoon all the more difficult to accept. Crowd invasions have damaged Guyana's cricket reputation and is perhaps one of the reasons why it is difficult for Bourda to be included in the itinerary of top class touring teams. And the danger signs were there as the match moved into its final stage yesterday. At the southern end of the ground, bands that were unbelievably allowed just beyond the boundary line, regularly moved on to the field of play, dancing and jiving as fortunes swung the way of the West Indies team. No one attempted to clear them off and get them safely behind locked gates. The situation got so bad that those in charge of the sound system blaring music between overs and at breaks used microphones to beg the hordes blocking their view to clear off so that they could see when an over had ended. These pleas at times interrupted play as they came while a bowler was into his run-up. Still, the squatters on the edge of the field at the southern side remained without being evicted. So it was hardly a surprise when the first invasion came - never mind the reason. Wrong scoreboard or not, the crowds should not have been allowed to run on to the field. Some in one section of the stands even smashed down the fence holding them back in. Predictably, the calls were last night beginning to go up in the region to ban Guyana from future tour itineraries to save the Caribbean further ignominy. An e-mail last night from one Caribbean journalist to colleagues in the region reflecting the frustration read: "Guys, I am willing to bet that the Guyana people accustomed to demonstrating saw nothing wrong with their mass invasion before and during the end of the game...I am going to petition the WICB that we ban playing cricket in that South American country..." To us, the most distressing sight was a hoodlum trying to steal the bat of Australian captain Steve Waugh on the pitch and in full view of the all-seeing television cameras which beamed the sorry spectacle live to millions around the world. That attempted robbery in broad daylight is what television stations around the world will be repeating and that is the image Guyanese are being cast in - hooliganism, with Mr. Waugh trying to wrestle his bat from a hooligan. This was another stark reflection of people refusing to abide by law and order and it is time that those who are quick to cry Police brutality in the face of naked hooliganism stop and take stock of the reality.
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