Crowd behaviour condemned
By Donald Duff
Yesterday, March, 21 1999 was a black day in Guyana's cricket history. Before the eyes of the world a few unruly Guyanese shamed the nation and robbed the West Indies of an important victory. And members of the media, Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) president Chetram Singh and GCC president Neil Singh yesterday denounced the crowd encroachment which led to the fifth Cable and Wireless one-day international match between the West Indies and Australia being declared a tie by match referee Raman Subha Row. Internationally renowned cricket commentator Guyanese Joseph `Reds' Perreira said yesterday was "a sad day for Guyana and West Indies cricket." Perreira said the `Bourda Debacle 'will be reported all over the world and that Guyana's cricket might suffer because of a few hundred unruly persons. "The crowd was a very disciplined, well behaved crowd. A few unruly people has done a lot of damage to a country that has a great history of loving the game and supporting cricket," said Perreira. He warned that Guyana now face the possibility of being left out of international cricket for a number of years. "That may be the sanction that we may be facing. We cannot condone this. Yes, people must enjoy the game but people must also allow the game to continue in the conditions that have been stipulated. "There are rules and regulations and those regulations must be adhered to." Perreira said the encroaching onto the field seemed to be a new trend in the Caribbean where persons charge onto the field and pull the stumps for souvenirs. However, he added:"This one had a major impact on how the game ended. The first invasion was totally unnecessary, people obviously were not concentrating...they don't really care about the game. "A lot of people got in free of course and you had an overspilling so it will take a serious effort by the Guyana Board to convince the West Indies Board that they can provide the kind of security that can control crowds. "Unfortunately," he went on,"it is not only a Guyana problem it is a problem throughout the Caribbean, but it seems to be greater here than anywhere else."
Perreira feels the West Indies Board may consider placing a sanction on Bourda until the public comes to a realisation of the effect of their actions. He pointed out that Australia had a similar problem which they solved by taking the drastic action of placing an offender before the courts. He was subsequently fined a substantial amount of money, his name was recorded and he given the added penalty of being denied entry into the ground for a number of years, he disclosed. President of the GCB Chetram Singh said he was extremely disappointed at the crowd encroachment. "I'm so disappointed with what happened here today. It was a bad day for Guyana cricket. I do hope that we continue to have international cricket because we need it for our own development," Singh told Stabroek Sport. Singh, who said the mass invasion by spectators did not augur well for Guyana's cricket said he would suggest that Guyana only stage Test matches since when it came to the excitement of one day internationals the crowd did not know how to contain themselves. "It's not painting a good picture of our country. We all love our country," he added. But the invasion of the crowd on the field was not the crowd's only blemish. Sing revealed that some sections of the crowd had earlier broken down stands and gates in an attempt to gain entry into the ground to witness the match. Singh said though he was pleased with the introduction of the computer system at Bourda which meant that only 10,200 persons would be allowed into the ground, but the breaking down of the gates resulted in some five thousand more spectators entering the ground. "We had at least five thousand more people today and that came about because they broke down the South `B' Stand, the Rails Stand and they pressured the Lance Gibbs Stands. Singh also disclosed that he was disappointed with the work of the security personnel. "I was in the President's Box watching when they were breaking the Mound Stand. There was a Horseguard there facing it allowing everybody to break down the Stand and when it was broken down he simply rode away on his horse," he recounted. He disclosed that he felt the 125 policemen on duty was adequate and everything went well until the closing stages of the match. And GCC president Neil Singh in the wake of the fiasco said the GCC will be meeting next week to try and come up with a solution. Singh who said he was very disturbed at the incident added: "This is going to cost us..." "The unfortunate thing is that only half of one percent of the fans in the ground encroached on the field. We will all, however, suffer for this because I think this thing is going to have very serious repercussions. "The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) may not want to grant us any more one day matches so we may have to be satisfied with Test matches. "What we are going to do next week is meet and see what more we can do, if we can raise the fences higher...we will just have to try and do the best we can to stop this. If this keeps happening Guyana will not have cricket." Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding was so upset that he declined to comment as did David Hookes the former Australian Test batsman who is covering the tour as a television commentator. 
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