The Brighton Playing Field, for which the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) has a 25-year lease, will from next Monday, June 29, enter another phase of its development.
A Special Project, undertaken by the SVGFF and funded by Football’s world governing body- FIFA, will see resurfacing of the playing surface and the fencing of the entire facility.
Estimated to cost a total of EC$900,000, the fencing is slated to take 80 working days, while the resurfacing of the field has been projected over a three-month duration.
Franco Construction was awarded the contract to erect the perimeter fence, while Kenann Investment and Landscaping Services earned the contract for the resurfacing of the playing field.
Otashie Spring, First Vice-President of the SVGFF, said that the fencing and resurfacing have become necessary.
“We have had to deal with the problem of livestock, and their waste would have brought the flies as health hazard…. This was exacerbated by the facility itself not being fenced,” Spring reasoned.
“In the case of the playing surface, it has been uneven for some time and we are trying to correct that,” Spring related.
He noted that once upgrading is complete, the Brighton Playing Field will host Premier Division matches once again.
It will also serve the national teams which often use the adjoining Technical Centre for training camps.
Humanitarian Spin Off
Spring, apart from underscoring the project’s contribution to sports development generally, revealed an humanitarian spin off of the work to be undertaken.
“As a matter of helping with the unemployment issues among members of the senior national team especially, we have asked that a few of them be employed on the project,” Spring disclosed.
Spring said that this move is much welcomed as other than earning an income, the players would be learning a skill.
Initial Conception
The rehabilitation of the Brighton Playing Field formed part of the SVGFF’s Goal Project One, which began in 2010 under the Joseph Delves led Executive.
It was the plan then to erect a two-storey building for use as dorm with capacity to house 40 persons.
Additionally, the project, which then was estimated at EC$1.348 million, was to have included the fencing and erection of a bleacher.
The SVG FF is a bunch of phucking jokeers.