HLSCC campus was ideal location for FIFA stadium- McLloyd O. Walters
Mr Walters had the issue of the FIFA stadium construction at the core of his address to constituents last night, June 1, 2015. In his view, the stadium should have been constructed on the campus of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) in Paraquita Bay as part of the college’s athletics programme and, according to Mr Walters, this was a question residents failed to put to government.
“What now becomes of our August Festival? I am told that they are supposed to be leasing some of the lands from one of the families to keep the festival but is this now something that is going to be continued every year, leasing and leasing property?” Mr Walters questioned.
“Whereas if we had built it at the college we would have been killing two birds with one stone, plus we will still have a place for festival or to develop this same area for the greater good of the community.”
FIFA stadium may now take years to construct
Considering the FIFA corruption scandal and arrests of top FIFA officials on the international scene, Mr Walters questioned whether the proposed stadium for the Virgin Islands (VI) would be constructed in a timely manner. He gave reference to a situation in the Cayman Islands where FIFA was involved in the construction of two stadiums there and one took years to be completed.
“But how long is it going to take? Is it going to be another drawn out process? Now is 2015 and seven years down the road is it still going to be in construction?”
Walters, an engineer by profession, said the recent FIFA arrests have brought to the fore the question of why the United States of America (USA) is going after FIFA. “The issue is about proper regulations and government has that body that is supposed to regulate the activities of basically business persons. When I read that it brought to mind some of the same problems, the basic problems that we are facing in this country today.”
NDP Gov’t running things like a business
According to Walters, the NDP Government has a philosophy that they run government like it is a business without any sort of regulations and without an agency to give proper regulations. “And I think that this is one of the fundamental problems that we have in this BVI society today, and all of the problems that we are having, all of the differences and the bickering and fighting, it stems from that fundamental issue and that is one of the issues that we have to try to resolve.”
Festival to return to Greenland Field
During a consultation with the community regarding the construction of the FIFA stadium at the Festival Grounds in November 2013, it was said that festival activities were going to be held at the Greenland Field.
There were two options, the first of which is the Greenland Field while the other is the stadium’s parking lot.
Representative for the Eighth District, Hon Marlon A. Penn had said, however, he prefers the idea of having the festival activities at the Greenland Field as opposed to the parking lot. He repeatedly made the statement during a public meeting on October 30, 2013 were they sought the blessings of the communities of East End and Long Look for the construction of the stadium as they eyed substantial funding from the world governing body for football, FIFA.
"We are looking potentially for festival to go into the Greenland Field, which I think is the ideal spot for festivals on the field itself where it used to be...Which is really standard in many of the Caribbean countries when they have their festival, they are done on the playing field," Hon Penn had stated.
He had recalled Emancipation Festival being held on the Greenland Field for many years.
In addition to the proposed locations for the festival activities, Hon Penn had said accommodation would be made available to the EE/LL Festival Committee to hold their meetings and fundraising activities at the stadium.
Justifying the potential spinoffs of the construction of the stadium, Hon Penn had said because there will be activities such as football on a regular basis, the festival committee would be in a unique position to capitalise on fundraising opportunities.
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33 Responses to “HLSCC campus was ideal location for FIFA stadium- McLloyd O. Walters”
You are very misguided. Over 700 youth play soccer in the leagues every year. Name another sport here with that level of participation. Over 100 kids practice soccer every Saturday ALL YEAR. Name another sport here with that level of participation. Over 50 boys and girls get to travel year round to major tournaments overseas and are exposed to professional coaches etc. Stop talking what you do not know. The FIFA stadium is a great thing for the entire BVI and will not only be used for soccer. Stop playing politics and look at the bigger picture. I notice under VIP, things will be called good for the small man and the same thing under NDP will be called a rich man scheme. You all need to grow the £$%@ up man.
Football is the No. 1 team sport in the world and must played locally amongst young people. With over 1000 young people participating in BVIFA league annually.
Football provides more opportunities for scholarships at universities in the US, Canada and Europe than any other teams sport.
You people need to stop being so short sighted and see the big picture.
So I guess the FIFA professionals who have been involved with stadiums world wide are jack @$$3$ and we should instead listen to McLeod?
....was/is a law unto himself. He takes direction /advice from nobody.