Made in Taiwan
How did an oriental rivalry save the World Cup?
Orin Gordon
06-Mar-2007
How did an oriental rivalry save the World Cup?
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Exactly a year ago I was sloshing
through the big watery mud-patch
that formed the outfield of
Grenada's Queen's Park stadium.
Looking at the pile of rubble that
the construction crew was trying
to fashion into a stadium, I thought
Grenada was heading for major
embarrassment. No way could they
finish in time for the World Cup.
How Taiwan saved the Cup
But with a Chinese-led crew working
24/7, they did it with five weeks to
spare. The big moment arrived on
February 3. The great and the good
assembled for a ceremony in which
the prime minister received from
the Chinese ambassador the keys to
the stadium, built (at a cost of £20m)
and paid for by China.
Then disaster. The police band
struck up the national anthem
of Taiwan, a diplomatic faux pas
equivalent to Ricky Ponting leading
his side out at a packed MCG
wearing an England shirt.
China does not recognise Taiwan
as a country - regarding it as a
renegade Chinese province - and,
one by one, it has been prising away
the countries that do. In this wrestle
with Taiwan for overseas influence,
financial aid is an important
instrument. Hence China putting
up the money and the project-management
expertise for new
stadiums in Grenada, Antigua, St
Kitts and Jamaica.
A big deal
For the eight Caribbean host
countries, the World Cup is about far
more than cricket. The governments
see it as a once-in-a-generation
opportunity for economic growth in
some very poor areas; Jamaica's GDP
per person is £2,256 a year, or 14% of
the UK's.
From Jamaica down to Guyana,
the investment shows in new roads
and hotels - even a new hospital
on Grenada, the first to meet
international standards. If you
haven't travelled though Grantley
Adams airport in Barbados for a
few years, you'll hardly recognise
it. No more bone-jarring ride from
Montego Bay to Ocho Rios along
Jamaica's north coast. There's a
new paved road. As the Trinidad
comedian Paul Keens-Douglas would
say, "Is World Cup do dat".
The Caribbean Tourism
Organisation estimates the total
World Cup-related investment
at well over $1bn (£500 million)
- equivalent to a third of the annual
income of Barbados. "There's no
doubt in my mind that a number
of the projects that are being
developed now either would not
have happened or would have
happened a long time down the
road," says CTO chief Vincent
Vanderpool-Wallace.
It's certainly a big deal for
hoteliers. Tourism is the region's
biggest industry, generating 16.4%
of earnings and employing 15.4% of
the population. Those numbers are
much higher for the smaller islands,
where tourism provides up to two thirds
of income. In St Lucia, where
England will be based for the first
round, they can't wait to welcome
the biggest - and highest spending
- travelling support in cricket.
Barbados may have the final, but
it is St Lucians who reckon they've
struck gold.
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Will they be ready?
New stadiums have been built
in Antigua, Guyana, St Kitts and
Jamaica (for the opening ceremony
only). The quaint old grounds -
Kensington Oval in Barbados, Sabina
Park in Jamaica and Queen's Park
Oval in Trinidad - have had stands
torn down and rebuilt. Grenada's
Queen's Park was so badly damaged
by Hurricane Ivan in September
2004 that it should be considered a
new stadium.
Dan Lockerbie, an American
engineer who has been a stadium
and operations planner for football
World Cups and the Olympic games,
is the man hired to make sure the
grounds are ready. "We have no
issue with any stadium or fear that
they will not be ready," he says.
"You're never going to get me to
give a complete bill of health, but
certainly we're feeling comfortable."
End of the disco?
But getting the grounds finished is
not the only challenge. There has
been a complete overhaul of the
old stadiums, and two of the most
distinctly Caribbean, the Antigua
Recreation Ground and Bourda
in Guyana, are being retired as
international venues. The Bourda
had the flattest of tracks and fans
who couldn't get in would watch
from the trees at the Regent Street
end; at the Recreation Ground,
Brian Lara set two Test batting
records and Viv Richards hit the
fastest Test hundred in front of his
ecstatic fans.
The atmosphere of the
Recreation Ground will not be
forgotten by anyone who likes
the Caribbean vibe - the blast of
music from Chickie's Hi Fi that
was instantly stilled as the bowler
approached delivery stride and
piped up again as the ball was
fielded and relayed back to him.
Fours and sixes from West Indies
brought down the house - almost
literally. The wooden stands seemed
to sway a bit to the beat, and
experiencing the vibe from the
new, more structurally sound, Sir
Vivian Richards stadium should be
a good thing. And while Bourda is a
great example of Guyana's historic
wooden architecture, surely no one
will miss its crampedness.
But can these new stadiums,
these bowls, like the Sir Vivian
Richards stadium, generate the
same atmosphere? The organisers
hope so: plans for six of the grounds,
including Antigua and Guyana,
feature a party stand.
"In Antigua they have tried to
replicate what used to happen at
the Recreation Ground," says Colin
James, a local cricket journalist who
has covered matches at every major
ground in the region. "The party
stand is going to be an integral part
of the new stadium and Chickie's
Hi Fi will be the in-house DJ. There's
even going to be a beach."
It's not just about the Caribbean
vibe though, but also the rustic
charm of the old grounds. "It will
take some time for people to get
accustomed to the change," James
concedes. But we won't know until it
all starts. Let the games begin.
Orin Gordon is a journalist working for the BBC World Service and is originally from Guyana