RAWLE RAPHAEL, chairman of the Hampton Organising Committee, has said that next year’s edition of the annual Hampton International Games may be its very last.
Raphael, speaking at press conference yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, told the media that it was getting increasingly difficult to host the meet with the limited support the Hampton Committee had been getting from Government and the private sector.
If this lack of support continues next year, he said, then 2006 would be the last time the Games would be held.
So far, Hampton has collected $18,000, with $2,500 coming from Clico, Concacaf president Jack Warner donating $5,000, National Petroleum (NP) contributing $3,000, $5,000 from Nipdec and T&TEC giving $2,500.
Venture Credit Union and Trevor Hewitt made pledges of $5,000 and $10,000 respectively, while Government has handled the stadium rental and paid the cost to purchase medals and other prizes, which came up to approximately $50,000.
“We are very disappointed by the amount of assistance we’ve received from Government. Over the years, we’ve done our best to run the Games with the little money we get, but if we have to go through this kind of thing again next year, we will be forced to call that George,” Raphael said.
“We made a request to Government for $1.1 million per year, but we never got it. They gave us $800,000 two years ago and we got the international athletes we wanted, but that money was just enough for appearance fees and prizes. That is the calibre of meet we want to have all the time,” Raphael added.
