Those in glass stadiums...
Trinidad Express
Fazeer Mohammed
Friday, August 4th 2006
Wembley Stadium, as seen on Tuesday in London, England. The stadium was due for completion in August 2005. However, Wembley may not be ready in time to host the 2007 FA Cup final in May after Australian construction firm Multiplex revealed that it may not be finished until June 2007.
It's the sort of story usually associated with banana republics. After years of discussion and negotiation, the decision to construct a new national super-stadium is taken. Amid considerable fanfare, the project gets going and everyone looks ahead to the unveiling of the magnificent new facility.
But problems start to crop up. Delays, cost overruns and squabbling between the partners in the consortium all contribute to a hugely expensive fiasco, leaving many to regret that the whole thing was ever undertaken in the first place.
This time, though, we're not talking about the bumbling backwaters of the Caribbean, the endemically corrupt African heartland or the greedy schemers of Asia. This is London, the capital of the United Kingdom, the centre of what was once an expansive British Empire, a city at the very core of a culture that prides itself on propriety, organisational efficiency and a stiff upper lip.
Wembley Stadium, the home of British football since 1923, is a name usually associated with legendary deeds on the pitch. Now, however, it is being dragged through the mud of an incomplete playing surface as a bitter dispute between the builders and owners of the new project rages on.
Maybe the result of last year's Ashes series has something to do with it, but whatever the reason, Multiplex-an Australian construction company-is at loggerheads with Wembley National Stadium Ltd to the extent that a project already three times over the original budget and almost a year behind schedule, could be bogged down even further in all sorts of legal wrangling.
This year's FA Cup Final should have been the curtain-raiser to the new facility, yet now it seems that it won't even be ready for the 2007 showpiece occasion of British football, at least as far as the Aussie builders are concerned. It is the sort of acrimony and bacchanal that is often believed to be the sole preserve of us colonials.
All of this should serve as a timely reminder to those up north who are already rejoicing in ridiculing almost everything associated with the West Indies' hosting of next year's Cricket World Cup. Indeed, as usually applies when the English are here every four years or so for a full tour, several journalists will be coming here for the sole purpose of digging up as much dirt as possible from arrival to departure for the enjoyment of their readership back home.
Speaking of ridiculing, in the midst of last week's launching of World Cup 2007 in India, there were all sorts of stories coming out of the sub-continent about fans there being worried about accommodation, inter-island travel, security, high prices and almost anything else that could come to mind.
Well, there is one guaranteed way to enjoy a hassle-free World Cup: stock up the fridge, stay home and watch it on TV.
Part of travelling to an exotic destination to witness a major international sporting event is to experience the lifestyle and culture of that part of the world. This includes both positive and negative. The Caribbean is one of the world's premier tourist destinations, not just for the sun, sea and sand, but also because of a much more relaxed approach to life.
This "no problem man" principle may seem completely at odds with the super-efficient operations demanded for a global sporting event, and inevitably there will be instances where flights are late, luggage is at another terminal, confirmed hotel bookings mysteriously disappear and the cost of everything, from a taxi to a coconut with medium jelly, seems unreasonably high. These are not new complaints, yet people keep coming, if only to find something new to moan about.
A lot of money is being spent and considerable effort is being expended to ensure that all of these inherent inefficiencies are ironed out as best as possible for the six weeks of the World Cup. There will be sufficient English, American, Australian and other international sports management experts floating around to have enough of us natives on our best behaviour.
Hoteliers, tourism associations and governments are all pitching in, acutely aware that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell their destinations to the world. Most territories whose economic survival is effectively based on regular arrivals are pulling out all the stops in the hope of cashing in on the extravaganza.
So we are spending money we don't have and constructing stadia and other facilities that will remain on the expenditure side of national budgets for many years to come. But that is our problem. We have chosen to host the Cricket World Cup and all that it entails, and if it means we are all cussing each other and pointing fingers in various directions after April 28, 2007, that is for us to deal with.
Yet no amount of effort can ever guarantee that there won't be problems, some minor, some infuriating and maybe even the occasional one bad enough to regret ever coming here. That's the way it goes, and it is more than likely that those coming for the first time, exercising basic common sense and keeping an open mind about things generally, will look back on the entire experience as an enjoyable one.
You can't please everyone, so there is no use trying. And anyway, every country has a Wembley Stadium-like skeleton in the closet that should temper the eagerness to condemn everything in sight come next March
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Is it me alone or does this bannana republic talk piss other people off too?
