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THE EDITOR: On behalf of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, I wish to express the club’s concern over a number of false and erroneous statements made in a letter to the editor published in the Trinidad Express on March 17 and the Newsday on March 20 entitled “Transparency needed with Sport and Culture Fund,” written by Rupert Jordan.
While respecting the right of anyone to question the Office of the Prime Minister’s Sport and Culture Fund’s actions, the false and incorrect allegations in the letter were made, we believe, with the sole purpose of damaging the reputation of both the club and the board members of the fund. We are extremely disappointed that the allegations in the letter were published and the club feels compelled to provide the facts, so as to clarify any misconceptions the letter may have created.
Firstly, we wish to acknowledge and commend the fund for fulfilling its mandate with the continued commitment and support being provided to sporting clubs and sporting bodies across TT.
QPCC applied for much needed funding from the fund for the restoration and refurbishment of its indoor training facility, which had not been refurbished since it was opened some 21 years ago. This facility is for the benefit of any and every young and upcoming cricketer in TT and not for the exclusive use of the club’s members. It is here where the Bravos, Narines, Laras and the Pollards, to name a few current and past players, learned their skills when their families had no connection to the club.
However, to play for the QPCC’s cricket teams you must become a member, unlike its Cricket Coaching School which is open to one and all, and one can become a member by making the team (as all the aforementioned names did).
With a membership of 3,000 and not 100,00 as alleged in the letter, corporate box holders not paying anywhere near those alleged fees and annual dues again being a vastly inflated amount claimed by Jordan, the club was unable to provide the investment needed for our young generation of cricketers through its membership dues alone.
We again thank the Sport and Culture Fund for providing an avenue for ourselves and other sporting institutions during these most difficult of times. However, we wish to express our concern as to the reason these figures were so heavily inflated in the letter, without any regard whatsoever for the facts.
As for the historic murals/paintings on the club’s perimeter wall, there are many blank spaces at this time which we hope will be addressed when the economy is in a better position. Not a single cent of the club’s revenue is for the direct financial benefit of its members and all funds received from the Sport and Culture Fund can be fully accounted for with respect to the restoration and refurbishment of the club’s Indoor Training Facility.
One can rest assured that the fund would have taken into consideration the fact that QPCC produced 13 players to play in the CPL teams, four in the IPL teams, five in the West Indies ODI team, four in the T20 WI team, eight in the TT Super 50 squad and three players in the West Indies Test team.
This is the first time that QPCC has ever received funding from the fund and we can only hope that our ability to seek funding in the future has not been compromised and/or prejudiced by the false and erroneous statements made in the letter. Furthermore, money derived from the fund is not taxpayers’ dollars, but rather revenue received from the gaming industry and there is a reputable board that looks after the fund with integrity and without favour.
Finally, in addition to its accomplished cricket programmes, QPCC has thriving hockey, football (men and women), squash and table tennis divisions, all with successful academies where we train boys and girls in the various disciplines to better themselves, not only in sport but also as human beings.
We invite Jordan and all other members of the public to come and see all the hard work that the club is doing and we are confident that he and others would apply to join.

COLIN MURRAY

honorary secretary
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