Despite the fact that sporting events were recently allowed to take place here —in keeping with protocols outlined by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar-George —one of the country’s biggest football competitions the Blackheart Knockout Football Tournament, seems unlikely to take place.
Players and fans alike have always looked forward to this islandwide tournament under the direction of CEO, David “Shakes” Christopher. During a recent interview, he outlined the uphill battle in trying to stage the tournament even on a much smaller scale. “Blackheart this year is proving very challenging to host,” he said.
“…You can only have 200 spectators in this phase. I don’t know if in the next phase they will increase that number, but 200 persons for Blackheart just will not work. The budget for this tournament is over $200,000 and we still have to pay all the different stakeholders who will be playing a part in the tournament, like medical personnel, security, payment for the venue etc.”
The Blackheart CEO mentioned that just to break even, he would need just over 1000 spectators. Sponsorship is also a dilemma, with many who have been on board before not having sufficient funds this time around.
Christopher constantly referred to this competition as “the people’s tournament” because of its popularity and support among patrons in every nook and cranny, and went on to say that most of the revenue is being driven not only by sponsors but also from attendance. He told me: “Without the full support of the public this tournament will be in the red. So we have to watch and see if in the next phase the authorities will increase the attendance figure from 200, so we can probably have a scaled down Blackheart probably in December, when we can give footballers something to celebrate.”
During these times with Saint Lucians going through all kinds of social and economic problems associated with COVID-19, Christopher feels sports is one of the things that can really unify citizens, and indicated that it would be shameful if measures were not put in place to ensure sports remain a vital part of our society.
With that in mind, he would like to see someone associated with the CMO liaison with the various sporting organizations, to put a plan in place for the way forward. He said: “Up to now no one has contacted the different sports federations as to how we deal with various challenges associated with COVID-19 and ways of dealing with it now and in the future.” The Blackheart Knockout Football Tournament has been in existence since 1997 and has only been postponed or cancelled on three occasions. Undoubtedly, trying to stage the competition has been the CEO’s biggest challenge.
For those who don’t know, Christopher wears many hats. Besides being President of the St Lucia Amateur Boxing Association and on the executive of the St Lucia Olympic Committee Inc, he is also a taxi driver who depends heavily on the tourism industry, which has never been the same since the pandemic.
Provided the present restrictions on sporting events change for the better, Christopher would like to see the Blackheart Knockout Football Tournament — which is sanctioned by the St Lucia Football Association —take the form of a Big Eight Tournament, involving the top eight teams from Blackheart 2019. If and when that happens, kickoff would be sometime during the Christmas season.
Let’s hope so!
