[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n March 1, the National Archives Authority used the occasion of Flag Day not only to celebrate the work of Sir Dunstan St Omer who designed the island’s flag but also to launch its Sports Archive.
Last Thursday’s ceremony, which was held at the National Archives Authority, was the second launch of a series of focal archives by the agency, the first being a music archive unveiled in November of 2017.
National Archives Authority Director, Margot Thomas, explained to the audience at the well-attended ceremony, why the sports archive was being launched on Flag Day.
“The designer of our flag was a sportsman. Lawn tennis was his chosen vocation. And it is in memory of this illustrious son that we chose today, March 1, to launch the sports archive.”
How did the idea come about? Thomas recalled taking a tour of archives in England and most notably Canada in 1996, where she noticed at the provincial and state archives there was always a section devoted to sports.
“I was very enthused,” said Thomas, “and came back to Saint Lucia and wrote all the sporting organizations whose addresses I got from the Ministry of Sports. I must tell you the response was very, very, poor.”
She recalled just one organization the Strikers Sports Club, sent her lots of photographs and other things they collected through the years.
Sadly she told listeners, “The more established sports clubs and associations felt they had no use for us I guess. I did not hear from them, there was no feedback.”
Once again Thomas whole heartedly pleaded to sportsmen, sportswomen and leaders of associations to assist in developing a sports archive.
The sports archive will preserve documents, photographs and other material relevant to capturing the history of sports in Saint Lucia.
The walls of the National Archives Authority also consists of several paintings of outstanding sportsmen and women past and present, including the likes of World renowned bodybuilder Rick Wayne, Joyce Auguste who made her mark in netball, muilti Sportswoman of the Year Levern Spencer along with West Indies Cricketers Daren Sammy and Johnson Charles.
Portraits of our beloved sportsmen and sportsmen were created by various artists including Cedric George, Sabrina Romulus, and Janine Giraudy.
MC Gerry George said: “The National Archives does not have the money to paint everybody that they would wish to, but they can assure you part of the Archives mandate is to ensure that more and more paintings of athletes go up every single year.
Present at the ceremony was Senator, Minister for Local Government and Culture and President of the St Lucia Olympic Committee Inc, Fortuna Belrose.
This former sportswoman went on to become a sports administrator and politician, and used sports as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, agreed that a sports archive is long overdue.
As a sports administrator, Belrose mentioned that by the time she was 25 years of age, she travelled half way around the world at no expense to her family.
On behalf of sportsmen and sportswomen, Belrose thanked Thomas “for opening up this door for our people in St Lucia.”
One man who documented the achievements of St Lucian athletes is well known cricketer Rupert Branford in a book entitled “Outstanding Sports Personalities of St Lucia which was published in 2001.” He was the guest speaker and spoke about the importance of documenting and preserving the achievements of our athletes.
Refer to his book Branford remarked: “It was produced to engender a feeling of patriotism among persons as a means of inspiring them to do their best for their country.
Thursday’s ceremony saw the donation of items to the archive, as well as the presentation of special awards to persons who have made invaluable contributions to sports over the years.
It should be pointed out that St Lucia does not have a much discussed Hall of Fame. For now any a Sports Archive is truly the next best thing.
