And last night, you heard the Mayor of San Ignacio lament the usage fees for the stadiums - an issue that he and his council have been dealing with since March when it was first implemented.
And maybe you haven't realized this, but fees were also placed on the stadiums here in Belize City as well. And like the San Ignacio Mayor, the president of the Belize Softball Association, Shane Williams, also has his concerns - the main one being the end of softball in the city. That's because he says there's no way they can afford the $30 per hour fee, especially since the stadium was once free to use.
But the problem is a deeper one because no softball means that there will be more youths on the street with nothing to keep them occupied. Williams says hearing of Chris Rodriguez's death prompted him to make the issue public.
Shane Williams - President, Belize Softball Association
"They are charging us $30 an hour to use the field and our games are on Sundays where we are not using any lights at all so $30 an hour is ridiculous it is unaffordable, an we simply cannot do it and I've stated that much to the National Sports Council but there has been little budge, they are not bending, and I believe that this weekend might be the final weekend for softball in Belize City because we simply cannot afford $30 an hour, that is $240 every Sunday. Now softball is not one of the big three sports in Belize, it is not one of the popular sports that gain a lot of sponsorship and gain a lot of paid fans so $240 is way beyond our budget and we have done the math, our treasurer has done the math, if we have a pre COVID schedule of softball, that would cost us about $17,400 just to rent the field and that is new expense. Our previous revenue stream with all our sponsorship and paid fans was around $8,900 per year. So you can see how ridiculous it is, we expect that our revenue stream will be around $6,000 this year so to cover $17,000 for using the field that was free with a $6,000 revenue stream, it is impossible and we are about to close the door after this weekend. I saw an interview where the minister was saying that the field should be free for practice and stuff but we have young men everyday that cannot come on this field, they practice over there in the corner when there are no vehicles from the gym because they cannot get on the field and these are young men from at risk neighborhoods who we want on the field rather than have them on the street. I've been dealing with this for several months and I've tried not to give an interview but that story touched me so much because it was personal to me. Sports, especially softball, saved my life, I was one of the individuals hanging out in the triangle park in the Penn Road area when I was a preteen but when I committed to play softball, I was here everyday just like the young men I am telling you about are here everyday that they cannot get on this field anymore. When I was growing up we were allowed to get on the field and practice, these young men from at risk neighborhoods, from the Backatown area, from right around here at Mesop are, they cannot get on this field and if they are not on the field, where will they be? Right on the streets. We need our young men on fields rather than on the streets and that is what the Sports Council needs to understand, sports is not about making money for government, it's about providing positive opportunities for our young people that change our lives."
And yesterday the Minister of Sports said one of the main reasons for the fee was to pay the electricity bill. But Williams noted that they don't even use the lights because most of them don't work! And the stadium itself is in disrepair, so he says that excuse isn't cutting it.
Shane Williams
"Let me tell you why that is a stupid excuse, our games are played on Sundays from ten in the morning until four or five in the evening, we don't use any lights, we do not even play on Friday night which is our money earner night because the lights are not working. 1/3 of these lights are out, we cannot have games on Fridays, we cannot have games on Saturday nights, which are the days we usually get a lot of paid customers and a lot of paid fans so now we only have Sundays so you know what I do, Sundays, I leave it free, so we cannot even make any money now on Sundays because nobody usually come anyway so just let it be free, it will cost us more to hire police and hire people to charge at the gate than we will make at the gate so the lights are not working, we don't use lights, so the excuse that they need to pay for lights is stupid because we don't use any lights and we are being charged $30 an hour without lights. The bathroom facilities are terrible, they tried to fix it the other day, it lasted one week, so our females still cannot use the bathrooms, so what are we paying for? No lights, no bathroom facilities, and we have to pay to mark our field, we have to buy our own white lime, we have to- what are we paying for? They are just turning people away, we can leave Rodgers Stadium, you know. Like I'm saying, after this weekend, I cannot afford to pay any $240 to play any softball, so this is it for us, after this weekend we are done, and they can keep the field, they could eat the field, they can do whatever they want with the field, but we cannot pay it anymore."
According to a letter from the NSC to Williams, the fee was implemented because, quote, "80% of our facilities were left in a deplorable condition over the past 13 years." End quote.
