Letter to the Sports Editor…. Surprised the GCB describes the RHTY&SC as a charity

Jul 06, 2017 Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....rhtysc-as-a-charity/

Dear Sports Editor,
It was with shock that the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS, noted that the Guyana Cricket Board in a press release described us as a charity organisation.
The press release was carried in the Sunday Edition of the Kaieteur News and also stated that we are not a member of the Berbice Cricket Board as per the Cricket Bill of 2014.
The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club was voted in as a member of the Berbice Cricket Board in 1992 and has voted in every election since then but for some unknown reason was left out of the 2014 Cricket Bill along with the Young Warriors Cricket Club which became a member in 1995.
We are not too concerned about being a member of the Berbice Cricket Board but we are very proud of our achievements as a Cricket Club and for the record we would like to remind the Public of our achievements as one of Guyana’s top cricket clubs.
1) Since our first cricket match in 1990, the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club has played a total of 1003 matches, winning 887, losing 72, drawing 13 and 21 being washed out.
2) Won our first title in 1992, the Sydney Sabsook Second Division and has gone on to win a total of 54 major cricket titles at the Under-15, Under-17, Under-19, Under-23, Female, Second and First Division Titles.
3) Won three national cricket championship – two male championships in 2004, 2005 and female title in 2009.
4) We are the only club in Guyana to have a female cricket team which to date has produced two West Indies players, eight national seniors, thirteen national juniors and over 30 for Berbice.
5) Won five Guyana Club of the Year Awards in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2016 and four Berbice Club of the Year – Not “bad” for a charity organisation.
6) Overall we have produced one Test Cricketer, one ODI Player, One West Indies ‘A’, one West Indies Under-19, one West Indies Under-15, one West Indies ‘Sixes’ player, two West Indies Females, sixteen national senior players, fifty two junior nationals and over one hundred for Berbice at all levels.
Players produced by the Club includes:
Assad Fudadin, Esuan Crandon, Delbert Hicks, Royston Crandon, Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Neil Williams, Shawn Grant, Renwick Batson, Dominique Rikhi, Plaffiana Millington, Eon Hooper, Clinton Pestano, Kevlon Anderson, Jason Sinclair and Sylus Tyndall among countless others.
7) The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS, raised and invested over $20M to transform the Area ‘H’ Ground from a swamp land into its current state.
The ground now has three pavilions, an all weather outdoor Court, sanitary facilities etc. The Area ‘H’ Ground is not the best in Guyana but it has an outstanding record of producing cricketers.
8) The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club has hosted to date 26 Cricket Academies which produced a total of 2019 young cricketers and has published over 30 publications, most of them cricket related.
9) Has assisted over 140 cricket clubs and schools with cricket gears, cricket balls, uniforms, trophies, medals and sponsorship over the last 20 years at the cost of millions of dollars. Many Cricket Clubs in Berbice are alive today because of the kindness of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club and its cricketers.
10) Has invested heavily in assisting young cricketers in fulfilling their potential. Dozens of junior cricketers have benefitted from cricket gears and that include Rajendra Chandrika, Gudakesh Motie, Linden Austin, Shimron Hetmyer, Shawn Pereira, Plaffiana Millington, Loyden and Daniel Lewis and Ashkay Homraj among others.
11) The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club has organised a total of 114 cricket tournaments over the last twenty years at the Under-15, Under-17, Under-19, Female, Second Division and First Division levels. These tournaments have kept Berbice Cricket alive.
12) The Club raised over $20M worth of sponsorship and materials over the last decade and spearheaded the hosting of over 1500 programmes/activities that played a major role in the massive development, not destruction of Berbice Cricket. Every week of the year, Cricket Clubs come in for assistance and not one of them have been turned away.
As a Club, we are proud of our achievements over the last 27 years and we challenge anyone to find any other cricket club that can match our contribution to the development of cricket in Guyana on and off the cricket field.
For the Guyana Cricket Board to describe us as a Charity Organisation is beyond reasoning as we are heavily involved in activities under the sub-headings of sports, culture, education, youth development, community development, anti-suicide, anti-alcohol, anti-crime, religious, awards/honour, publications, social development and jobs for youths among others. We are proud to have the St. Francis Community Developers as our Parent body as it is the only club to have ever received the Commonwealth Youth Service Award three times and together we have received countless awards from around the world.
The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club is also the only youth and sports organisation in the history of Guyana to have ever received a National Award and the President of Guyana in 2016 described the Club as a National Treasure which should be emulated across the country.
We wish to inform the county of Berbice, that the Management of the Club has decided to quit organising first division cricket and we really feel sorry for the clubs who would practice all year long with hardly any cricket to play. Our efforts would be placed into organising other games like softball cricket, dominoes, football, table tennis, scrabble, chess and volleyball as part of our Say No/Say Yes Programme. By the way we are the current defending Champions of Berbice at Under-15, Under-17, Under-19, First Division and reached the finals of the Second Division Tournament. (Not bad for a Charity).
In closing, we wonder how the Guyana Cricket Board in 2016 could have made the mistake of naming “A Charity Organisation” its Cricket Club of the Year or was it because we were highly successful on the cricket field and produced a total of seventeen players for Guyana at all levels during the year.
Yours in Sports,
Vice President,
RHTYSC.