Harvard Club has always been in the vanguard of change and the fostering of a spirit of self-sufficiency. It’s a club where dependency and self-pity will not flourish. Since its establishment in 1943, Harvard has taken great pride in a mission and vision that went far beyond mere participating in sporting activities. Even though staying on such a course has been a challenge at every turn and historic juncture, Harvard has responded positively—not always with the unanimous agreement of its members—as action was always deemed a much better option than ole talk. Last Saturday, the younger generation of the club members got together to put on a fete aimed at raising funds for all the club’s disciplines. Ably supported by the club’s elders, it was a display of the old maxims—“in unity there is strength” and “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” This Saturday, Harvard will again reach out by supporting the T&T Rugby Football Union (TTRFU) fete aimed at raising funds for the national team’s preparation, participation and the creation of a medical fund for national rugby players who get injured while on national duty. Feteing for a cause and more specifically for the cause of sport—that’s the Harvard way. It’s easy to jump ship and give up in abject frustration because say what you will—anyone involved in sport will tell you—frustration is always knocking on the door.
How much of it can be put down to sport organisations themselves being their own worse enemy will always be a bone of contention. But one cannot help but wonder why more clubs and organisations involved in sport don’t fete for the cause of sport. Trinis love to party. One would think that feteing for sport is a no brainer. In the old days some of the best and well attended parties in the land were thrown by clubs involved in sport. Those days seem long gone. Sometime in the 90s Mary Sui Butt and Roy Maraj, pitched an idea to have a fete for sport—the concept was called Sport Aid. The idea met with little support from stakeholders in sport who preferred to fail alone by doing nothing while waiting expectantly on Father Christmas. It seemed then that those involved in the running of sport and those who play sport, much prefer to attend and support non sport related ventures. What’s the reason? Too much work? Fear of failing? Who knows the answer?
Let your imagination run wild for a moment. Picture all the national sport organisations coming together to support a fete aimed at putting all the profit into a fund for sport. But Mary Sui Butt will tell you we went down that road before. Sports people weren’t ready then and the sad thing is—they still aren’t ready now. There is a reason why there is so much lacking in the society. It’s a belief system that says there is not enough to go around. At some time we must accept that fighting over the same piece of pie only provides crumbs. That point leads us right back to where we began. Feteing for a cause—feteing for sport. There are other ways by which sport clubs and organisations can raise funds. Feteing is only one such option. What is needed is a change in attitude—shed the dependency and “gimme gimme” way of thinking and behaving. Harvard Club and the other organisations that continue to encourage its members to take the fund raising bull by the horns are on the right track. It’s a culture, attitude and way of being that the young sportsmen and women must be encouraged to adopt.
-Brian Lewis
Source: www.guardian.co.tt