Athletics primarily about athletes, not starters or other officials

Hurdler Danielle Williams is doing the right thing. She is winning races on the Diamond League circuit and is a couple events away from positioning herself to compete at the World Athletic Championship in Doha, Qatar, in September.

Her victory at the London Anniversary Games in a national record 12.32 seconds over the 100-metre event was the right way to answer those who would want to stall the 26-year-old’s progress.

The story of Ms Williams’ earlier dilemma brings to the fore, the challenges that face athletes and sports personalities, by the people who call themselves administrators. She was disqualified from the 100-metre race at the National Championship in June, when the race starter, Ludlow Watts ruled that she had ‘picked’ the start, although video evidence was inconclusive.

It was one of the growing number of incidents that Watts had been involved at recent meets. Instead of punishing the athlete, or athletes, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association should shine the light on people like Watts, to see if they have overstayed their time, brought their competence into question and have got a bit shaky due to the unkind and uncaring fellow called age.

Athletes must be protected, not punished for foolishness by administrators with inflated egos. The United States, England, Germany and others protect their athletes. So why not Jamaica?

Let us not forget that it was Ms Williams who struck gold in the same even for Jamaica in the World Championship in 2015 when very few, including herself, expected such a result.

I know that the Great Architect of the Universe has many requests in the form of prayers from millions around the world each day. But I hope that my special prayer that Williams goes on to win the Diamond League event, thereby qualifying as a ‘wild card’ entrant for the World Championship, will materialise.

Then again, a vindictive JAAA can also oppose a wild card invitation. But let’s see if those administrators would be so stupid to do any such thing, in the name of pettiness.

Duckie should be fired as Under-23 coach

The dismal performance of the Jamaica Under-23 squad has confirmed to some of us close to football, that coach Donovan Duckie is simply a bag-a-mouth.

The squad, one of the finest, in terms of talent to have been assembled in many years, stumbled while trying to clear hurdles against Dominica and St Kitts & Nevis, in their backyard in Kingston last week – a shocking situation that should have warranted the sacking of the coach, and possibly some of his support staff still rewarded by heading onto the Pan American Games now going on in Lima, Peru.

Any coach with a squad so rich in talent that could not knock aside two lowly Caribbean teams, should be sent into an intensive training programme, for he would have demonstrated that he did not have what it takes to allow a team to play to its full potential at the regional or international level.

Duckie talks a lot. And I have a major difficulty with people who talk too much. It even stands to reason that when one talks too much, it is because a deficiency exists in the area of action and practical implementation.

It seems quite easy for local coaches to head national teams based upon how they do in the domestic competitions and leagues. But Duckie’s record is not impressive. He was fair at Waterhouse, but quite ordinary at St Mary club Axum, Humble Lion of Clarendon and his first year at St Ann’s Mount Pleasant Academy, which was incidentally coached to the National Premier League by Paul “Tegat” Davis, was nothing to shout about.

It’s time to act, Jamaica Football Federation.

Britain will pay dearly for another act of stupidity

The world woke up Wednesday to the exceedingly sad news that members and officials of Britain’s Conservative Party had done what many expected, but some of us hoped would not have happened.

The election of Boris Johnson as prime minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland is a massive blow to the world. Johnson, or Moron Number Two, joins his very good friend, Moron Extraordinaire aka Moron Number One, Donald Trump, as leaders of two of the world’s most powerful economies.

The people of the United Kingdom made the humongous error of voting to leave the European Union some years ago. As silly as that move was, I’m sure that if the same people got the chance go vote again, the majority would decide to stay. But what’s done is done. Now, the governing party has decided to compound the problem by choosing someone who tries to come across as comedic. But this is no joke. Johnson, like Trump, was born in New York, USA. I wonder if they are somehow related, because they think alike, and sometimes act alike, although the new British prime minister is not as vulgar as his billionaire, racist friend up north.

Johnson’s election is another case of the majority being not always right. He plans to make the UK leave the EU by the end of October. Sure, it can happen. Even sooner. But at what price?

Oh Boris! Oh Boris! You will drive the UK towards the edge of the valley of destruction. Let’s hope your people realise the folly of their ways before they all fall in.

That PNP race is energising the party

Contrary to what some feel about a ‘mashing up’ of the People’s National Party, it appears that the leadership race is serving to energise the sleepy Opposition.

Not since his ascension to the throne in 2017 have we seen incumbent president Dr Peter Phillips display so much energy and articulate his position on governance in the way that he has been going at it in the last three weeks. Competition is really good. Phillips has always had it in him. He is brilliant and understands the job of public administration better than most.

Leading a political party though, demands a bit more and the cries have come from near and far, that he lacks charisma and charm, which leads to the obvious question of which is more important – an individual who has a ‘sweet’ mouth and little in the way of substance; or one who is drab with the gab, but knows how to find all the corners with that old broom?

Dr Phillips’ challenger, Peter Bunting is a scientific thinker. The production job that we saw at the launch of his campaign in Manchester a few weeks ago was something that the PNP had never effected so well before. So it speaks to a higher philosophical thinking on Bunting’s part. He too, is truly bright and, like Dr Phillips, is capable of running the show.

From the look of things, it will not be a stroll in the park for Dr Phillips. His challenger seems to be stepping with the momentum, although the elder Peter appears to be fighting back with his utterances on all matters, it seems, these days.

The race seems to be getting back into the nitty gritty of the party’s support base. One advice to the party though: When the real race is about to begin, do not get a starter from the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association to fire that gun, lest both men false start.