Sports Minister Olivia Grange is reminding local artistes that they have a responsibility to their younger fanbase in light of incidents of indiscipline at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) last week.

In spite of the victories and records which impressed spectators over the course of the five days, three of the major talking points of the meet regarded indiscipline.

Calabar High School’s Khamani Gordon veered out of his lane, and into the path of Kingston College’s (KC) Nicardo Clarke, causing him to possibly miss out on a bronze medal during the Class Two boys’ 100m final. Clarke attacked Gordon at the end of the race and was then banned from further competition at the Championships and KC was docked four points for the incident. But that decision was then overturned on appeal.

Another incident happened at the end of the 1,500m event during the decathlon with St Mary’s College’s Te-Var Hammond making a “gun-finger” gesture towards Dinthill Technical High School’s Javier Morrison as he passed him just ahead of the finish line to win the race.

Another “gun-finger” gesture occurred during the closing stages of Champs. This was by Calabar’s Class Two boys’ 4x100m relay team anchor Nickecoy Bramwell, who made the gesture towards KC fans after crossing the line to win the final.

It follows similar incidents in 2021 where Antonio Watson, then of Petersfield High School, made the gesture to Edwin Allen’s Bryan Levell in the Class One boys’ 200m final, and Vashaun Vascianna, then of St Jago High School, who made a “gun-finger” also at the KC fans after winning the Class Two boys’ 110m hurdles at Champs in 2019. He then transferred to KC the following year.

The incidents this season were admonished by Don Wehby, the chief executive officer of title sponsors GraceKennedy, who said that the company could pull its sponsorship for the future if ISSA, the governing body for secondary school sports, does not put an end to these occurrences.

The incidents bring into focus the Government’s decision last year to ban all music with antisocial messages, especially regarding violence and criminal behaviour, from airwaves as they are deemed to have an effect on youngsters.

Grange, who is also the minister of culture and entertainment, reiterates the Government’s stance, saying that musicians must remember their influence on children.

“You can’t censor music, but you can instil a certain sense of responsibility in creative people and say to them, ‘Look at the society’, although they are reflecting what they see in the society,” Grange told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday. “But you can say to them, you also have a responsibility that you sing and you sing about reality, but you also must guide and move your society in a particular direction. Those discussions have been taking place and you may not see the results overnight, but you will see the results.”

But Grange says the ministries of sport and entertainment are already addressing the issue, especially at the basic school level.

“It is challenging and the approach has to be multifaceted,” she said. “We are working very hard at the grassroots level – at the basic school level and primary school level, certainly in sports to instil that discipline in them so that the behaviour that GraceKennedy expressed concern about, that will not happen.

“I would say most of the athletes conducted themselves well but you did have a couple of incidents that distracted. We’ll have to try to eliminate it in the future, so that everybody understands and everybody is on the same page. But we will continue to work and yes, I am working in terms of the entertainment sector, speaking to the artistes.”