Michael Hall Talks WICB; World Cup

Only if you look closely - very closely - and see the greying strands of Michael Hall's hair, would you surmise that he is probably not in his mid 20's as you may have thought at first glance. The tall Hall sports a fit physique from years of playing football and other sports and exudes youthfulness, helped no doubt by his positive outlook on life in general.

That life he described as somewhat 'chequered' and I was pre-warned that the personal aspects were off-limits.

What he did share with me, was how his 45 year life took him from the comforts of an "uptown" community in laid-back Jamaica, to the fast paced world on Wall Street, to the headquarters of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in Antigua where he served as Chief Operations Officer from 2001 to 2003, and back home to this island with which he admits he has a love affair.

After stints with the financial houses Eagle Unit Trust; Dehring, Bunting and Golding; and George & Brandy, Hall moved on to the newly established Sports Development Foundation (SDF). When, after three and a half to four years, the systems he had established seemed to enable the SDF to run on auto-pilot, Hall felt the need for a new challenge. The WICB advertised for a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to replace Stephen Camacho and the ad caught Hall's eye.

We pick up the Q&A, which was conducted in late May, at this point. Hall goes on to talk about his job as Chief Operations Officer (COO), the things he was most pleased about and what frustrated him, and his dual role as General Manager of Independence Park Ltd (the National Stadium complex) and Executive Director of Jamaica Cricket 2007 Ltd.

Michael Hall: I sent my resume to Price Waterhouse who was doing the executive search. I had a telephone interview and I was told that should the need arise, they would call me back and let me know. As it turns out I was short listed. I believe I was one of three. One of the other persons was Gregory Shillingford, and I went to Antigua to interview for the job. As you know, Gregory got the job.

I came back to Jamaica and I was told that out of the restructuring effort that was being undertaken by Pat Rousseau and Clarvis Joseph (then President and Vice-President respectively) they had created certain new positions within the organization and one of them was Chief Operations Officer and I was asked if I would have an interest in that position because if so, then I should re-apply. I did, because the SDF continued to be not as fulfilling. I remember actually being interviewed here in Jamaica I think. There was a board meeting here and I actually met with some of the directors at the Jamaica Pegasus and shortly after that I got the offer and went to Antigua.

Once you found out that you had been selected, you probably started to think about what you would do once you started the job. What were some of the goals you set for yourself?

Well, I obviously had been given a broad overview of what the job entailed and so it seemed to me that one of the things that would be required would be to bring a fair degree of organizational skills, because it involved putting things in place so that tournaments and tours, both here and abroad, would run smoothly i.e. logistics.

What I was not prepared for, and which sort of hit me like a ton of bricks when I got to the WICB, was the total lack of institutional memory that existed within cricket operations.

You need to clarify that for me...

No files, no records, individual stacks of loose paper like maybe ten of them each three feet high. It took me about three or four months to sift through everything to figure out what to keep, what to throw away; to try and catch up on things that had been left outstanding.

Was this a result of Andrew Sealy's departure and nobody being in the job for a little while?

Andrew was there when I got there, you know. I don't know, I think it was more a result of the set-up that involved the position of Secretary which Andrew held and the whole organizational structure of the WICB not having caught up with the impending increase in cricket activity under the 10-year tour programme. I think it kind of just jumped over them, hurdled over them and kind of left them standing and unprepared.

In a press release announcing your appointment, you were quoted as saying that "cricket has to be seen as more than just a game and that a major part of its development should be business-focused". What vision did you have for West Indies cricket in that regard?

One of the things that I wanted to bring to the Chief Operations Officer position was a sense of the West Indies Cricket Board as the central organization having more control with respect to cricket operations, logistics, airfares, hotels and so on; having more control over how its resources were spent. It was left to individual territories that were hosting legs of tours or hosting domestic competitions to run the thing and then as a fait-accompli send in a set of bills, and say "this is what happened, pay for it".

So I wanted to bring some financial control to how the board's resources were spent with respect to the arranging and staging of matches whether they were international or domestic, and to bring some structure from a business perspective to cricket operations, to create subdivisions within international cricket which would have to be dealt with separately.

One of the things was the way we procured goods and services, for example, airline tickets. I understand that things were not done probably long enough in advance and so it was always a last minute thing so you weren't able to get the best deal or to take advantage of economies of scale, so I wanted to put in place a system where planning would make a difference in execution. There were any number of foul-ups that you would hear about in terms of over-aged players going to tournaments, flights being missed or not booked.

I wanted to bring a sense of forward planning so that when things came to take place and I know a lot of people kind of got upset with me over time because I am very pedantic and specific. Even now, it's been a feature of how I operate as a professional. I'm very specific; if I send you an email, you would have to be a dunce not to understand what I am trying to say to you.

What obstacles did you face?

The first three or four months that I was there were taken up simply with trying to organize and create files, both hard and electronic files, and in my way, obviously not sitting at the top, but in tandem with the CEO, to try and start to change the culture that was a part of the West Indies Cricket Board.

There was something of a 'laissez-faire' culture. I think it was difficult to do, simply because change is something that people naturally want to resist. I think it was also difficult to do because there seemed to have been a certain lack of support from above and below for the appointed CEO. People who didn't know him and didn't take the time to get to know Gregory, may have been rubbed the wrong way. People thought he could be abrasive, maybe a little rough around the edges, however you want to term it, but I have always had the view in my professional life that I don't really have to like you, I just need to work with you because we all have a job to do.

As it turns out, I liked Gregory as well because Gregory was very straight forward. I went to Antigua alone, he invited me into his home, into his family and so I worked very well with Gregory. Gregory had a lot of good ideas and Gregory had a lot of good organizational skills, but I don't think he had the support and I think that was evidenced by the fact that he was, in my view, rail-roaded out of the position. Obviously when Pat and Clarvis resigned, Gregory sort of lost his foundation and support. And it was pretty much a witch-hunt against him from that day on.

So those were a couple of the obstacles.

Talk some more about the vision you had in terms of seeing West Indies cricket as a business.

I felt that, without wanting to dabble in areas that were not necessarily within my purview, it seemed so strange that the WICB, and it may be even true to this day, have not taken advantage of merchandising opportunities. I mean something as basic as wanting to be able to, either by point-and-click on the Internet or walking into any reputable sports goods store and being able to take up a Number '9' Brian Lara ODI shirt with his name and number on the back. How can I walk into a store and buy a shirt that says Beckham with Number '7', but I can't buy a Lara shirt? The only time you could get them was when there was a match and there was a little shop at the ground. It seemed really strange to me, and there were questions that I would ask.

One of the things that I am most proud about even though it was not implemented during my tenure is the retainer contracts for the players, and I noticed that there was a press release over the weekend that Roger [Brathwaite] said that a lot of progress has been made. I remember actually writing the paper very early on in my tenure there, presenting it to the Board, having it praised and then becoming increasingly frustrated as time passed and I begun to realize that there is many a mile between concept and implementation in West Indies cricket.

It's very difficult to get things done within what I would call a reasonable time period from a business point of view. But we soldiered on, and we developed the contract itself and it emerged and it evolved over time to the point where I think that the document that they are negotiating about is my draft document and I am very very proud of that. It's one of the things that I'm most pleased about during my time at the WICB.

Let's talk about the West Indies Players Association (WIPA). We've seen instances where the players have voiced concerns over their contracts and general welfare, and even taken action through strikes. How would you describe your relationship with WIPA during your time at the WICB?

Michael Hall as COO had a very good relationship with WIPA both BR "Before Ramnarine" and AR "After Ramnarine". One of the things that I instigated or instituted shortly after I got there was I remember they were going to the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2001 and that was going to be followed by another tour. For the first time, players who were going away on tour, when they assembled at the point of departure were provided with documents by the Manager. The documents were created by me because I had no staff, I mean I had an assistant but it was her responsibility to book the flights and so on, so any documentation, concepts, whatever, it was Michael Hall.

One of the first things I did when I got there was a situational analysis, where I said 'look this is how I see the department being structured. International Cricket, Domestic Cricket and all of the aspects that go with it, like relationships with WIPA etc, and these are the staff I need'.

I never got this but the players were given a document package in a three-ring folder. This is where you're going, this is the full itinerary, these are the hotels that you're staying at, these are the contact telephone numbers of the hotels, this is a copy of the contract, all of this documentation. Here's a copy of the WICB Code of Conduct. A lot of times I would hear that players went and they didn't know where they were going, they didn't know where they were going to stay, they couldn't leave any information with their family before they left, and I figured that something as basic as that should have been done.

I'm not saying it was a great scientific discovery - it's not Rocket Science - but it was a necessity that was not being provided, and certainly during my tenure, it became standard procedure both for home and away series, where every player named in a squad would receive this package that would help to guide them throughout the tour.

So that helped to establish, between myself and WIPA, a sense that I had respect for the players and what they needed. I remember saying in my interview for the CEO job that the WICB can put out a set of financial statements and balance sheets, but you can't really quantify your most valuable assets which are the players and it's a philosophy that I always took in any discussions with WIPA.

I remember prior to the World Cup, the difficulty and strike; they didn't want to go and meet the media and so on. I remember negotiating with Roger (Braithwaite - CEO), Barry Thomas who is the Chief Financial Officer and the President of WIPA, the Treasurer who was Wavell (Hinds) and I'm trying to remember if there was another player. But I remember being the sort of deflector, injecting humour where necessary, being firm where necessary and I know that when I left the President of WIPA indicated to me how disappointed he was that I was leaving, because he felt that I was one of the few people at the WICB in a management position that he could trust.

So I suppose having said all of that the short answer to your question is that I feel comfortable in saying that I had a very good relationship with the West Indies Players Association, and with the players in general.

Is there anything that could have averted that stand-off prior to the World Cup?

A little more dialogue prior to the request for them to meet with the media and maybe a little bit more understanding on the part of the players about the reality of sponsorship economics. They probably had a misinformed view and perhaps an unrealistic expectation as to the value or worth of the West Indies cricket team at the time. They were perhaps a little disgruntled about the size of the sponsorship and they thought we sold them short, but when we pointed out actual figures with respect to other teams much higher ranked, the truth of the matter is that the deal that we got was a tremendous deal for a team that was struggling at the time.

Was there any action taken against the players or were they well within their rights?

I don't recall that there was any action taken against them. The truth of the matter is the whole question of retainer contracts, that's why it was so crucial, because there was really nothing in our Code of Conduct, as it was then constituted, that would address a specific thing. The Code of Conduct was archaic in the sense that it dealt only with matters that took place on the cricket field during a game, it didn't cover what happened at a training camp, it didn't cover grievance procedures, and that's why this contract document was so crucial.

In retrospect, maybe that's why it took so long for it to be drafted, because the contract as I had drafted it, and I don't know what metamorphosis has taken place with the document, but it certainly covered every aspect. Once you were under contract it covered just about everything; your conduct at any WICB sanctioned or related activity.

Your successor, Zorol Barthley, has said that you set up, and left him with some very good systems. Apart from that, what would you say are some of your major achievements during the two years in that role?

I saved the Board, I think, a significant amount of money with respect to the insurance coverage for our senior team and for our domestic competitions. I found that tours were being covered on a tour-by-tour basis and set about to change that right off the bat. Maybe I came at a fortuitous time because in 2001 the 10-year tour programme had been established and so there was now some level of being able to plan ahead with a fair degree of certainty. Obviously there may be the odd situation you have to cancel a tour, but there was some degree of ability to plan.

Insurance coverage for all representative West Indies teams - senior, 'A' team, youth teams - and domestic competitions was up or was about due for renewal and so I was able to present a schedule for a two-year period and to insure these activities on that basis instead of insuring for a tour for 3 months. Again, it's economies of scale, and I was able to save maybe between US$50-60 thousand on insurance premiums.

The whole idea of centralizing the procurement of services, hotels etc., led to significant savings. I did ruffle some feathers because of this, but I remember in my first go-round at organizing a domestic season which would have been the last Busta Cup in 2002, I actually put out to tender the airline transportation and so we utilized Caribbean Star, instead of LIAT/BWIA and I was told that someone complained that I had taken away their business. I thought that it was my business that I was giving them!

So again, savings of between US$50-80 thousand were realized just by exercising standard business practice, and these are some of the things that I brought. I'm not suggesting for one minute that another person wouldn't have done the same because as I say, it's standard business practice, but it's something that I am glad I was able to have the opportunity to bring. It obviously has now become a system.

Apart from the player contracts, what did you leave undone?

I can't think of anything else outside of that. Well there were other things, because cricket operations encompass a number of areas. It's the relationship between the Board, you sort of manage the relationship between the Board and the Cricket Umpires Association, for example.

I was able to institute a whole new ranking system for umpires, based on the forms that you ask the Captains to fill out and they are given scores and so I developed a scoring matrix. Umpires complained that 'hey, we're in Grade 4, and we've been in Grade 4 for 30 years, how are we going to move up?' So there was a lot of unglamorous aspects, and I think that the relationship between the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association was strengthened during my time.

I always used to make sure that when I did my budget I set aside some funds so that the Board could provide some kind of sponsorship for their annual convention, whether it be in the form of plane tickets for people to travel wherever and so on. There are a number of things that I did that I was pleased about. Many of them have to do with building relationships which is important for business.

And trying as best as I could in my small way to kind of polish up the image of the WICB certainly within the sphere of my own influence, because I still think that there is a great deal to be done but I did what I could.

Were you headhunted for the job as General Manager of Independence Park Ltd?

I suppose that would be a way of saying it. My understanding of the situation was that the job had been advertised and that the candidates who had applied did not fit the profile that they were looking for and I was contacted while I was in Antigua to ask if I would have an interest in coming back home.

Did you think it was the right time to leave WICB at that point?

I loved working in Antigua and I am very happy that I had the chance to travel throughout the Caribbean and to try and integrate myself and become more of a Caribbean person, because Jamaicans tend, very unfortunately in my view, to be kind of stand-alone-ish and not really appreciate what we have in the rest of the Caribbean.

The time that I spent at the WICB was fantastic for me in that regard. I met some really nice people in every single place that I travelled to, no place more so than Guyana where I find the people to be very hospitable. Every other island was great, but I just found that the people in Guyana were superb in that regard.

Having said that, I am still a home boy and I am still a "yardie", and the notion can sometimes get me in trouble, because there is a bit of romanticism attached to the prospect of coming home to run the National Stadium complex. It was something that my father did in the 1970's. He managed that complex, he brought events there, he was one of a team that brought the George Foreman/Joe Frazer fight to Jamaica in 1973. He was in charge there when the annual Norman Manley games were held, so there was a certain sense of completeness. Coincidentally at the same time, I was approached by Carreras and asked if I would be interested in being the Chairman of the Carreras Sports Foundation which was a post he held also. He died in 1998.

The appeal was there (a) to come home and (b) because of the nature of the two positions. I recall that a lot of people told me I shouldn't leave the WICB. "Don't leave man...stay and keep fighting". A lot was said about my departure and a lot was said about the fact that I had applied for the job as team manager and didn't get it and so on.

You did apply for the job of Team Manager?

Almost as an afterthought. Like half an hour before the deadline I gave it in and I interviewed.

A lot of people thought I should not have left because there was still work to be done. I don't know how to say this because I don't want it to sound like sour grapes but a lot of people said that they felt I would have done a better job as CEO than Roger Braithwaite and that I had been there sort of as second in command for over a year already and if anyone should have been considered to get the job from within, without it being advertised, it should have been I and not him. A lot of people felt that I was discriminated against or not taken as seriously because of my outward appearance and the fact that I was growing dreadlocks. And that may be so.

When Shillingford left, did you make any attempt to get the CEO position?

No I didn't make any attempt to get the position.

But you had previously applied for it...

Yes, and I felt that having come out second in the "race to be CEO" and having then still joined the Board and worked as COO and worked very closely with the CEO, and having displayed a certain level of competence in terms of the papers presented and the achievements, that it would have been a natural progression. But Gregory left very suddenly you know. They came to the office and told him that he had to leave and then an announcement was made that 'Gregory is gone and we are asking Roger to be acting CEO', so it came as a surprise.

I won't tell a lie, I was somewhat disappointed, but I felt that again, I was a victim of my own desire to express myself in that manner at that time. I suspect that the combination, or the convergence of those factors, an opportunity to come back home and again contribute, without wanting to sound too self important, to contribute to national development by running the stadium and bringing events; as well as the notion of doing something that my father used to do as well, coupled with a certain degree of frustration in terms of hitting that ceiling at WICB, perhaps somewhat unfairly in my view. You know, I had to say the right things.

The article (on CaribbeanCricket.com) came out that I was disgruntled and I was leaving because I was passed over and Braithwaite didn't like me because I upstaged him in Board meetings. All of those things are true. I did, OK, I did.

There were many Directors who came to me privately and told me that, had they had their way, i.e. were they able to control the Executive Committee, then I would have been the one asked to act as CEO. I had people on the Cricket Committee, people who I was very fortunate to meet and develop relationships with, people like Sir Everton Weekes; Andy Roberts who just became a great friend while I was living in Antigua, say the same thing. 'It should have been you because you have demonstrated ability'.

That's all well and good. It should have been, but it wasn't, and it wasn't likely and so all of those things are what pushed me to come back home. I still maintain ties and obviously still love West Indies cricket and will help in anyway that I can. But I think it was just time.

How has the job at Independence Park Ltd been so far?

The 10 months have been a struggle because the resources that I had been promised have not been forthcoming. I work under very, very trying circumstances at the Stadium in terms of the general working conditions. I still don't have my own office, I don't have my own desk, I don't have my own private line, I don't have a computer that is my own. It has been very difficult. The first two to three months were just spent getting familiar with the vastness of the complex and how things work. I remember the first couple of events that were there, I was actually there digging up the dirt to fix a pipe that was leaking.

It's been frustrating, but it's been rewarding because there are lots of events taking place there now. The place is busy maybe not as many sporting events as I would like, but certainly the Arena is being used almost on a constant basis every weekend for all different types of expos, so we are generating some revenue

Since you've been seconded to Jamaica Cricket 2007 Ltd, how do you divide your time?

I haven't divided it. I've been here 100%, a lot of all-nighters and weekends, I found myself doing something that I've never done before in my life, that is, work on Good Friday. I'm still alive anyway, so I guess I have been forgiven for that!

This dual role suggests that perhaps there isn't enough work at Independence Park Ltd to warrant a full-time executive. How would you respond to that?

I would disagree with that. I mean there is a reason why I am pulling all-nighters here. I got up at 2:30am on Labour Day and did my presentation, and put my papers together for an Independence Park Ltd board meeting. Now you might say 'well that's just paperwork', but it's paperwork that is born of events that are taking place and reports that have to be done on activities that take place, so there is need for a full time person. Clearly the outcome of our bid and the outcome of this whole process with Cricket World Cup 2007 (CWC2007) is going to determine what direction this company goes in, and how burdened they are going to be with overseeing all the preparations that will go into CWC2007.

There is no doubt in my mind that a full time executive is needed there. In fact, they need more staff. I am outsourcing Accounting and record-keeping of all the financial transactions that take place there because I don't have any money to hire a person.

What's your responsibility here at Jamaica Cricket 2007 Ltd?

It is to manage the delivery of everything related to Jamaica's, initially potential, participation in CWC 2007 and subsequent to the package being awarded, managing Jamaica's delivery of the CWC 2007 events that they get. So initially it was the creation and putting together of Jamaica's responses to the bid books since we bid for two venues. Most recently it has been managing the production and distribution of that document and CD-Rom that goes with it. It's a 'Request for Proposal' where people have indicated their interest and paid the requisite deposit for the documents and have now to come back to us by July 5.

Assuming that we get what we've asked for, put the task at hand into context for the public...

With all due respect to the World Junior Championships in Track & Field in 2002 and the World Netball Championships in 2003 which did have an element of construction of a new facility, I believe it is likely to be the most challenging undertaking of this nature that Jamaica seen because of a couple of things.

One is the timeline, which is extremely short. It's almost 2005 already. You are talking in one instance of building something from scratch, as well as, given Sabina Park's location and its proximity to schools and residences and other businesses, that whole demolition and rebuild.

It's going to be a very challenging undertaking and again I don't have any pretensions about my own abilities, I think that successful people are largely so primarily because of people skills. You could have all the technical ability in the world you know but if you can't relate and communicate properly and get people to want to contribute, you're dead in the water. You could be the brightest man in the world, if you can't talk to people, you are going to be alone. I am not ashamed if I say so myself, that this is one of my strengths and I think that once the packages are announced and we communicate with the Jamaican people appropriately to suck them in and get them on board and caught up in the spirit, that we certainly have the capability as a people to deliver, even though I see this as probably the most significant challenge of its nature that we have ever been involved in. I think if we get the people on board, and we've shown it already, Jamaicans can and will deliver on the things that we get.

The World Junior Athletics meet, and World Netball Championships took place here - one country. You have travelled extensively around the region and dealt with the airlines, immigration and so on. In your opinion, what are the key factors that would have to undergo drastic change in order for us to improve upon South Africa's staging of the Cricket World Cup in 2003?

I believe that the most critical challenges that faces Cricket World Cup being successfully staged in the Caribbean, let's forget for a moment about finding the financial wherewithal within the countries, it is going to be the movement of people from island to island particularly by air. If the numbers that are being talked about are realized, it is going to be very difficult.

How are we going to convince the Jamaican people, some who have no interest in cricket at all, that when they're walking on South Camp Road and they see a tourist, that saying hello to them is going to change how they think about Jamaica as a destination?

That is a situation and a concept that Jamaica tries to promote every single day. You are not going to have 100% success rate with anything that you do, but I think the experience that people are going to have when they come to Jamaica for CWC 2007, is going to depend a great deal on how we, as the keepers of the 2007 World Cup Jamaica experience, as the keepers of that flame, market and sell and promote the event and the attendant benefits in the short and long term. It is going to come down to what hopefully will be a hugely successful selling campaign by Jamaica Cricket 2007 Ltd and all of the support agencies; the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) that this is an event that is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for the region.

You see, my thoughts are, how do you get, for example, the taxi drivers all on board in saying don't try and hassle people, don't try and rob them out of taxi fare because you going to tell them is J$300 to go to Sabina park and you going to tell me, a Jamaican it's J$200, things like that. We heard what the Australian journalist Trevor Marshallsea had to say about taxi drivers in the Caribbean.

Trevor Marshallsea came here with an agenda you know. Australia is probably still running parallel plans for Cricket World Cup 2007. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I think there is sufficient evidence that sometimes people smile up in your face but they don't really have your interest at heart.

Can I tell you Michelle, and maybe there's a certain degree of naivety in this response. I am always, and have been, someone that sees good before I see bad in a person.

But you're going to have to anticipate all this.

I agree and so I say that is where the selling is going to come in. We hope to do a series of caravans to try and bring on board the various interest groups that could possibly benefit, like the taxi associations, the restaurant associations and so on. But as I say, I have always seen good before I have seen bad in a person and I have always said, I may be one of the few persons in Jamaica who don't have a grill around his house.

You don't want to put on blinkers though.

No, I'm not saying that they don't exist and I'm saying again that it is going to come down to these public fora and to the way we present the event and to make sure that we have the most eloquent and articulate spokespersons for it and maybe even bring people that can testify. Maybe even bring a taxi man from South Africa, because I hear stories about taxi men in South Africa who after the world cup, them retire or them buy two car and them have man a drive di cyar fi dem and hopefully it was not because they ripped off people but it is because they just had a lot of work! So I agree; I am not suggesting that these things are not possible disasters waiting to happen but I would want to focus on the positives rather than the negatives.

The Venue Assessment Team will spend June 10 and 11 in Jamaica. What will they be looking at, and looking for?

It's hard for me to say what they will be looking at or for with any level of specificity. They are going to come in on the evening of the 10th and we will meet and greet. The Prime Minister has graciously offered to host them at a reception at Jamaica House that evening. The following day is really when the work starts, and I think that there are three major areas where they are going to have discussions; they call them break out sessions.

I guess Jamaica's Bid Committee will give some sort of computer-generated overview of our bid, and then we will break out into some session where the various areas of expertise that reside within the VA team will meet with our counterparts, so there is a part of the VA team that focuses on architectural issues so we will have them speak to our people that are in stadium development. They will probably also want to look at transportation so we have our ground transportation experts, the people who know about our sea ports, our airports. There is a part of the team that's going to want to look at security, disaster management, medical services and so on.

They will probably want to look at cricket operations, match day operations. Things like VIP and hospitality prep and how we are going to deliver those things, so generally speaking, that's what the VAT is going to come here to look at. I expect to get some information from ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in terms of specifics but I can see the tour going somehow in that vein. They will come in on the Thursday evening, we will fete them and then we will get down to business on the day. And once we do these break out sessions in the hotel, we will probably take them up in the JDF helicopters and fly them around Sabina Park and its environs.

We may run them down the north coast and show them the north coast highway and some of the hotel centres, certainly fly over the proposed site for the stadium in Trelawny, bring them back to Kingston. They will have a de-brief in the late evening and then get them back to Norman Manley airport put them on their jet and they are gone to their next location.

It's a sort of verification and I think critically, and some people might consider this fluff, but I think it's something that's going to count for some fairly high marks on their assessment, is how we handle the whole arrival protocol. We are going to try and keep them away from immigration and customs and give them ramp clearance right off the plane into their van. Again I think it's just a question of making sure we execute, and that we execute professionally so as to build confidence.

Do you think you could contribute anything to cricket in Jamaica, after your past experience at the WICB? I've been around to the Supreme Ventures matches and am horrified that no spectators are there, about the conditions of the ground etc.

Bwoy Michelle...it's a bit of a paradox, eh? At the highest level, i.e West Indies cricket, there is still no other sport that evokes the kind of reaction and passion and discussion and debate and it carries over somewhat to cricket at the regional level and yet the nursery that provides the players that play at these levels that create all this passion, people don't seem to give two hoots about them. And I think it is because it no longer represents the most popular form of sporting expression, certainly here in Jamaica.

I can't speak with any authority on any of the other islands and that I think, and this is my own perception here. Because sport became more community driven through the Social Development Commission (SDC) and then the SDD which was the Sports Development Division of the SDC, it was a lot easier to provide an outlet through a sport like football, certainly cheaper and you had that sort of gradual shift, I think. Then came the 80s and the 90s and you had the West Indies team still doing phenomenally well but you had now the proliferation or a greater influence from North America and those sports over there and there has been a gradual shift away.

How do you change that? I don't know. The Jamaica Cricket Association used the services of a company to try and see if they could leverage some sponsorship, and they got J$45m from Supreme Ventures. It's a lot of money and it may attract more youngsters to play, there are more individual incentives and so on.

We still don't have the kind of spectator support for club cricket and it may not augur well for a renewal when time comes to renew. I really don't know the strategy behind Supreme Ventures. It might have been it being a new entity, they just established a corporate identity and maybe they're hoping it is going to translate into more sales, I don't know.

But at some point in time a sponsor is going to want to know that there is sufficient public interest around the event they are sponsoring. It could be any number of things Michelle. It's competition for people's time. Do you have 7 hours a day for Saturday and Sunday to go and watch a cricket match? I suspect not. People are just busier and I think it is unfortunate, and I think this situation probably applies throughout the region; that crowds at club cricket are probably euphemistically described as crowds. It's probably a handful of people.

Sad, because that's where you get the people from who will eventually represent the West Indies...

Absolutely.