Hercules lashes out at ECB for inhumane treatment at Busta finals

… calls for end to mediocre treatment of cricketers
CAPTAIN of the victorious East Bank Essequibo lineup and former national Under-19 fast bowler Ryan Hercules has lashed out at the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) for the inhumane treatment meted out to his players prior to the playing of the final last Sunday.
Flashback! Guyana’s Ryan Hercules is seen here bowling for Berwick, a Melbourne suburban area in Australia in late 2012.
Flashback! Guyana’s Ryan Hercules is seen here bowling for Berwick, a Melbourne suburban area in Australia in late 2012.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport,, the 26-year-old Hercules believes that the treatment meted out to his team who overcame such to win the ECB/Busta tournament, was worse than what some dogs or even stray animals would have endured.
“I am 100% disgusted at the way they treated my team, East Bank Essequibo, prior to playing the Busta final.
The authorities of the ECB handled us as if we are small boys who don’t have any sense of pride or even understanding when it comes to certain things with the game and this nonsense must stop,” said Hercules.
He added, “We arrived at the Anna Regina Hostel the evening before the game and the sight that met our eyes was not nice or even befitting for humans. The place was in a mess, with faeces from rats, bats and other animals greeting us, while the rooms were not clean and the toilets lacked any toilet paper for persons who needed to ease their bowels.
“In addition to that, when the dinner came, there was no spoon to take out the food, with the players having to use a plate to do such.”
However, if Hercules thought it would have been over in the morning prior to the game, the sight that met his eyes was not conducive for a team of 13 players and a manager, plus one guest player for the opposition who shared a room at the hostel.
“While we overlooked the state of the hostel the night before, what they give us for breakfast was definitely an insult to us as humans, for we had a small bowl of eggs, 3 loaves of bread with nut butter applied to it sparingly and a bucket of semi-warm tea, that had the colour of the Essequibo River,” stated Hercules.
He said some of the players jokingly felt that the contents of the bucket was taken from the river, with the necessary ingredients being extracted and added, then warmed up before being brought to them to use as breakfast.
“Whether you are an athlete or not, breakfast is always viewed as the meal of champions, but what was brought to us for breakfast, certainly left much to be desired about where we are going when it comes to hosting teams and at the same time further developing cricket in Essequibo.
Half of my team played without a proper breakfast. Even Anthony Ifill, the guest player for Central who shared a room with me at the hostel, did not have breakfast and if he had not bought 12 butter-flaps which we shared amongst ourselves, we would have taken the field on empty stomachs.”
He added, “Literally we did take the field on empty stomachs as the players were looking for something solid and proper to eat but got none and when I approached Mr Christiani and spoke to him about the breakfast, letting him know it was not enough, he said there is nothing he can do about it.
“This is not right; my players could not warm up properly before the game because they did not have a proper breakfast. Some of us lay on the benches to reserve our strength before the game started, while we had to wait until 13:30hrs to get a proper meal.”
While acknowledging the fact that Managing Director of Guyana Beverage Company, the sole distributors of Busta products in Guyana is doing his best to aid with the development of the game through the sponsorship, Hercules questioned the motives of the ECB officials.
“They would come out at Executive meetings and tell us how many thousands of dollars was spent on meals and accommodation, but who they were feeding and accommodating is another story; for the treatment we got as a team was not worthy of such at all and I say again, the nonsense must stop.
“They need to do a better job when it comes to accommodating teams. Some of us play overseas and are accustomed to certain hygienic conditions and treatment that are worthy of human beings, not the type my team and I have experienced last Sunday morning,” said Hercules.
Despite the treatment, they went on to win the game by nine wickets and lift the trophy for the first time in seven years, a feat that saw Hercules being congratulated by president of the East Bank Essequibo Cricket Association and present manager of the Guyana cricket team, Alvin Johnson.
“You know what was more insulting to us, was that Mr Christiani after he had finished packing out the trophies to put them on display looked at me with a chuckle and said the runner-up trophy would look wonderful in my hands after the game.
Those words made me feel that they planned to do what they did to us as it relates to the meals and accommodation, probably with the hope of weakening us before the game, but we rallied and won and I wish for the Guyana Cricket Board to conduct an investigation into these allegations, as I would like to see players being treated better in the future,” said Hercules.
By Calvin Roberts

Dem big belly men at de GCB need to investigate but we all know there is zero chance of that happening.

Oh boy! This is crazy!