The Bottom, Saba: Secretary of the Man-O-War Ground Foundation Mr. Dave Levenstone on Monday morning said that he is rather very much disappointed with the state of affairs surrounding the sports field that was suppose to become the Johan Cruijf Sports field.
Levenstone said that ever since 2000 together with Will Johnson he started the process to purchase the property that is known to all as the Man-O-War Grounds in The Bottom. We sat out at the time to try and obtain the monies to purchase the property and we were very satisfied that in 2003 we were able to pay of the agreement that we entered into with the land owner in order to have a multi functional sports field especially for the youth of Saba. After we paid off the land we then started to seek funding to have the field built and during that time we were approached by the Johan Cruijf funds to have the property transferred to the Island Government of Saba in order to have the field built. As Secretary and board member I was strictly against that move but at the end I went along in the general interest of the youth of Saba.
Work has been carried out on the field by a local contractor and to date absolutely nothing has been done in order to have the field completed and it just sits there as another "white elephant" on the island. I have made contact with the president of the foundation Mr. Will Johnson on two occasions wanting to know what government is doing to have the field officially presented to whomever so that the youth of the island can start making use of it.
Levenstone said that he considers it a total shame and disgrace that up until now some 10 years after we started the process to purchase the property that up until now the sports field is not in operation. According to my understanding the Commissioner of Sports Mr. Bruce Zagers should be the one making sure that the field is completed and handed over and that the Man-O-War Ground foundation can carry out the agreed upon management agreement.
Levenstone said that he visited the area over the weekend and he was more or less very disappointed to see the present state of the field as it stands there full of bush and the goats has even taken over now and this field could have been put to good use long time ago by the youth as well as the adults. Levenstone said that he is calling publicly on the Commissioner of Sports Mr. Bruce Zagers to either put the field in use or hand it back over to the Man-O-War Ground Foundation so that we can have the field up and running and that people could make use of it. The same way that together with Will Johnson we was able to obtain the funds to purchase the property I am sure that we can find the money to manage the sports field and make improvements where needed. Two weeks ago I forwarded a letter of concern to the President of the foundation Mr. Johnson and I am aware that he had forwarded the letter to the Commissioner, to date the Commissioner has not shown any interest or even took the time out to respond on what is happening with the field. This was an initiative that was started and spearheaded by myself and Mr. Johnson and I would like to see this case come to an end as soon as possible so that the field can be used. The Commissioner has not been keeping us informed and I consider that the Commissioner should not come with any flimsy excuses about he is working on it. That is not enough for me, this is taking too long. People are starting to ask questions and I am not going to be accused for this delay with the field the ball is in the court of the Commissioner and he should come out and explain to us as well as the community of Saba what is holding up the field from being completed.