St Vincent’s Opposition Leader, Ralph Gonsalves, on Wednesday noted that the government is prioritising fete over sports development.
Gonsalves stated that Kaschaka Cupid (the Minister of Sport) announced that permission would be granted for use of the facility at Arnos Vale for “wet fete” again.
Gonsalves said that the government gave preference to the event over the needs of the national netballers.
He said there was a prior commitment to repair the facility for netball games scheduled for October, but that work was sidelined.
The withdrawal, confirmed by the newly installed administration, is a devastating blow to the “Vincy Jewels” national team and marks a significant failure in the nation’s bid to position itself as a hub for international sports tourism.
The decision to retreat was finalized following a high-level Cabinet review of a “detailed report”, which, according to officials, laid bare the nation’s inability to meet international standards. Minister of Youth, Sports Kaschaka Cupid, characterized the move as a necessary, if painful, pivot toward pragmatism.
However, Gonsalves argued that if the government had proceeded with the necessary construction for the netballers, the area would have been a construction site, which would have made hosting a “wet fete” impossible.
Gonsalves suggested that the real reason the netballers were told there was “not enough time” for repairs was to ensure that the planners could host their event for Carnival as part of a political promise.
The collapse of the 2026 Qualifier is inextricably linked to the political upheaval of the November 27 general election.
The hosting rights were originally secured under the previous administration of Ralph Gonsalves, whose government provided a pivotal “letter of commitment” to transform the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex into a state-of-the-art indoor facility.
This promise was the only reason the country secured the bid at all. An initial bidding attempt had previously stalled in a “gridlock” of international doubt, with regional officials questioning the country’s capacity. It was only the second bid, backed by the Gonsalves-era pledge of a weather-proof indoor arena, that finally won over the Americas Netball Region on October 29, 2025.
The 2026 Qualifier will determine which two nations join the “Sunshine Girls” of Jamaica to represent the region at the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, scheduled for August 25 to September 5, 2027.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines will now have to fight for those spots on foreign soil, stripped of the infrastructure that was supposed to redefine their sporting landscape.