Gonsalves to Shallow: ‘So cricket legends are clowns & trained animals? I rest my case
In a passionate defense of the Emancipation Cricket Festival, St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has issued a pointed condemnation of Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Kishore Shallow’s derisive remarks, characterising the event as a “circus.”
The war of words escalated Wednesday when Gonsalves challenged Shallow’s characterization, pointedly asking whether the legendary West Indies cricketers participating in the festival are “clowns and trained animals.”
Shallow had previously criticized the festival as merely a copycat of the Vincy Premier League (VPL), labeling it a “circus.” However, Gonsalves was quick to counter, highlighting that the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has sanctioned the games.
In a particularly powerful moment, the Prime Minister drew attention to Dennis O’Brien, the principal CPL owner, praising the Irish businessman’s support for the reparations movement. “It is shameful,” Gonsalves declared, “that a white man from Ireland shows more consciousness about Caribbean cricket and the historical injustices of native genocide and African enslavement than those trained at our own expense.”
Gonsalves’s remarks underscored the deeper significance of the event, positioning cricket as an “instrument of national liberation” and a meaningful commemoration of emancipation.
Gonsalves concluded his critique with a pointed statement: “Shallow, trained at taxpayers’ expense, calls these emancipation cricket games a ‘circus’. “Remember a circus comes with clowns and trained animals. I rest my case.”
