The downturn in the economy has impacted negatively on Business House sports.

This was the view of several top persons in Business House sports, including Theda King, president of the Business House Netball Association; Wayne Shaw, president of the Business House Football Association; Cosmo Grant, president of the Business House Cricket Association and Humbert Davis, vice-president of the National Association of Domino Bodies.

King said there was a noticeable decline in the number of teams in the Business House netball leagues over the past two years as a result of the economic crunch.

"Most companies, however, are keen to continue as netball remains a popular sport," noted King. "Sponsorship is a bit difficult to come by these days, but some companies have stuck with us in these trying times. They include our main sponsor, the Wisynco Group, as well as Scotiabank, National Commercial Bank and Guardian Life.

"As far as competition in the leagues is concerned, a number of new and smaller companies have come on stream and the girls are passionate about the sport at a time when the national teams are doing so well," she explained.

many big teams gone

According to Wayne Shaw, gone are the days when the football league used to facilitate three divisions and over 50 teams.

"When Scotiabank first entered the Business House Football Competition in 1992 and we won Division III that year, all the big companies like Desnoes & Geddes and Seprod were present. This is no longer the case," Shaw pointed out.

"Today, many of those big teams are gone and instead of 50 participating teams in three divisions, we now have 15 teams participating in two divisions - eight in Division I and seven in Division II.

"Although this could be attributed to the meltdown in the economy, the fact is that the participation is still out there in that the Business House Five-a-Side competition attracted as many as 68 teams.

"Companies, especially many of the smaller ones, are gravitating to competitions like the five-a-side in order to cut costs. It is easier to fund a five-a-side team with an entry fee of $25,000 as against the bigger league with a $55,000 price tag," added Shaw, who also spoke on the role of sponsorship, singling out Western Sports.

numbers dwindling

Cosmo Grant, president of the BH Cricket Association and a former captain and player for The Gleaner company in the '70s, echoed much of Shaw's sentiments re the diminishing numbers in Business House sports.

"In the old days the cricket competition had close to 40 participating teams, but this has dwindled down to nine this year due mainly to economics.

"In the 70s and 80s we had big teams like Seprod, Desnoes and Geddes, ICD, Government Printing Office, Metal Box, JPS, Airport Authorities, Jamaica Flour Mills, Cigarette Company, Colgate, The Gleaner, West Indies Pulp and Paper, Jamaica Packaging and several bauxite companies such as Kirkvine and Alcan Ewarton playing good cricket in the league.

"Today, all of those teams are history. The economic downturn is the main contributing factor of course, but it also has to do with the fact that cricket is not as popular in the schools as it was in those days when the West Indies team was doing so well. The schools were a feeder system for Business Houses then, but the youngsters these days gravitate to other sports such as football and basketball.

"Still, we are thankful for small mercies. We run more competitions in a season than any other Business House team - the Reggae Jammin 50-over league, St Ann Jamaica Bauxite 35-over KO, Best Dressed 30-over KO, Digicel 20/20 and the Hermon Spoerri double wicket, thanks to the kind sponsorship of Jamaica Broilers and Digicel," Grant said.

- O.C.