The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

National Sports Authority chairman Leroy Archer said the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium is “stadium ready” for the hosting of Tottenham Hotspur versus Jamaican “Reggae Boyz” exhibition game 8pm Thursday, May 23.

“It’s going to be an event of all events and I can assure you that it’s going to be the place where all Bahamians will want to be,” Archer said. “What we’ve done is we made sure there’s a world class field where every player will feel comfortable in playing on. And now that we have this field, we have a lot of other national teams who are interested in coming here and making this their training spot. So this is a good thing for the Bahamas, in terms of tourism sports.”

Spectators are expected to converge from California, North America and Europe to see the fourth ranked team in the Premier League in England take on the best in the Caribbean. The “Reggae Boyz” are currently ranked at No. 53 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

The two teams are scheduled to arrive in town this weekend for the game. But unfortunately, because of the recent bombing at the Boston Marathon, Archer said security will be enforced and there will not be any sessions other than during the game for the public to interact with the teams. “These are $100 million players coming here, so we have to make sure that they are protected,” Archer said.

Origin of game

The Albany Bahamas Resort had intended to invite Tottenham Hotspur to the Bahamas for another event, according to Archer. But the decision was made to have their visit coincide with the Bahamas’ 40th anniversary celebrations and Archer said they began engaging talks to have them play an exhibition game.

“What better way to celebrate 40 years of Independence with an international event where we bring in a European ancestry to play a Caribbean ancestry all together in one melting pot,” Archer said. “So we decided to include it in our 40th anniversary celebrations.”

In preparation for the game, Archer said they have brought in Nick Phillips, the deputy head of training grounds for Spurs, to ensure that the grass is top notch.

“It’s not that we don’t have the people here, but he specialises in that type of work,” Archer said. “He has assured us that the field will be ready.”

Ticket sales

So far, Archer said they have been extremely pleased with their on-line ticket sales for the game. Prices range from $26 in section one and five for the blue seats on the eastern side and $36 for tickets in section two, three and four for the red seats. On the western side, the blue seats are being sold for $36, while the middle section range from $50 to $150 for the VIP section.

“We want to encourage people to come out and buy their tickets,” Archer said. “To help boost the ticket sales, we are having a pre-happy hour tailgate party on Thursday. We will be raffling off a day pass at Albany, round trip tickets on Bahamasair, a Blackberry phone and some phone cards from BTC.”

The event is slated to run from 5-11pm. During that time, Archer said they intend to show the National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference semifinal game six between the San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State Warriors on the megaton big screen.

“We know that Bahamians always come out at the last minute to purchase their tickets,” Archer said. “I think we’ve sold about 5,000 tickets so far and the majority of those have been from persons purchasing from overseas on-line. All the Europeans, Americans and Jamaicans have bought them in advance on-line. We feel the mad rush for tickets for Bahamians will be this week going into the weekend.”

Media Accreditation

All media personnel are urged to contact Clarence Rolle at the Ministry of Tourism as soon as possible to apply for their accreditation for the game. Archer noted that no media personnel will be allowed to just show up at the stadium on Thursday requesting entry into the stadium.

Jeff Beckles, the stadium manager, said the NSA is making sure that the media - local and international - will be properly set up and hopefully they won’t encounter any of the problems they encountered during the hosting of the CARIFTA Games. He noted that there will a media room, equipped with internet access.

“Soccer matches are totally different in terms of the set up than track and field,” Beckles said. “So photographers and television cameras won’t be allowed to just go all over the field. We are providing adequate spots for them to be able to set up to do their jobs.”

The game will be carried live for international broadcast, but will not be seen live locally.