There were doubts about the timeliness of holding the I Elite League of Cuban Baseball, which started this Saturday, October 8, but its suspension, announced just 24 hours in advance, has come where it was least expected. The team uniforms, imported like so many things on the Island, have not arrived on time, so the National Commission (CNB) has been forced to postpone the event.
“In the midst of sustained efforts, we explored various alternatives, which seemed destined for us to receive the cargo this Thursday, but in the end it was not possible due to inconveniences in the field of transportation,” explains the agency in a note released by the official press. sporty.
The CNB states that they have worked with the Teammate brand in the manufacture of clothing, a company with which they have been working for years, they claim. The company, based in the small European state of San Marino, is a member of the WBSC (World Baseball Softball Confederation) and offers uniforms, bats, gloves and all kinds of equipment for baseball and softball.
The Federation will hold a meeting this Friday in Bayamo, the capital of Granma, where the tournament was scheduled to start, to formalize the lists of players and “other details inherent to the event”, for which a new date has not yet been scheduled. In addition, the awards gala of the most recent National Series will take place.
The Elite League had stirred up rivers of ink even in the official press. Its creation was announced last July, when the intention was explained that it would be an amateur tournament in which to see the greatest talents of the National Series. At the moment, there are six teams –Tobacco, Port, Central, Ranchers, Farmers and Coffee Growers–, which according to the official press they have not liked nor in its denomination.
Since its start in October, it was to last until December 11 in a regular stage from which semifinalists would emerge for the games from the 17th to the 27th of the same month and a grand final that would be agreed between January 7 and 17 of the next year. . Each team was to have 32 players and 13 board members.
“I am in favor of an Elite League in Cuba (…), but the beginning of this has been entangled with unattractive names for the teams”
This same week, Joel García León, a journalist specialized in sports, deputy editorial director of workers and professor at the José Martí International Journalism Institute in Havana, published a column in which he was suspicious of the event. In his opinion, the idea was good but the execution was not so good, and the text, entitled A hit with some doubts, He closed by saying: “I am in favor of an Elite League in Cuba (…), but the beginning of this has been entangled with names that are not at all attractive for the teams and without having resolved other accessories exposed here. I have a feeling that we are going to start lame. And that costs money and it costs the people.”
Yesterday, Thursday, when the delay of the event had not yet been announced, the newspaper Escambray, from Sancti Spíritus, also published a column in which it was doubted that a new tournament could excite an audience that already leaves the stands empty in the National Series. She also the author expressed her concern about Cuba’s ability to retain players when the news is already the day that one does not escape.
“It is true that you cannot live from longing, also because due to the ‘volcanoes’ of emigration, several teams have left us, including members who were already announced for the event that is about to begin,” alluded.
But more concerned than the postponement of a tournament that did not seem to attract anyone, the Cubans are due to the fact that the uniforms have been contracted abroad, as reflected in the reader comments of Cubadebate, They don’t believe what they read.
“The million dollar question is why and who authorized the FCB [Federación Cubana de Béisbol] to hire uniforms abroad when here inside we have MSMEs and national entrepreneurs who can make them with better raw materials and better designs than those ‘things,'” claims one. A league to be forgotten, with imported uniforms in the midst of a crisis. What name can you put on this?”, another user replies.
“Oh, why are we also unable to make the uniforms?” says a user in amazement. And others go further and ask that heads roll. “Let them review, and if they didn’t bid within our country, let them all be thrown out.”
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14 intervene is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
