F.F.B. president says MCC pitch badly damaged after concert

The MCC football pitch is usually the center of fan filled football matches. But instead of a game, this past Friday night, the MCC Grounds on Princess Margaret Drive was used for Digicel’s anniversary concert, which featured several Jamaican artists. The Football Federation of Belize (F.F.B.) and some local activists gathered to protest at the grounds prior to the event. According to the F.F.B. President, Ruperto Vicente, the MCC pitch was so damaged that it made him upset.

Via Phone: Ruperto Vicente, President, F.F.B.

Ruperto Vicente

“The F.F.B. was supporting the action taken by Miss Yaya Marin. We gave her that support because we believed that she was acting on behalf of football and so it was only proper for the football federation to support the cause because it was for football that she was doing it. The reason why is because we had written the national sport council asking them not to have that event on the pitch at the MCC Grounds and we don’t want to be perceived as being against any kind of concerts or activities at the MCC Grounds. What we are against is the use of the pitch for those activities. If you had taken a look at the MCC Grounds pitch now; that in itself proves to everybody why that pitch should not be used for those activity. When I walked into that pitch on Saturday morning, I became very emotional about it. Looking at the destruction of that pitch and the state in which it was left after that concert; even if someone that does not support football had gone into that stadium, they would have been touched; they would have been moved. They would have felt what I felt when I saw the mess at the MCC Grounds. So that in itself speaks value. The state in which that pitch is now, it is uncalled for that should have never happened. And to tell me now that the MC Grounds is going to have to be repaired and it is going to be restored; we never had to go there. All the authorities had to do was to listen to us when we say to them do not use the pitch for that event.”

Vicente says the F.F.B. will continue to lobby against public events on the football pitch.