Matanzas/Two people have been arrested for the robbery that occurred early Wednesday morning at the Victoria de Girón baseball stadium, home of the Matanzas Crocodiles. Thus he assures 14ymedio a local employee who requests anonymity. “Although they have tried to prevent information from circulating, it is impossible not to talk in the hallways,” says the man, who believes that the event had to be “rigorously planned.” “No one can steal the amount of objects they took, even bats,” he speculates. “It is impossible for someone to enter to steal and leave loaded with things as if nothing had happened, I am sure that it was a plan by several people executed with transportation included.”
The “reprehensible event of the theft of several items from players of the Matanzas team,” in the words of the Provincial Sports Directorate, caused the suspension, on the same Wednesday, of the scheduled match between the Crocodiles and the Toros de Camagüey. The objects were in the dugout or booth of the local team, according to the report of Giron.
“We are analyzing together with the government authorities and the Minint [Ministerio del Interior] what happened so that events like these do not harm the image of our athletes, who are being cared for and given the clarification of the facts,” declared the team, which assured that the National Sports Institute (Inder) “will assume the replacement of the stolen items.”
On Thursday when the match was rescheduled – at 10 in the morning, in a double game – Girón published an article describing the robbery as “the last straw in the 64th National Baseball Series” and questioning the decision to schedule the game “less than 24 hours after such a shocking event.”
So far in the championship, its author lamented, “the contest has received more media interest due to extra-sports events than due to the quality of the tournament itself.” In the count of “controversial situations”, he included that of “a team director attacking a director of the national federation”, referring to the altercation that occurred last September between Eriel Sánchez, manager of the Gallos de Sancti Spíritus, and the technical commissioner Miguel Rojas Rodríguez, and “a team that uses inappropriate players”, alluding to the sanctioned players in October after a massive fight during a youth match between Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila.
“The contest has received more media interest due to extra-sports events than due to the quality of the tournament itself”
“Now the looting of the belongings and sports equipment of one of their novenas is added,” lists the provincial newspaper, which adds information about the event. The players Aníbal Medina, Eduardo Parreira, Juan Elián Manrique, along with catcher Yoandry Jiménez, “were the most affected by the theft of sports equipment and their clothing.”
However, the note stated, “it is not only the theft of accessories necessary for the practice of the sport that is alarming – such as bats, gloves, gloves, batteries and spikes (whose economic value is extremely high) – but also the loss of trust, the desecration of a player’s most intimate space and the damage to a sports venue.”
Giron He continued his criticism by mentioning the flight of athletes: “The troop of mentor Armando Ferrer, in addition to dealing with the absence of fundamental players within the cast and going through the same vicissitudes that affect the rest of the population, now must also face the challenge of playing baseball after a theft of their properties.” And he added words about the “communicative reaction” of the authorities.
“In times of social networks, it is not understood that such a treacherous fact against a sports team is disseminated first by unofficial pages than by the province’s own journalists and media, in close interaction with the governing body of the sports movement in the territory,” they lamented.
Of course, they tried to qualify the diatribe by exonerating the government agencies: “The fault does not lie with the Provincial Sports Directorate, nor does it concern problems with the organization of the National Series. It is not the responsibility of the Cuban Baseball Federation and, much less, of the Matanzas team and its management body. Despite this, the course must be corrected so that our ball is not the straw that breaks the camel’s back in an extremely complex context.”
The players need to look at the stands and see that red tide that has characterized them so much.
The team management, on Thursday, before the game, limited itself to inviting the team to encourage “our guerrilla”not without a hint of excuse. “The Victoria de Girón stadium needs to write a memorable page. It is not only about baseball, but about the response that our Crocodiles deserve after the recent incident that violated their space,” they explained, and asked: “The players need to look at the stands and see that red tide that has characterized them so much. They need to feel that, beyond the material losses, they preserve what is invaluable; the unwavering support of their people. Let no player doubt for a second that their public is with them, today more than ever.”
