Kingston, 4 January 2024 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, said the Ministry did its best to give support to the Jamaica Tallawahs team.

In a statement on Thursday (this evening) Minister Grange said her Ministry “sought to provide special support to the Tallawahs at the level that our funds would permit.”

Minister Grange said her Ministry provided cash, paid for services, as well as coordinated services across the Government of Jamaica to facilitate the Tallawahs.

Minister Grange said cumulatively, her Ministry’s Sports Division and the Sports Development Foundation provided direct cash payments of J$13 million to Jamaica Tallawahs, including the purchase of tickets for matches, between 2015 and 2019.

The Minister also disclosed that the government incurred significant direct costs as it worked to facilitate the Tallawahs.

The Sports Development Foundation undertook the cost for the importation of goods and equipment needed for use during cricket matches.

Minister Grange said her Ministry also undertook the cost for various licenses and fees including for television broadcasts.

The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport also negotiated with the Jamaica Urban Transit Company to provide transport service to the Tallawahs and with the Jamaica Tourist Board to market the team.

The Minister, herself, also successfully participated in discussions with private sector companies about sponsorship for the team.

Minister Grange said: “We did our best to give support to the Tallawahs. The Tallawahs bear our country’s name, but are not a national team, and are therefore not covered in the yearly allocations to the Jamaica Cricket Association. However, we have sought to provide special support to the Tallawahs at the level that our funds will permit.”

The Minister said the Sports Development Foundation provided J$263 million in grants to all national sports federations in 2023.

“It is estimated that the Tallawahs require US$1 million each year—or more than J$150 million; but in order to give them more we would have to cut funding to the more than 40 National Sports Federations, such as football, netball, track and field, who depend on government to run their programmes and have been requesting additional sums — which we are challenged to provide.”

Earlier, Minister Grange attended the handing over ceremony of 90 cricket kits from the Government of India to the Jamaica Cricket Association.

The handing over ceremony took place at the High Commission of India and represented the remainder of the 100 cricket kits promised to Jamaica by the Indian President, His Excellency Ram Nath Kovind, during his visit to the island in May, 2022. The President had presented 10 kits during his visit.

Minister Grange thanked the High Commissioner, His Excellency Masakui Rungsung, and the Indian government for the gear “which will benefit young cricketers across the country.”

The Minister said the handing over of the kits was “one of the initiatives on which the High Commissioner and I have been working together as representatives of our respective governments in the interest of cricket. We are also discussing a major project, about which I believe we will soon be in a position to update our respective stakeholders.”

Minister Grange challenged the notion that the government was anti-cricket, pointing out that the Jamaica Cricket Association receives more funding each year from the Sports Development Foundation than all other national federations except football and track and field.

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