CWC fans have their way !!!

Rum, beer, water smuggled into match venue
By Darryl Heeralal

TRUST in a Trini to find a scheme to beat the system every time.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) rules for the 2007 Cricket World Cup bans plastic bottles, tins and alcoholic drinks from the match venues, so fans grudgingly complied on the first day. Some threw away their beverages before entering the match and others chose to drink them.

When fans got into the venue and realised that all the food and drink prices, nuts and doubles included, were in US dollars, that was another story.

By yesterday's match between Pakistan and South Africa, we Trinis found the way to beat the rules. It was no longer rum, beer, water, juice and soft drinks in bottles and cans, but zip-lock bags. At the end of yesterday's games, some people were boasting how many bags of beer they drank and others how many bags of rum they had guzzled.

A couple of people also hid small plastic bottles of water and less sobering drinks in between their sandwiches and lunch boxes and were able to sneak pass the security checks. And for food, mostly everyone walked with their sandwiches and plastic bags filled with snacks. Even the nuts vendor hired an assistant to pass out nuts for him and collect money. Nutsmen are banned from throwing packs of nuts to their customers.

For those who preferred to buy lunch, they had to pay for the KFC in US dollars or the equivalent in our money - $35 for a dinner special and $25 for a snack pack. As early as 6 a.m., fans had started gathering at the gates for yesterday's game that was long sold out before the first ball was bowled.

President George Maxwell Richards and First Lady Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards were at the ground for the first half of the day, while embattled Director of Public Prosecutions, Geoffrey Henderson, took in a couple of overs in the afternoon.

"The ICC could have all the rules they want but cricket is we thing and we going to enjoy we way. All we have to figure out now is how to sneak in iron and drum to make noise in the oval," one fan said at the end of yesterday's game at the Sir Frank Worrell Ground at UWI-Spec, St Augustine.

World Cup action kicks off in Trinidad with the first group match at the Queen's Park Oval on March 15.

Yall ain't seen nothing yet, wait till the games reach Guyana - Guyanese are the most resourceful people in the world, watch how they gun beat all them systems put in place fuh cheat em...hehehe wait an see.