Labour Day, the holiday that is sometimes called May Day, is also known locally as Fun Day. Monday May 2nd, was a time of hype, intrigue and fun on the Webster’s Park, as a moderate crowd attended the traditional fun-filled event featuring several sports played under the auspices of the Anguilla Amateur Association.
With all masks laid aside, six robust teams boasted the powers of their respiratory systems as they battled hard for victory in each of the sports. After all, no one can perform effectively or optimally while wearing the cumbersome mask. So, Fun Day was a time to cautiously forget about those Covid protocols which had prohibited Fun Day observance for the past two years.
Teams this year included Aurora Resort, Four Seasons Resort, the Government of Anguilla, Malliohanna Auberge, the Royal Anguilla Police Force and Social Security Board.
The games comprised fifteen separate contests including the traditional tug-of-war, suck-it-up race, egg ‘n spoon race, fill-the-bottle race, noodle toss, clothes pin race, spelling race, bag race, potato race, thread d’ needle race, 4-legged race, bottle race, ball throw, 4 x 100 relay race, and men’s night out. The activities drew immense frolic and laughter from both the players and spectators. For many, the “tug-of war” and “men’s night out” were the two most captivating attractions of the day’s events that started and 10:30 in the morning and finished after 5:00 in the afternoon.
Tallies at the end of the games revealed the following overall scores: in 6th place, Social Security with 72 points; in 5th place, the Royal Anguilla Police Force with 82 points; Aurora Hotel took 4th position with 97 points; in 3rd position was Government with 112 points; Four Seasons Resort took 2nd place with 114 points, and 1st place honours were captured by Malliouhana Auberge which emerged winner amassing a total of 164 points.
In “tug-of-war”, Government came in at third position with 6 points; Aurora Resort took 2nd place with 8 points; and Four Seasons won 1st place with 10 points. In “men’s night out’: Four Seasons secured 3rd position with 6 points; Government took 2nd place with 8 points; and 1st place went to Malliouhana Auberge, which garnered 10 points.
The largest team was the Pride of Aurora, which featured the event’s cheer-leading action.
Sports Director, Delano Mussington, told The Anguillian: “Evidently we are much less in numbers today than usual, because of the Covid break over the past two years or so. Some people were not even aware that we had resumed the Fun Day activities. Anyway, we still have a decent crowd and, hopefully, we will be building up again from here going forward next year.”
The Anguillian also spoke with local sporting enthusiast, Derrick Carty of the Aurora team, who commented primarily on the tug-of-war match: “The tug-of-war was quite competitive this year. I just want to extend sincere congratulations to Four Seasons. They defeated us, though we were contending hard to be the champions for this year. Unfortunately, we did not succeed. But that is the spirit of the games. It does not matter too much who wins or who loses, although there must be a winner and losers. But we don’t really focus on that. It’s Fun Day, and we just come out to have fun.”
