Football-the way forward

November 24, 2004

Once again the football agenda, this time "The Road to Germany," is on and the problem that arises is the same as before.

To indicate that to date we have gone nowhere, we will reiterate what we said in this space way back in 1999:

...No matter how hard we try to stay away from the football issue, the burning questions keep invading our consciousness.

The last time we journeyed into these realms, one football coach responded by informing us that he had left the game for good in disgust and frustration. His concerns in fact appeared to be genuine and were indeed not much different to ours, but he was hurt by our reference to him as a "blue-eyed" boy and for this we must apologise.

Our purpose then surely was not to see any individual depart the game that means so much to so many, instead we desired to see a collective effort towards devising a clear-cut "strategic plan."

One hates these Dookeran-esque terms that have suddenly become quite popular-"strategic plan," "directional plan," "transformational plan," etcetera, the point being that if it is a "plan" at all then there ought to be inherent a strategy and a direction; the concept of a "plan" presumes strategy and development towards specific inherent goals.

The choice of language certainly indicates where our deep problems dwell, even with our so-called intellectuals. Nevertheless, our intention at all times in discussing football is to make a plug for intelligent and purposeful functioning that would ensure we pay regard to process .

In all our pieces we called first and foremost for "structural coherency in our football from cradle to grave" and a "board of coaches" to implement this process.

We demanded that coaches at all levels of the game must be made to work in unison and not at cross-purposes in order to produce the national product we desire and that the erratic approach to the management of football be curtailed forthwith.

We even went as far as to identify the most likely source of this erratic approach and postulated that even though this very source is the greatest asset to our football, we must have the "testicular fortitude" to demand the curtailment in football of what Jamaicans in their culture have for years described as "one-man-ism," precisely because it is addictive and, like a disease, spread and filtered down to every last bitch and his brother.

We warned that we will go nowhere in football without our full comprehension of what "process" and "collectivisation" mean. Both Gally Cummings and Bertille St Clair in the past have exhibited the negative attributes of listening to no one, of failing to consult, and as a result failed after some initial success.

Nevertheless, they have proven to have been the best of the crop, and hopefully in the future they will see it necessary to work together for the good of the nation.

We even ventured further to suggest that our problems lie in two main areas, that is, technical incompetence and poor marketing. The technical matters we saw as revolving around the following:

1. The need to perfect a structure to suit the players we have. It is foolhardy for instance to attempt a structure that demands two wing-backs when in fact we do not have any consistently competent ones available to us;

2. The key to the game is about possession of the ball and capable passing of the ball in which the question of timing and judgment is of the utmost, yet to date there are few players in T&T who can do this. Even many of those who are professionals abroad.

3. Defence of territory and spatial off-the-ball running and positioning are crucial basics that we lack, however these aspects of our game must become instinctive in order to guarantee forward movement and the competent switching from attack to defence when we lose possession.

However all this comes to the fore if and only if an appropriate structure is working.

4. Our players must develop first-touch-control of the ball. Reaching the World Cup is not a possibility without this capability and any national coach who proves unable to accomplish this requirement will be a failure.

If however this requirement is fashioned from very early at the lower levels, the national coach will not be so burdened.

5. Football is about chemistry; the players need time to work together and to gel as a team. In that sense the professionals cannot be the backbone of the team; a locally-based team has to be built over time with the professionals playing their roles as time permits.

Even so the professionals themselves will perform much better when placed in context of a team that is truly a team. Gally proved that.

The other question is marketing. We are yet to intelligently work out a marketing plan. We need about $50 million to properly prepare the team. We cannot depend solely on government; neither can we depend solely on inputs from the private sector.

In addition to these sources we must create an international plan to sell our team...

Back in that 1999 piece we suggested the mass production of a video highlighting our football history; the great clubs of the past; the travesty that took place in Haiti; the building and preparation of the Strike Squad replete with music clips and performance clips; and to this we can add Bertille’s handling of the team in the Gold Cup and Porterfield’s first round in which we defeated Mexico.

We also recommended the marketing of our well-known professionals; we suggested the images of Latapy, Yorke, Shaka and Stern and their accomplishments on 500,000 jerseys to be sold at $100.

We have to market the team and we have to start now to coincide with the technical decisions that have just been announced.

Enough said.