Re-focussing Football’s attention

The time may be right for the national football administration to take another look at its focus, as it is clear that St. Vincent and the Grenadines may never make it on to Football’s world stage, at least in the foreseeable future.

Several executives of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation have given specific timelines for qualification to the world’s premier tournament. First it was 2014, then 2018, and have we heard 2022? Realistically, none seem possible, as there are enough indicators which would suggest improbability more than things coming to fruition.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Football has a myriad of obstacles stacked up against it. Our attempts at development processes have not taken root and the sport has been left to drift to an undetermined destination.

Additionally, the local economy is not robust enough to prop up football financially, as certainly, money is what drives every sport.

Our footballers have also not shown the tenacity and the willingness to take their art from the amateur state of thinking to a higher level of proficiency, both on and off the field.

The schoolboyish display of skills at the National Club Championships, the premiere football competitions here, is testimony to the state of the game.

Our “top” footballers are simply not good enough to reach the threshold of world class, even though there a few, who could be classified as promising.

Hence, when our players venture out into the regional sphere, their abilities become wanting.

Also, in the equation are the lack of top quality playing surfaces, the absence of at least a semi -professional league, coupled with the love, passion and general support for the sport by the populace.

So, what has obtained for several years is that we have been employing wishful thinking, possessing a champagne mentality, but with mauby pockets.

Clear indications of the status of Vincentian football are manifested in our sojourns in the Caribbean Football Union’s Club Championships, which is a qualifier to the wider CONCACAF club competition.

Albeit a good one, the CFU and CONCACAF set-up was never designed for small states like ours, and even the larger ones with greater economies of scales are finding it difficult to circumvent the debilitating costs of participation.

Therefore, we cannot forever be spinning top in mud, hoping that one day a miracle will take place; but, instead we should be more pragmatic and explore other forms of the sport, and develop from there.

Alternatives must be found, and one such is the exploration of the Futsal form.

Played indoors and requiring a smaller size field and ball etc., Futsal can feed from the proliferation of small goal football that is played in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Its implementation and mastery may take a shorter route than the journey pursued in the traditional format.

Then, there is Beach Football or Beach Soccer, as it is more popularly known, which, with some improvisations and creative engagement of wits, can be one also worthy of exploration.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is replete with beaches, and with costs for additional facilities which will not trip us over.

Beach Soccer will not only serve as an avenue for promoting football skills, but as a boost for tourism, as that form of the sport is growing in popularity.

And, it may be a better bet for football authorities here to give a greater thrust to the women’s game.

Like the men, the women are also behind in every respect, but results may be more forthcoming comparatively, granted the relatively young stage of the female form of the game.

Our women seem to be more enthusiastic and more willing to achieve than the men.

Not necessarily in pecking order, the Executive of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation must give serious consideration towards re-focussing its energies.

This is not to say that we must abandon the thought of getting better, however, and in the interim we should seek to continue with youth development, while keeping those above average footballers in form, for possible export.

No re-focussing for On Target’s call for the complete removal of that mound at the Sion Hill Playing Field.