All in one

The sport of Football in St Vincent and the Grenadines was in the limelight last week with the staging of three major events.{{more}}

Firstly, on May 6, one of the best advertisements the sport could have had was the successful hosting of the Hairoun Beer Community Inter League Finals at the Victoria Park.

The local Football authorities could not ask for more, as a bumper crowd turned out to witness the Under-13, the Under-17 and the Senior Finals.

And, it was a promise made good by the Venold Coombs led Executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, which had promised to bring back the crowds to Football and take back the sport to the people; and this, in some measure, was achieved.

The following day, Monday, saw the commencement of a five-day Youth Football Coaching Workshop.

Then, on May 9, the Liverpool Under-18 Academy team played a one-off match against the St Vincent and the Grenadines Under-20 outfit.

But, have we just been left with temporary hype and an intoxication of enthusiasm, going away with the belief that Football in St Vincent and the Grenadines has had a rebirth?

Hopefully, the national administrators do not get carried away and still work on getting the club systems to emerge from the said communities.

There are many lessons to be learnt from these events for the greater good of the game and not merely the events themselves.

Naturally, one may be blinded by the attendances during the earlier and latter stages of the competition, forgetting that the second round was drawn out and tested one’s attention capabilities.

Of critical importance is what have we learnt from the competition.

Was the standard of play in the competition raised to a level that we could boast of some semblance of quality Football in the making, which could extrapolate into good national teams in the foreseeable future?

Was capacity built in new administrators, coaches and other personnel emerging from the competition to build the national resource base?

The other issue at hand is the frequency with which Football courses are held here.

While we continue to hold courses of this nature, the results are not forthcoming, as most who attend get the literature, the gear, the certificates and become inactive until another course comes around.

Systems should be instituted to ensure that value is added to the active Football population and the courses are not merely for the enrichment of persons’ resumés, but for the benefit of those towards whom they are geared.

Also, the target group must always be those who have a genuine interest in the sport and not because of any close affinity to members of the executive.

Finally, we are playing games with the visit of the Liverpool outfit.

But we seem not to be keeping our end of the bargain and are slighting the visits.

Expected to be an annual happening, our local team was hurriedly put together, giving into our normal mode of doing things at the last moment.

The bigger picture is being obscured by myopia: that we cannot achieve much, given our size.

With this year marking the second year in succession of the visit, undoubtedly it is a good public relations boost for Football here and, by extension, in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Vincentians get to see the operations of a club of such repute, as they are not visiting one of the more affluent Football nations of the world, but small St Vincent and the Grenadines.

We have to make full use of the occasion, as the benefits are many: we can see how professional units are prepared, we can go further and tap into a relationship with such an influential organization, such as establishing a used equipment programme, which could be much to our benefit.

The annual match comes also as a fillip in our human resource and provides an opportunity for the establishment of linkages.

It can also assist our administrators in their professional execution of the arrangements as the visiting players are accustomed to such and nothing less will be accepted.

We are poised for reaping what crumbs may fall from such visits, but we are the ones who have to ensure that they are caught before they hit the ground.