CONCACAF club qualifiers graded SVG’s football

The recent participation of local football clubs System Three Sports Academy and Bequia United in the Caribbean Zone of the CONCACAF Club Championships qualifiers, went beyond the efforts on pitch.

Both outfits were dismissed from their groups, with System Three Academy being the last, having hosted Group E last week here at the Victoria Park.

On field results for System Three showed them winning one match, a 9-2 drubbing of Flames United of St Maarten. However, System Three went under to Sportif Moulllien of Guadeloupe 0-4 and 0-1 against eventual zone winners San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad and Tobago.

Last month, Bequia United had travelled to Antigua and Barbuda and lost all their matches, defeated 2-1 by host club Greenbay Hoppers, 4-0 by Racing De Gonavies of Haiti and 4-1 at the feet of Suriname’s Inter Moengotapoe.

Bequia United’s results and on evidence of what took place at the Victoria Park over the past week, simply gauged our football versus others in the region.

The most recent evaluation of the current champion club System Three, should be the best to make any scientific assessment.

System came up against two semi-professional units in Sportif Moullien and Jabloteh and although in parts the home team was at times competitive, their pure amateur status showed up distinctly.

Against the weakest of the lot, Flames United, System Three’s deficiencies too were exposed.

Set aside the comparative statuses, one has to accept that our top clubs are only as good as their local engagements in our national tournaments.

But despite System Three and Bequia United’s exits, there must have been lessons for all of us, in football and sports as a whole to learn, accepting that we need improvements all round.

The sojourns tested the administrative capacities of both clubs and players too, which should serve them in good stead going forward.

Thankfully, CONCACAF eased some of the burdens of the two local clubs by providing them with grants, which eased some of the financial headaches.

But this arrangement should not be viewed as a given, as clubs too have to begin to position themselves to ensure sustainability.

Digging deeper from the actual on-field happenings – truth be told – had either clubs got the results needed to get past their respective group stages and further, it would have been more or less good night for them.

This, as the Victoria Park would have been inadequate in the home and away fixtures, because of the demands of such engagements – we would have fallen short.

Hence, it is another cause for Government to look critically at lighting a facility for such purposes, with Arnos Vale being the preferred choice.

Also, among the positive outcomes, is that local clubs should be aspiring to be part of the next championships, which can be achieved by simply aiming for the top spot or runner-up in the premiership of the National Club Championships.

Additionally, our participation in the regional club championships is not a novel one, the landscape of football in the Caribbean is changing and affords better prospects for players, their clubs and nations as a whole.

But the reality is that more has to be done for Vincentian clubs to move from being mere participants to real contenders and that will take some doing.

This elevation will have to involve an overhaul of our football structure, a move that has been resisted for some time.

But, with coming on stream of the CONCACAF licensing of local clubs, one should see a movement in the way football units here operate from here on in.