Resetting our Football

The recent poor results of St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Football units, namely the Female and Male Under-17 teams; and the Senior Women and Male Under-20s, should be a cause of concern to the gatekeepers of the sport locally.

The female Under-17 team played in Aruba in the Concacaf Qualifiers. However, they conceded a whopping thirty-nine goals, whilst scoring a solitary goal.

In the case of the Male Under-17s, they hosted the likes of the USA, the Dominican Republic, and St Kitts and Nevis.

They scored two goals, whilst twenty were registered against them.

Meanwhile, the Senior Women’s campaign in the World Cup qualifiers were beaten by Mexico and Puerto Rico by large margins. After the two matches the Vincentian lasses are yet to register a goal, but twenty- four have been recorded against them.

And the most recent outing saw the Male Under-20 team winning two of their four matches.

It is noteworthy that one of the wins was via the default route and the other a 6-0 triumph. These went against 6-0 and 4-0 poundings.

The results simply spoke to the gulf that exists between the St Vincent and the Grenadines teams and the others.

This is, notwithstanding that the groupings are skewed with St Vincent and the Grenadines and those mainly from the Eastern Caribbean at a distinct disadvantage.

Getting past the configurations and competitions’ formats, the outcomes of the matches tell half the story, as at times we appear not to belong to the league.

No fault of the players as they gave their all, but the non- existence of a development pathway towards producing quality players has been left unattended by consecutive executives of the local parent body for the sport- the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation.

There is no gainsaying that the buck lies with the decision makers of Football, who over time never erected a solid base at the cradle stage. Hence, we are paying the price for that neglect with the standards that unfold on the field of play whenever our age group teams take the field in regional and international engagements.

Given the output of the aforementioned national teams, the need is Now, more than ever to correct that protracted wrong that has positioned our football where it is.

We acknowledge and concede that St Vincent and the Grenadines has a small population; we lack the financial and modern-day infrastructure wares and do not have large economies of scale, but at least we can apply Will to complement the God- given Skills of the young footballers.

As a consequence of the malaise exhibited by the sport’s administrators, those who are placed on the field of play as the nation’s football ambassadors, along with their support staff, are the victims of ridicule and made scapegoats for the evident deficiency and impetus needed to be competitive at all levels.

Yes, admittedly, societal issues and shortcomings often infiltrate the installation of certain values and positives that are needed to drive sport forward, but the effort from those who matters most is wanting.

The next best thing is for us to overhaul our football programme, reset, recalibrate, and come again.

Inclusive of the reform, there should be a reduction of teams/ clubs as quality is sought over quantity; empower those clubs that remain and, most importantly, focus on a structured nationwide youth development programme.