It’s hard, says Jones

Trinidad and Tobago striker, Kenwyne Jones has admitted that it is tough playing Football in England, coming from the Caribbean, as a black person.{{more}}

Jones, who plays for Stoke City in the English Premiership, explained this to SEARCHLIGHT recently, at the Arnos Vale Netball Complex.

Jones was here to witness the final of the Guinness Street Football Challenge, and present the trophy to the winners .

“It is hard as black man coming from Caribbean, being away from home, being away from the culture, it is very hard”, Jones, who is 26, admitted.

But it is not only the transition from playing in the Caribbean, as Jones, like other black imported players plying their trade in the Europe, has been a victim of racial taunts.

On the issue of racism, Jones said, “You will be subjected to abuse wherever you go all over the world, when people do not understand a person, understand his culture”.

To counteract such, Jones said that the Caribbean players have formed bonds with others.

“Thank goodness that I have a few friends from Trinidad (and Tobago) playing in the championship; my team mate Ricardo Fuller, who plays with me at Stoke; Ricardo Gardener and Jo Floyd Samuel, both at Bolton; so we have a few across the board, and have formed a Caribbean family, and try and push each other through the times, as it is rough being in a foreign land,” Jones disclosed.

Fuller and Gardener are Jamaican, and Samuel is Trinidadian.

Reflecting on his movement from W Connection and Joe Public in the Trinidad and Tobago pro league, to the big league in England, Jones said , “It has been a hard, but a wonderful journey, a learning experience, as it took some time to understand the English Football, but today, I am reaping the reward.”

Jones, who was signed to Stoke City last August from Sunderland, for a club record of eight million pounds sterling, thinks that the region is light on representation, but they are doing all the can to represent the Caribbean to the fullest.

Previously, Jones had stints with Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton in the English League One and Championship, respectively.

Regarding his first season with Stoke, Jones said that he was generally satisfied with his output and looks forward to the 2011- 2012 season, scoring 12 goals.

Jones helped the club to the final of the FA Cup, which they lost to Manchester City, 1-0.

The tall, powerfully built Jones is anxiously looking forward to the new season, as he set his sights on scoring about 20 goals for Stoke, and to see Trinidad and Tobago get through successfully.

As it relates to the region’s game and its standard, Jones, who was part of the Trinidad and Tobago team to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, believes that the region has to begin to take the sport seriously.

“On a whole, we have to start back supporting our Football and take it seriously and get to the standard, where there is more than one Caribbean team making every other World Cup, or one in two, as we need all the Caribbean teams up to speed and challenge for more spots,” Jones projected.

Jones has played for Trinidad and Tobago at various age levels: Under-18, Under-20 and Under-23.

At the senior level, he has 46 international caps for Trinidad and Tobago and has four goals to his credit.