Adrian Frater | Tomlinson making a difference out west

Come tomorrow night, a new era will dawn in Westmoreland's football. The newly upgraded Llandilo Sports Complex, which is the brainchild of Everton Tomlinson, the president of the Westmoreland Football Association (WFA), will host its first football match under floodlights.

Knowing the struggles that Tomlinson has gone through to create this facility, which features a main office block, a spacious multi-purpose court and the football field, I believe it should be the proverbial cloud nine experience for him when the lights come on for the first time tomorrow night.

While it is indeed true that I have had a long history of being very tough on the football administrators from out here in western Jamaica, based on their laziness and lack of vision, I want to make it clear that Tomlinson has always been the exception in my book.

After initially trying without luck to secure the Frome Sports Ground, which is owned by the PanCaribbean Sugar Company, for the WFA, Tomlinson took on what many thought was an impossible task when he decided to start from scratch in creating a modern sports complex at Llandilo.

In the years since the Llandilo project started, I doubt that there is a single door of importance that Tomlinson has not knocked in search of assistance. While he has gotten some amount of help, he has also had to endure much frustration, especially with regard to broken promises, even from government agencies.

However, throughout his struggles, Tomlinson kept pushing on, no doubt driven by his believe that he wants to repay society for what he got from sports through his playing of daCosta Cup football at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), National Premier League football at Reno FC and Wadadah FC and in his studies in England, where he earned a coaching certificate.

Unlike some of our football administrators, who are seemingly more interested in the perks they can get via the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Tomlinson is seeking to change lives in Westmoreland, which has become a hotbed of crime and violence. If he is able to rescue some of the youngsters, who are being drawn away by vices such as the illicit lottery scam, he would have served his parish well.

While the Llandilo Complex is still some way off from what Tomlinson ultimately wants it to be, I believe that on the evidence of what he has done so far, he deserves all the help and support he needs to complete the journey because, in reality, his mission is a life-saving one.

In fact, in reflecting on the work that Tomlinson has been doing at Llandilo, which is somewhat similar to what Orville Powell has done at Wespow Park in Montego Bay; and Kymani Marley is doing at the Elliston Wakeland Youth Centre, in Falmouth, it is clear that there still persons out there who care about our youngsters with talent.

I am just hoping that the ambition and the desire to do good, which is being displayed by Tomlinson, Powell and Marley, will rub-off on the football administrators here in the west. We are a region with a rich history of producing quality footballers but properly managing the talent as been a major problem.

Today, I feel compelled to salute Tomlinson, who has turned his struggles into success with the ambitious Llandilo project. When the lights come on tomorrow night for the first time, I hope the people in Westmoreland will take time out to applaud his quest to make a positive difference in their lives.