file - Village United's Ian McAnuff (right) in action against Tivoli Gardens' Horace Howell at Elliston Wakeland Centre during last season's National Premier League.

Western Bureau

The decision by the management of Village United FC to play their Digicel Premier League (DPL) home games at Jarrett Park is a most welcome bailout for football fans in St James, who were facing the prospect of not seeing any top league football in the parish this year.

While having Village United playing in Montego Bay works out just fine for me as a sports reporter, since it relieves me of the burden of having to travel up to Falmouth for the team's home game, as one who is concerned about the state of St James' football, I find the situation awkward, if not embarrassing.

seat of football power

For as far back as any documented record of western Jamaica's football can take you, St James has always been the seat of football power in the west. So to have the DPL now playing without a single team from the parish among the contenders is perhaps the clearest indication that St James' football is gone to the dogs.

A mere 10 to 15 years ago, during what was then the golden era of St James' football, fans would journey over from Trelawny in droves to watch top St James teams, such as Seba United, Wadadah FC, Violet Kickers and Seaview FC, as they dominated national club football in Jamaica.

It was not only the football fans from Trelawny that were coming over in droves, but also their top players. One can remember players such as Gerald 'Hero' Scott, Junior 'Shabba' Brown, Cassman 'Jazzbo' Williams, Shane Hines, Richard 'Bumpy' Henlon and Ian 'Divey' Thorpe who all attained star status in St James.

I suspect Village's decision to play at Jarrett Park is purely a business decision, so one must applaud the decision because, ultimately, football is a business. It is no secret that there is a large football constituency in St James and with a little marketing effort and good results, the team can benefit significantly in terms of gate receipts.

In addition, playing the games in Montego Bay will not alienate the team's main fan base, which comes primarily from Falmouth. Falmouth is just a mere 25 minutes from Montego Bay, so the fans, who would normally watch home games at Falmouth's Elletson Wakeland Youth Centre, can easily get to and from Montego Bay.

One concern I am sure might be lingering in the minds of some football fans in Trelawny is whether or not they might lose their team to St James in much the same manner Clarendon lost Hazard, now Portmore FC, to St Catherine. I am just hoping that there are enough safeguards to prevent that from happening.

As one who has had close ties with Village United over the years, having represented the club during my time as a schoolboy at William Knibb High School, I know what the team means to the people of Falmouth, especially those living at compound. I am sure they would not take kindly to their team crossing the border for good.

I am hoping that the fact that we will be having premier league football in St James will not push our administrator into a sense of false security, which could cause them to forget that an all-out effort needs to be made to get back at least one St James team into the big league as early as possible. Riding on Village United's back cannot be the way.

After just two weeks of action in the 2008 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup, I think I have seen enough talent among the St James schools to realise that talent is not what is lacking in St James. I sincerely hope that the newly installed FA executive will put programmes in place to give the youngsters the best opportunity to develop and come good.

NB - Feel free to send your feedback to adrianfrater@hotmail.com.