Adrian Frater, News Editor
Western Bureau

It has been going around for quite sometime now that, in the era in which western Jamaica's football flourished and was a major success, it was largely due to the vast amount of money, earned through illicit means being pumped into the sport.

This erroneous view, which I suspect is primarily being promulgated by some of our current administrators, who are trying to mask their failure, is disingenuous at best since it is serving to undermine the work of those who worked tirelessly with absolute integrity to build western Jamaica's football.

While it might be true that individual clubs may have benefited from tainted money in the past, I have been associated with western Jamaica's football for a good part of the last 25 years, and I know of no parish association that has benefited directly from tainted money.

benefit from 'scam' money

Today, I am sure that there could be football clubs that are benefiting from the proceeds of the now infamous 'Lotto Scam'. However, I am sure that I would earn the wrath of our current administrators, were I to suggest that 'scam money' was running the region's football. I have said the above to drive home the point that, in the era of success, it is unfair to suggest that illicit money played a great role in developing football, as the same could be said for today.

In the case of St James, the parish came to prominence after defeating Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) in the inaugural 'Battle of the Cities' clash, and players like Mark Ledford, Noel King and Paul 'Tegat' Davis broke into the national programme.

Success then, was primarily as a result of the revolutionary leadership of Wesmore Thomas, who used his astute business skills to market the parish's football in a way that has not been seen since.

In that golden era, Wadadah, Seba United, Reno and Violet Kickers won the coveted NPL title close to a dozen times between them. While the funding of two of these clubs, which I shall not name, have always had a big question mark, to the best of my knowledge, the other two succeeded solely on hard work and good management.

Unlike the current situation, where our football leaders tend to distance themselves from the NPL clubs, claiming that the clubs are rejecting their input, in the Thomas era, he would foist himself on the clubs and they basically had no choice but to embrace him.

structured

What the current administrators have missed in their mad scramble to cover up their incompetence, is the fact that when we had leaders like Thomas, Brown, Williams and Marks, the region's football was so structured that our talented youngsters could easily make the transition from school, to club and into the national programme.

In seeking to slight our past achievements by tying illicit money to our success, our current crop of leaders are basically making a mockery of the contribution of coaches like Steve Bucknor, Wendell Downswell and Emerson 'Diggy' Henry, who developed players like Paul 'Tegat' Davis, Hector Wright, Mark 'Haglar' Wilson, Devon Ricketts, Durrant Brown, Aaron Lawrence, the late Winston Anglin and the many other western stalwarts, who went on to represent Jamaica with distinction.

One could also argue that contributions of the hotel chain Super Clubs is also being slighted since in the period when the region's football was flourishing, through a partnership with the various parish associations, over 90% of the region's top footballers, inclusive of all those players in the national programme, were provided with employment.

Maybe, the greatest weakness with the current crop of football leaders in the west, is that they are uninformed in regards to the history of the region's football. So I would suggest that, instead of seeking to slight what they don't know about and cast doubts on the integrity of others, they need to go out and do their research.

Please feel free to send your feedback to adrianfrater@hotmail.com.