‘Skill’ Cole proud of his football and music journey

From thrilling football crowds with his skilful play to being the tour manager for Jamaica's iconic musician, Bob Marley, the journey of Allan 'Skill' Cole has not only brought him cult-like status among Jamaicans in both arenas, but has also helped to shape his life and his success.

"It has always been an honour," Cole told THE WEEKEND STAR. "To achieve certain standards in the discipline, one has to work hard, and I think I worked hard."

That work ethic was engrained at an early age by his father, Allan Sr, who not only fostered his love for sports, but helped him to cultivate the fundamentals to hone his craft.

"I played a lot of sports," Cole said. "But there was something about football that really attracted me. I started heading balls, I learned to control, and juggling, and things like that. I developed that part of my skills very early because my father had put me to the test."

However, his father did not want him to take the professional route initially, having aspirations for him to go to law school. But, with Cole's love for the game impossible to ignore, he said that his father ensured that he had the foundation required to reach the goal.

"He reminded me that you had to be disciplined," Cole said. "If you want to play football, or if you want to play [anything], you have to be disciplined, you have to keep focused. He was my idol, and those things that he instilled in me in the days helped me carry me through."

It carried him all the way through the ranks of the youth system at Santos, as well as his exploits at the schoolboy level. While not playing Manning Cup competition while he was at KC in 1962, he thrived at Vere Technical High in the DaCosta Cup in 1965, scoring 38 goals. That same year, he was invited at age 15 to the national team.

His performances would garner much attention from England but he chose to go to the North American Soccer League for the Atlanta Chiefs in 1968. After two seasons, unsatisfied with the pay structure for players in the region, he returned to play for Santos. Although not able to play for the national team on a consistent basis because of his professional playing status, he said that the games he featured in helped him to build his local legend.

"I became the man who was drawing all the crowds for football in that period of time," he said. "If I didn't play, you wouldn't get more than 8,000 in the National Stadium. When I played, you got 20,000 people easily. So that sort of helped to build on my popularity. because I was performing and I was playing at a certain level."

It would also lead to his meeting Bob Marley, who admired his football talent and played with him regularly. From there, it led to an opportunity to manage him and the Wailers, thanks to Dynamic Sound General Manager Gary Hall, who was also in charge of Real Mona FC. Hall's only condition for teaching him everything about the music business was that he had to leave his beloved Santos to join his club.

"I said, if I leave Santos, it is going to cause problems because I am a foundation member and we were champions. But I said, 'let me try a ting'," Cole said. He accepted the offer and became manager of the Wailers in 1969, not only getting them airplay and recognition, but forging a close friendship and trust with Marley throughout his career,

"He believed in me," Cole said. "I was the only person that he would listen to. If I told him that something was wrong, he would hear me."

Additionally, it was during his time back home in one of those friendlies that he was scouted and lured to play for Brazilian club Nautico in 1971, when Brazil was at the top of world football. He recalled his first goal as a significant moment, not only for himself but also for Jamaica.

"It was something special in Jamaica at the time because it was all over BBC World News and all of that. A little boy like that who was 21 at the time," Cole said.

Throughout the many chapters of his life, whether football or his work in guiding Bob Marley through the heights of his career, Cole says that there has been one constant that has brought him satisfaction, that is bringing joy to others.

"I was satisfied to bring life and enjoyment to people," he said. "It was not really about myself, but making a contribution to other people and making lives better for them. That is, for me, more gratifying than anything else. Helping to make life more meaningful for them."