Jabloteh helping football rivals.
By: Peter O’Connor (Newsday).
I really hope that by the time you read this Jabloteh Football Club would have adjusted their position regarding selection of their players on the national team for the Digicel Caribbean Cup.
Here we are, about to kick off, as hosts, the Caribbean's premier football tournament, and we have a dispute brewing regarding the availability of our own players in our own country.
And the protagonist is a local club registered with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation.
Why do we always strive to shoot ourselves in the foot when opportunity beckons? I am not only thinking about football here — we still have (at the time of writing) the ongoing dispute within the Indoor Hockey World Cup Squad.
We are all aware of the incessant bickering in the West Indies Cricket camp (mercifully muted these days as we approach Cricket World Cup), and the intermittent eruptions in the football fraternity.
We quarrel over selection, coaches, remuneration, sponsorships and the ever-present Club vs Country issue.
The current football issue, which appears to be more Jabloteh vs their players than Jabloteh or their players vs the Federation, can only benefit the visiting teams, our opponents, for the Digicel Caribbean Cup.
Certainly Jabloteh have nothing to gain by needlessly upsetting their own players on the national squad. And the club claims their reason for preventing their players from representing the country is because the Digicel Caribbean Cup is not a FIFA recognised event which can command that players be released for national duty.
What a small-minded, colonial mindset! And how insulting to us as a country, and to the region as a sub-group of a major FIFA Confederation.
Is this the same Jabloteh which was clamouring last year for more locally-based players to represent the country? And if Jabloteh had players from Barbados or Guyana in their team, would they have banned (or tried to ban) them from playing in the Digicel Caribbean Cup?
If this issue is not settled to the satisfaction of all, how will Jabloteh, and the players involved, feel if the national coach decides that he will be choosing players for the CONCACAF Gold Cup from those who committed to the country in the Digicel Caribbean Cup?
He has every right to do this, and will we then hear the club protesting that their players are not being considered for the national team?
As a small, insecure country we have never been able to appreciate that we have the same rights in world football as England or Brazil.
In the 1990s when we first had our players in European clubs, the club coaches terrorised the players when the country called. They accepted that “big” countries had rights, but called our boys in and told them: Choose between club and country.
And of course, sections of our media supported the foreign clubs in this, advising us in their editorials, that our boys must bow to the club and turn their backs on their country.
The media, and the public, slowly began to change their tune when the national team began to show that World Cup qualification was a possibility.
We have finally learned that we can be strong, that our players will not be dropped if they choose to exercise their right to represent their country.
Which foreign coach will drop a TT (or any) player who scores two goals, say, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup?
Football clubs stand to benefit, financially and on the field, when their players represent their countries. The experience gained (especially for clubs in the lower divisions, including Jabloteh) in international competition is highly valuable to the clubs, and indeed to the players’ careers.
What do you think enhanced Carlos Edwards’ on the transfer market? His performances for Luton Town, or his performances at the World Cup Finals?
If, as I hope, the issue has been resolved as you read this, then I apologise for using Jabloteh as my “example” in this ever-present issue.
But the matter needs to be constantly in our minds, for club coaches do have a narrow view of the football world, and their view does not necessarily include any country, player, or player's future.
Their view is to win the next trophy.
However, to the rest of us, the issue is the building and success of the national team, and the success of a major tournament which has attracted a major regional sponsor for our football.
