Lincoln Persad ...has moved from minor to major
BY VINODE MAMCHAN
MANY know him to be a staunch advocate and supporter of discipline but Lincoln Persad stands as one of this country’s most creative persons to grace the local sporting landscape.
Persad was born in the heartland of oil, Marabella, just on the doorsteps of the Oil Refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre on September 1, 1962 just one day after this country gained Independence.
From humble beginnings, Persad the seventh of eight children, was attracted to sport and community life from an early age.
His love for cricket and in particular football, encouraged him, his brother Vishnu and his friends to form Blue Shines Sports Club in 1970.
The club lasted four years during which time, the boys participated in street competitions in windball cricket and small goal football, beating teams which included players who were twice their age.
The success led the group to venture into league competitions in Marabella, where at the age of 12 years, Persad was elected as secretary of the Nelco Sports Club, a position which he held until 1992.
During that period, Persad learned the tools of administration and club life. This led him to organise his own league at the age of 16 years.
He launched the Nelco Football League and the Nelco Men’s Windball competitions, attracting teams in south Trinidad.
For the next ten years, Persad served as chairman of the men’s windball cricket, introduced ladies windball cricket, the Sunday 30 overs league and also the six-table and three-table All Fours leagues.
His drive to be the trendsetter, led him to launch the first and only netball league in Marabella, which saw for the first time in the history of this sport a male/female team opposed a combined ladies team from South playing in the opening match of the competition.
This League ran from 1986-1990.
His participation in administration of leagues was not his only passion, as he served as coach of the Nelco’s three youth football teams (Under-15, Under -17 and Under -19 teams, participating in the South Zone TTFA competitions) from 1980 to 1988.
Persad’s ability to administrate caught the eyes of the late John Alleyne, former vice-president of the T&TFA and he was asked to serve as chairman of the South Zone youth competitions, which he did for two years.
However, he wanted to reach a wider audience, and in 1991, together with his brother Vishnu, they launched the L & M Sports World at City Mall High Street, San-Fernando with the help of their father and Nal Ramsingh of Ramsingh Sports World.
From 1992 to 1996, L&M Sports World introduced their own competitions.
Due to his tremendous influence, the L & M Sports competitions attracted Carib Brewery Ltd and Petrotrin, to name a few into its fold, bringing bigger incentives for the teams participating in these competitions.
However ill fate was to strike in 1997 when L & M Sports World at City Mall was burnt to the ground.
Downtrodden but with the will to succeed, the Persad brothers, together with help from suppliers, clubs and supporters, relaunched the store and formed the Nationwide Sports League in 1998.
Today the league has over 100 teams in different sporting disciplines.
The extent to which the NSL has grown is evident by the fact that over the last nine years, a total of $2.7 million was given out to clubs.
Persad says the secret of the continued success of the NSL is simply love for people, country and community.
He told Arena that having made an invaluable impact in sport and education, his wide experience of the past 32 years, has impacted the communities in which he was involved.
He is hoping to serve at a higher level where his experience would play a part in the development of the country.
