This was posted a year ago in the Catholic News, don't think it made it on the forum. In fact Sedley Joseph writes a regular football column for that publication.
Haiti - back in times - Jan 24
2010 - Sports
Monday, 25 January 2010 09:25
by Sedley Joseph, former national footballer
This is an emotional time for me. I was among those selected to travel to Haiti by the T&TFA to play in a friendly tournament in 1966, the Duvalier Cup. This was a tournament organised by the Haitian Football Federation comprising teams from the Caribbean, among them Jamaica, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles. Our first impression of Haiti on our drive from the airport to the hotel was one of poverty, with shacks seen on either side of the road, although Duvalier Snr lived in a big palace.
Our first impression was confirmed when on reaching the hotel where we were supposed to stay, the doors of some of the rooms could not be locked properly and youngsters were lurking just outside the windows, watching our every move with eager anticipation of something coming their way. We were eventually moved to another more secure hotel, the Chucun, located at the top of a hill where we were able to hear voodoo drums at night.
Top of the line players
The football itself was very competitive. Our match against Haiti was a vital one for both teams, the T&T team having won three from three and the Haitians having dropped a point against Suriname. The match went down to the wire but eventually Haiti, who were given a penalty in the 85th minute, beat us by a 1-0 margin.
You would have noticed that I said “given”, as we did not know what the infringement was, but I guess the referee had to ensure a Haitian victory or his life may have been in danger since every type of gun, including cannons, was around the field.
The Haitian team was excellent though and I remember particularly two of their players, Guy St Vil and Phillip Vorbe, who also played in Trinidad against the T&T team. These two chaps were top of the line players. St Vil, a striker who was quick, could dribble and shoot, hitting the target very often, and Vorbe, a midfielder, controlled the middle of the field and distributed with precision.
I was also very friendly with the Haitian coach at the time, Tassy, who played in T&T in the 50s and was a brilliant forward. He unfortunately died at the peak of his coaching career when Haiti was doing well on the CONCACAF scene.
My mind raced back to those players when news broke about the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan 12, and I hope that they were able to survive the terrible tragedy. I know that Trinidad and Tobago feels the pain that the Haitians are experiencing at the moment and I feel confident that they will rise again with prayers and assistance from all.
When I read the sport pages of our newspapers and see the sums being requested for some players in the English Premier League, I start to wonder about what price some of our past players would have fetched on the English market, if the opportunity had presented itself.
I read recently where Kenwyn Jones’ coach at Sunderland, Steve Bruce, said Jones was worth 40 million pounds when he was playing well. We in T&T have not been fortunate to see Jones play well and his record in the last World Cup qualifying series speaks for itself. I think he scored one goal in the games he played, which numbered about six. When I think of players like Shay Seymour, who was one of the lucky ones to have played in the 3rd Division in England, Kelvin Berassa, Steve David, Buggy Haynes, Alvin Corneal, Carlton Franco, Son Baptiste, Bobby Sookram and many others, I sometimes wonder what coaches would have paid for them. Forty thousand million for Jones would easily have meant 80 million for those just mentioned.
I am extremely happy for Jones and any other T&T player who is lucky enough to make it on the international scene, but I think the prices some of those managers are quoting for players are obscene to say the least. If a player is performing, scoring goals regularly as a forward, or excellent in his distribution and reading of a game as a midfielder, or as a defender he is a brilliant tackler and header of the ball, I have no problem with the figures being asked, but not if he’s just a run-of-the-mill player – the type who can be found in any minor league in any part of the world. Maybe some of these teams have a lot of money to throw away and simply grab at the earliest opportunity to do so.
I suppose that’s the luck of the draw.
