Say thanks to Bertille
Opuku Ware (Tobago News)
IT was a wonderful feeling for yours truly to know that our own, Bertille St. Clair was among those honoured by the Olympic Association for their contribution to sports in Trinidad and Tobago.
This column has been in the forefront of championing the call for the Milford Road Esplanade to be named the St. Clair Esplanade. The powers in Trinidad have deemed it fit to name the Independence Square Promenade after cricket legend Brian Lara, and quite rightly so.
The records will show that this column has taken an uncompromising position that the pint sized Coach St. Clair is deserving of such honour.
It was St. Clair, as football coach, who brought Dwight Yorke to prominence as a player, and while we salute those responsible for granting Dwight Yorke pride of place at the Bacolet Stadium, surely Coach St. Clair must also get his 'day in the Tobago sun'.
There is a latent input into our minds as a former colonised people, in terms of how we do not show the type of appreciation and gratitude to those who have contributed to the development of their people. It is an attitude we must strive to eliminate in order to inspire others to serve the nation and its people with dedication and sacrifice.
Let us not forget that the Friendsfield born Bertille St. Clair was a footballer during the 1960s with the Tobago All Stars when he suffered a broken leg in the game. He then turned to coaching and used every opportunity to enhance his knowledge as a football coach.
He passed on his knowledge of the game to every community and school he had the opportunity to serve. He trained hundreds, maybe thousands, of Tobagonian and Trinidadian youth in the sport of football and cricket. He took young men, who did not have a clue about football, and made them into players.
Every human being must be judged by the era from which they came, and the same must be done with St. Clair. He came from an era when parents insisted on the ultimate discipline from their children.
It is, therefore, no surprise that St. Clair's trade mark includes an iron clad discipline and dedication. St. Clair's high quality coaching ability was highlighted nationally, when he took the Signal Hill Comprehensive School and defeated the best colleges in Trinidad and won several national college titles. It was from these competitions that Dwight Yorke and Colvin Hutchinson emerged as top national footballers.
It is important to note that when members of the Signal Hill team were at the top of their game during the 1980s, they generated a sense of pride among Tobagonians of all ages. Hundreds of Tobagonians journeyed to Trinidad to support the Bertille St. Clair coached college team in their games.
As a coach, St. Clair likes to develop players. The President of the Tobago Football Association, Raymond Alleyne once told me that he did not understand how coach St. Clair was able to walk around the school and choose young men to play on the team; some of them had never played the game before, but he was able to take them and fashion them into competent footballers.
St. Clair has been able to secure scholarships to many international universies for scores of young Tobago footballers.
When St. Clair took charge of the national Under 19 team with the likes of Dwight Yorke and Russel Latapy, he was able to coach them to become the first English speaking Caribbean team to qualify for an international FIFA World Cup tournament at the Under 20 World Cup finals in Portugal in 1990.
As the senior national coach, St. Clair was able to take a virtual national 'B' team and win the Caribbean Cup. He also guided the national team to their best ever performance in the Gold Cup in the United States of America. It is my view, that Trinidad and Tobago's senior team played their best ever football under Coach St. Clair.
In fact, he coached the national team (Soca Warriors) in 13 of their 20 World Cup games, when they eventually gained qualification for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. It was only the hasty and bullheaded actions of Jack Warner which prevented our 'home boy' from having the distinction of leading our senior team in Germany.
Let us not forget, that it was the St. Clair coached team which revived their qualifying chances for the 2006 World Cup with a crucial 2-1 victory over Guatemala. They also played with great spirit and technique to hold the dangerous Costa Rica to a one all draw. So when Warner brought in the Dutchman Leo Beenhakker to take over the team, he was, in fact, taking over a well-coached team.
Before we deal with what yours truly considers to be the greatest sporting contribution of coach St. Clair, let us look at his cultural contribution. When the founder of Our Boys Steelband, Patrick Arnold left Tobago to study at a North American university, it was Bertille St. Clair who was left to lead the steel band.
St. Clair, himself, had a reputation as a competent tenor pan player. It was said that once he learnt a tune on the pan, he never forgot it. However, it was as the leader of the then top ranking steel band that he made his mark. He recruited many new players into the steel band, and developed a cooperative style of operation within the band's structure.
He instituted a high sense of discipline among the pannists and ensured that Our Boys had a sense of continuity until Arnold returned from his studies.
Now, Our Boys steel band has fallen on not so good times and there is an ever increasing call for St. Clair to return to revive the band's fortunes.
As we return to St. Clair and his contribution to the sporting community, it is his St. Clair Coaching School which shines highly in terms of his time in sports. Recently, national women team star striker, Kenya 'Ya Ya' Cordner spoke in glowing terms of coach St. Clair.
It is the same respect he gets from Dwight Yorke, Latapy or Shaka Hislop. The players whom he has coached at his coaching school have maintained a healthy respect for the man they all call “Coach”.
St. Clair took a piece of pasture land from a Carnbee family and through hard work and guts, he built a smooth surface and structures to facilitate his weekly training programmes for young Tobagonians from all over the island. Year after year, St. Clair struggled to build his sporting institution and he created one of the best football teams Tobago has ever seen. The St. Clair Coaching School team won competition after competiton. However, even the great God in the Christian Bible (St James version) had his detractors, and for all the good Coach St. Clair did for the youths of Tobago, there were a few who did not like his direction at the Carnbee facility. So being the man he is, he simply went away and continued to do his good works for the Tobago youth at his new base at the Signal Hill school ground.
This action by St. Clair proves the mettle of the man. We all witnessed him take some young third form students from Signal Hill Secondary School ten years ago, and last year they took on the might of the other secondary schools in Tobago and gave them 'a run for their money'. He has also begun to rebuild a senior team with some very young players and I have no doubt that soon, Bertille St. Clair and his team will be back in the big times, not only in Tobago but nationally and possibly in the region.
Yours truly, hereby make a plea to the powers that be in Tobago to show some have an appreciation to the man Bertille St. Clair for his monumentous contribution towards sports on the island.
Give him the land he needs to establish his sporting academy and, without haste, name the Esplanade the Coach St. Clair Esplanade.
We have given others land, we have given foreigners 'big food' from Tobago.
Why not St. Clair!
