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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 21 2004 : 09:52:58 AM
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Ugh! NPL smelly
BY SEAN A WILLIAMS Observer staff reporter
Sunday, March 21, 2004
It is frightening sometimes to think that the National Premier League (NPL) is the top football tournament in the country.
This is the competition, in the main, that we pin our hopes on to spawn home-grown talent for present and future national teams. Players we hope will move on to greater things.
But with what has been on display day in and day out in the recent past, the prospect of this looks increasingly bleak.
While it is true that the league is fiercely competitive for the most part, the quality of play leaves much to be desired. The NPL has turned into an orgy of abominable football.
Regrettably, it is my job to cover these games for this newspaper, so I have little or no choice but to subject myself to the agonising show, twice a week. My days can be better spent.
To be frank, I would much prefer to cover yachting or even curry goat cricket for what they are worth.
There was a time when going to a NPL football game meant something. Gone are the days, it seems, when you were guaranteed to be served a hefty dose of competitive and high-quality football on match days.
What we have today is scrappy play marked by poor passing, shooting, technical ability, tactics, sportsmanship and even the officiating by referees has become an essential part of the general decline in standards. Fan deportment, too, has festered into an ugly sore.
Of the 12 teams participating in the league, only a few have demonstrated hints of class on a consistent basis. But ever so often they, too, have been dragged down the gutter. Dirt begets dirt, they say.
A number of reasons have been given for the dull and unattractive football that have stained our top league. Some have blamed the quality of the pitches, coaching, refereeing, management, administration etc.
It is true that the cause of the collapse could be found in either one or a revolting cocktail of all of the above.
But there are other factors as well. There is, of course, the BIG monster of indiscipline that has been steadily eating away, not only at the very core of our football, but the society at large.
This indiscipline comes in two forms. One has to do with the conduct of players on and off the field and how they relate to fellow players, coaches and match officials.
The second one is entrenched in play. Like a scratched record, we often hear coaches placing blame squarely at the feet of players, lambasting them for not carrying out instructions and not sticking to the game plan.
While there is credence in this, it is found that more often than not, it is the coaches who deserve to be under the gun as they are bereft of the power to motivate and command respect from their charges.
Clearly, the breakdown is not fossilised in any single area, but runs from high and coils to the lowest matter. What we have is a big mess.
With the quality of the NPL deteriorating, it means that our national football teams are likely to see an influx of overseas-based pros filling the vacancies as it would be expected that these foreign players will bring much of what is lacking in our domestic competitions.
And if and when that happens, I guarantee you that we will have a fresh volley of talk as to "who is better than whom".
It is some of these things - the indiscipline, violence and hooliganism that are associated with our football - that have kept corporate Jamaica a stranger to the game.
And a worsening of the fabric could and will most certainly drive away the few that have clung on irrespectively. One of those brave corporate citizens is Wray and Nephew, who have remained true to our football with a continuing sponsorship of $100 million to the Jamaica Football Federation-run NPL.
Wray and Nephew, it seems, remains optimistic that a brighter day is on the horizon. And it will come if we work hard at it together.
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Karl |
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Comment on NPL Standard of Play!
