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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 14 2004 : 12:37:59 AM
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A cruel twist of fate?
By DARAINE LUTON, Freelance Writer
Carl Brown
OH HOW FORTUNE change dramatically. One moment Carl Brown is in the hot seat, the other moment he is sitting comfortably in a sofa. Now, based on all the commotion making the rounds, Brown might very well be trotting a rocky path once again.
Brown, a former national captain, seems destined to fall to his own belief of overseas help. Just as he hinted when he got the big job last year, Brown reportedly asked the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to employ the services of former Brazilian coach Sebastian Lazaroni. But the way things are shaping up, Brown, who complained of feeling left out when he worked as an under-study to Rene Simoes, may very well be Lazaroni's assistant when the Brazilian arrives for duty.
Shocker
Brown was officially appointed technical director of the Jamaican football team on January 1, 2003. However, prior to his appointment, then JFF president Captain Horace Burrell said he was looking overseas for a technical director and that he would be of a European flavour. Thus it came as a shocker when Burrell, at a press conference, announced Brown as technical director, a promotion from his job of technical director-designate which he held for more than a year following the sacking of Clovis de Ollivera.
Brown, whose contract comes to an end in July 2006, has worked under three Brazilians - Rene Simoes, Clovis de Oliveira and Lazoroni. He also had a one year attachment at Bolton Wanderers as an intern.
As a coach, Brown established a track record of achievement, enviable by most standards. Starting his exploits at Boys' Town where he played club football, Brown won nine Major League and three Premier League titles as coach. On a larger scale, he has led Jamaica to their only Caribbean wins; 1991 and 1998. The former national defender also carried Jamaica to their best ever placing at the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, a third-place finish in 1993.
Prior to getting the island's top coaching job, Brown, as technical director-designate, established a 10-match unbeaten streak from the 14 games that he played.
Since his official appointment, Brown has played 22 international games. He has won 10 games, drawn three and lost nine.
Brown's record since being appointed technical director.
Versus Haiti at the National Stadium 3-0 (World Cup Qualifier)
Versus Haiti in Miami 1-1 (World Cup Qualifier)
Versus Republic of Ireland in London: 0-1 (Unity Cup)
Versus Nigeria in England: 0-2 (Unity Cup)
Versus Venezuala at the National Stadium: 2-1
Versus Honduras at the National Stadium: 2-2
Versus Uruguay at the National Stadium 2-0
Versus El Salvador at the National Stadium 3-0
Versus Brazil in England: 0-1
Versus Australia in England:1-2
Versus Mexico in Mexico 0-5 (Gold Cup semi-finals)
Versus Guatemala in Miami 2-0 (Gold Cup)
Versus Colombia in Miami 0-1 (Gold Cup)
Versus Paraguay at the National Stadium 2-0
Versus Cuba at the National Stadium:1-2
Versus Nigeria at National Stadium: 3-2
Versus South Africa in Cape Town: 0-0
Versus Haiti at the National Stadium: 3-0 (Gold Cup qualifier on March 30)
Versus St. Lucia at the National Stadium:5-0 (Gold Cup qualifier)
Versus Barbados at the National Stadium: 2-1
Versus USA at the National Stadium 1-2
Versus Barbados in Barbados 0-1 |
Karl |
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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
Posted - Aug 06 2004 : 11:34:50 AM
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Coach Lazaroni and the Jamaican affection for 'foreign'
Sunday, August 01, 2004 - Jamaica Observer
The appointment of Brazilian Sebastiao Lazaroni over Jamaican Carl Brown to guide the national football team's 'Journey to Germany' campaign has again brought into public debate what colleague columnist Mark Wignall called this "Jamaican thing" of preferring foreign over local and white over black.
"The fact is, Jamaicans have this very real habit of responding favourably to foreigners, especially if they are melanin-challenged. If Lazaroni is indeed a top-flight coach, then his passage will be made even easier," Mark commented (Sunday Observer July 18).
And according to Observer sports writer Ian Burnett, coach Brown himself said he agreed to step down in favour of Lazaroni because that's the only way the captains of Jamaican business would provide the level of financial support that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) will need to give the Reggae Boyz a realistic chance of getting to the World Cup finals.
The message from Wignall and Brown is clear: A foreign coach will get the players to give 100 per cent and more, and once he's on board, the heads of big corporations will open up their wallets and part with the kind of money that will be required.
Burnett reported (Daily Observer July 14) that Lazaroni was paid a salary of US$30,000 a month during an earlier stint as head coach before quitting because he didn't feel he was getting the necessary commitment from foreign-based players.
We don't know the salary package this time around, but the press release from the JFF announcing the appointment said the federation "is now in discussion with members of the private sector with a view to finding funds to pay Lazaroni and his staff".
And there are a whole host of costs other than the salaries of coaches, so we can take it for granted that really large sums of money are involved, and both the JFF and the private sector sponsors will want to see results from their investment.
Coming on the heels of Montego Bay hotelier Godfrey Dyer's call for foreign policemen to come to the aid of our police force to investigate crime, the conclusion of the JFF that the team can only make it to Germany with a foreign leader takes on special significance.
Similar sentiments about leadership and management of the police force were expressed some time ago by entrepreneur Roy Decambre in a Gleaner Forum.
Then there was the national poll which found a hankering for the good old days of colonialism.
I agree with Mark that the perception that 'light-skin foreign' is better than 'dark-skin local' is deeply rooted in our "psycho-cultural realities" and so it will not go away overnight.
The challenge is how to confront the issue so that, over time, we can change the perception and, more importantly, change the attitudes and actions that stem from the perception.
What we need is a new way of thinking so that we can have the confidence to engage foreigners and locals - black and white - because of the competencies they bring to the engagement rather than the symbolic value of melanin count.
At a minimum, that huge leap requires a decision-making process that is open and transparent, as well as measurable ways of determining performance.
It is interesting that football is the sport where we are beginning to confront the challenges.
The truth is that football has never enjoyed the kind of support and financial backing among Jamaica's social and business elite compared to, say, cricket and track and field athletics.
I am sure some of this has to do with the early international success on the track that Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint enjoyed from the 1948 Olympics through to that historic triumph of West Indian cricket over the colonial masters at Lords in 1950.
Football had some backing at the level of Manning Cup and DaCosta Cup competitions among traditional high schools and some of the earlier clubs that were a sort of extension of that school system.
Now, at the club and semi-professional level, we are seeing the dominance of inner-city clubs with names like Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens and Waterhouse, and political leaders like Edward Seaga and Omar Davies almost assuming the roles of technical directors for the constituency-based teams.
Of course, the working-class base of modern football is not uniquely Jamaican. It's the way out from the 'favelas' of Brazil, the old mining towns of Britain or the dust bowls of African townships. And there is the hooliganism which British fans seem to have almost elevated to an art form.
So football is tough, gritty and sometimes violent. But it is also a passport to wealth and fame for many a socially-challenged young man and a huge market for firms selling food, fashion and fun.
And it is also the technical skill, the superb athleticism, the finesse and the ball control that make it a beautiful game.
Another Brazilian, Rene Simoes, with the backing and energy of Captain Horace Burrell, transformed both the perception and the business of the sport in Jamaica in the 1990s.
Ironically, it was American Airlines - not Air Jamaica - that was the sponsor on board for that first flight to the World Cup in France in 1998.
Now, the fact that Lazaroni is a former technical director of the Brazilian national team and guided them to a win in the 1989 Copa America and a losing effort in the 1990 World Cup means that he has pedigree.
Equally, we cannot ignore the fact that many national teams and some of the best professional teams in the world consistently buy the best coach they can afford without regard to nationality.
When a nationalistic country like England turns to Sven Goran Erikkson of Sweden to take charge of their national team, one can readily understand that the drive to succeed and win is more compelling than patriotic sentiments.
And we cannot ignore the fact that a foreign coach is often in a more independent position to select the national team without being unduly influenced by powerful clubs, meddling politicians and a media tied to local interest groups.
So, there are objective reasons for selecting foreigners for today's professional sport where coaches and players earn large amounts of money to win. And national pride gets such a rush it can almost be touched and marketed.
But given the "psycho-cultural realities" that make us look outside for help and validation, we have a real dilemma: If coach Lazaroni takes the team to the World Cup it will confirm our deepest fears about our own abilities. Had the JFF stuck with coach Brown and not made it, then our deepest fears would also be confirmed.
I wish I knew the way out of the dilemma: I know the value of winning but I also believe that in the long run, there is greater value in demonstrating to our young people that we have the skills and competencies to manage in a competitive global arena.
Unlike Mark, I will be at the stadium when we play the United States on August 18 and I will cheer for coach Lazaroni and the team as I have been doing for many years.
I am glad coach Brown will be on the bench as part of the management and maybe, one day, we will truly recognise and honour this man. Not many of us could take the blows he has taken and remain upright and firm.
PS: This column takes a couple of weeks off for some battery recharging. Enjoy your Emancipation and Independence! |
Karl |
Edited by - Karl on Aug 06 2004 11:35:39 AM |
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Del Piero Jr
Starting Member
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - Aug 31 2004 : 6:54:57 PM
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First and foremost, the article was well-written, well-argued and engaging. Throughout it answered all question I'd raised in my mind after reading the initial statement regarding Jamaica's, as the author so eloquently put it, "psycho-cultural realities", so an applaud for the author's good anticipation of probable responses.
My sole intention however, isn't to praise the author on a job well done, but it's also to say I don't see us not appointing a Jamaican-Born coach to head the national team as being a result of our social philosphies, and here is the reason: The technical and tatical applications of most Jamaican coaches (minus Carl Brown to an extent) won't work on the national scene. Most tatical employments by Jamaican coaches isn't on par with the rest of the world as evidenced by a lackluster (in almost every sense) Jamaican Premier League. Whether we like it or not, foriegn coaches come here and set a precedent (yet to be matched by even Carl Brown) and most have a quality that a Jamaican coach has yet to achieve--of course there is the ocassional mistep, but by and large this is true. I'll agree that we don't have the necessary facilities to produce in-and-out brilliant coaches, but that only further argues for the case of not employing a Jamaican on a long term bias.
I know this may suggest that no progress will then be made when it comes to improving Jamaican coaches, because how can one improve without experience and trial and error, right? But there's a further advantage to hiring foreign coaches that may have been overlooked, and this very advantage may in fact aid in bringing more coaching improvement opportunities to local Jamaican coaches. At the moment, only a foriegn coach (as stated) can bring the necessary financial support to help in the team successes. The more success we achieve, the more financial prospects the federation will line up. With careful investment, some funds can go towards implenting new programs--specifically one(s) to improve the quality of Jamaican coaches, among others things of course. There of course runs the risk of stunting such efforts by success instead of igniting new ideas, will reinforce the belief that success can only be achieved if we look towards the more successful countries for their coaches, but it's a with any potentially rewarding situation comes a risk.
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Carl Brown - A cruel twist of fate?
