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Let's hope that Hunt wasn't forced into hiding
published: Wednesday | May 16, 2007
I HOPE David Hunt, the coach who resigned his duties with the national Under-17 football team following their failure to qualify for the Youth World Cup, is not in hiding.
On Saturday, the Under 20-team from his club, Meadhaven United, played Tivoli Gardens in the Kingston and St. Andrew Football Association (KSAFA)/Supligen final at Constant Spring and he did not turn up at the match.
Word doing the rounds is that Hunt is staying out of the public light because of the pressure he has faced since the national juvenile team's failure, which was sealed in a 3-2 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago in its final match.
Word doing the rounds, too, is that Hunt has been threatened. Much of those sentiments were bellowed in the stands full of mostly angry people on the same Sunday night when the team lost to T&T. That is no joke business and you can't really ask a man to take it lightly.
One can understand people's frustration due to the national Under-17 team's failed bid at World Cup qualification. They played at home, in a round-robin tournament with five countries and three spots were there for the taking.
With such gigantic odds in Jamaica's favour, naturally, the coach must take some blame as he is the most vivid decision-maker of the team.
His selection has been heavily criticised, even by some of his coaching peers who have and have not only worked with national teams at all levels, but had their stints of failure too.
My, my, how the world turns: If they had only heard the voices of other people and coaches during their tenure, complaining how this and that player is better that this and that player they had selected, at both junior and senior level.
Check this, Walter Boyd was never ever selected to train, as much as play, with a national junior football team. Yet he scored heavily for Union Gardens in leading them to the Minor League (Under-17) finals against Mead-haven; won the Walker Cup, Manning Cup and Olivier Shield at Excelsior High, and was the leading scorer when they won the Manning Cup.
Walter boyd started early
He started playing for Jamaica at age 18, while still at Excelsior and was scoring for the Carl Brown-coached national senior team in those schoolboy years.
Believe it, never ever selected to train with a national junior team, even while Jamaica sought Olympic (Under-23) qualification while he played in the senior national team as a schoolboy with the Paul 'Tegat' Davis, Hector Wright, Hugh 'Bingy' Blair, Anthony 'Baddas' Corbett etc.
So we have a deep history of that 'selection bug' to the point where it would help some of those very coaches not to even make mention of that. They all have their favourites.
Just as ironic is the fact that on every cussing lip at stadium the night T&T's Under-17s won 1-0, were arguments about the number of scoring opportunities wasted by Jamaica's players. If you've been around football long enough though, you'd have long realised that Players Win and Coaches Lose.
However, some people have gone too far, much too far, by threatening the coach.
Clearly, he is not the only one at fault, should not be burdened with all the blame and, to an extent, as his actions suggest, burden himself with all the blame.
For a start, he did not hire himself. The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) made a choice to put Hunt in charge of a team close to, if not more than a year into its preparation. For whatever reasons, that suggests they were not convinced with the people who were coaching the team before.
The JFF also says the Under-17s were the most prepared of national units. They played tons of games locally, but very few in pressure situations that could have really developed the unit like matches and tournaments here and abroad against other national teams could have done.
That, to me, is the real preparation for national teams gearing for top-flight international competition which hail from a country such as Jamaica devoid of a professional league, that is preparing to match skills against players - even at this stage of their development - who are accustomed to the rudiments of professional football in Costa Rica, the United States and Canada.
Then there is the enigmatic role of Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, the 'technical director'.
If I wasn't fully convinced before, I now firmly believe that his title was coined mainly to justify his salary, and that 'Bora' is really in Jamaica to qualify the senior Boyz for South Africa 2010.
There was that occasion in January when he prioritised a senior/Under-23 team Lunar New Year's Cup tourney in Hong Kong over Under-20 World Cup qualification.
This time, he worked with the squad in training, sat in the stands with his video, analysed clips, then transferred the knowledge to Hunt through other members of the Under-17 coaching staff trekking from the stands to the touchline during matches.
It might seem a bit weird for a 'technical director', but if his job is just to qualify the national senior team to South Africa, then I figure Bora needn't sit on the bench and take any blame for failure. And there's absolutely no need for hiding.
feedback: sports@ gleanerjm.com
published: Wednesday | May 16, 2007
I HOPE David Hunt, the coach who resigned his duties with the national Under-17 football team following their failure to qualify for the Youth World Cup, is not in hiding.On Saturday, the Under 20-team from his club, Meadhaven United, played Tivoli Gardens in the Kingston and St. Andrew Football Association (KSAFA)/Supligen final at Constant Spring and he did not turn up at the match.
Word doing the rounds is that Hunt is staying out of the public light because of the pressure he has faced since the national juvenile team's failure, which was sealed in a 3-2 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago in its final match.
Word doing the rounds, too, is that Hunt has been threatened. Much of those sentiments were bellowed in the stands full of mostly angry people on the same Sunday night when the team lost to T&T. That is no joke business and you can't really ask a man to take it lightly.
One can understand people's frustration due to the national Under-17 team's failed bid at World Cup qualification. They played at home, in a round-robin tournament with five countries and three spots were there for the taking.
With such gigantic odds in Jamaica's favour, naturally, the coach must take some blame as he is the most vivid decision-maker of the team.
His selection has been heavily criticised, even by some of his coaching peers who have and have not only worked with national teams at all levels, but had their stints of failure too.
My, my, how the world turns: If they had only heard the voices of other people and coaches during their tenure, complaining how this and that player is better that this and that player they had selected, at both junior and senior level.
Check this, Walter Boyd was never ever selected to train, as much as play, with a national junior football team. Yet he scored heavily for Union Gardens in leading them to the Minor League (Under-17) finals against Mead-haven; won the Walker Cup, Manning Cup and Olivier Shield at Excelsior High, and was the leading scorer when they won the Manning Cup.
Walter boyd started early
He started playing for Jamaica at age 18, while still at Excelsior and was scoring for the Carl Brown-coached national senior team in those schoolboy years.
Believe it, never ever selected to train with a national junior team, even while Jamaica sought Olympic (Under-23) qualification while he played in the senior national team as a schoolboy with the Paul 'Tegat' Davis, Hector Wright, Hugh 'Bingy' Blair, Anthony 'Baddas' Corbett etc.
So we have a deep history of that 'selection bug' to the point where it would help some of those very coaches not to even make mention of that. They all have their favourites.
Just as ironic is the fact that on every cussing lip at stadium the night T&T's Under-17s won 1-0, were arguments about the number of scoring opportunities wasted by Jamaica's players. If you've been around football long enough though, you'd have long realised that Players Win and Coaches Lose.
However, some people have gone too far, much too far, by threatening the coach.
Clearly, he is not the only one at fault, should not be burdened with all the blame and, to an extent, as his actions suggest, burden himself with all the blame.
For a start, he did not hire himself. The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) made a choice to put Hunt in charge of a team close to, if not more than a year into its preparation. For whatever reasons, that suggests they were not convinced with the people who were coaching the team before.
The JFF also says the Under-17s were the most prepared of national units. They played tons of games locally, but very few in pressure situations that could have really developed the unit like matches and tournaments here and abroad against other national teams could have done.
That, to me, is the real preparation for national teams gearing for top-flight international competition which hail from a country such as Jamaica devoid of a professional league, that is preparing to match skills against players - even at this stage of their development - who are accustomed to the rudiments of professional football in Costa Rica, the United States and Canada.
Then there is the enigmatic role of Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, the 'technical director'.
If I wasn't fully convinced before, I now firmly believe that his title was coined mainly to justify his salary, and that 'Bora' is really in Jamaica to qualify the senior Boyz for South Africa 2010.
There was that occasion in January when he prioritised a senior/Under-23 team Lunar New Year's Cup tourney in Hong Kong over Under-20 World Cup qualification.
This time, he worked with the squad in training, sat in the stands with his video, analysed clips, then transferred the knowledge to Hunt through other members of the Under-17 coaching staff trekking from the stands to the touchline during matches.
It might seem a bit weird for a 'technical director', but if his job is just to qualify the national senior team to South Africa, then I figure Bora needn't sit on the bench and take any blame for failure. And there's absolutely no need for hiding.
feedback: sports@ gleanerjm.com
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