Tweet
Several top NPL clubs restrict players from the Bronx League
Summer league clampdown - Several top NPL clubs restrict players from participating in US off-season competitions
published: Thursday | August 9, 2007
Gordon Williams, Contributor
( L - R ) Anthony Bennett, Harbour View's Hue - file photos
Local clubs are trying to stop the flow of their top footballers towards overseas summer leagues, fearing their time away from Jamaica could damage the clubs' preparation for upcoming competition.
Defending National Premier League (NPL) champions Harbour View and runners-up Portmore United, for example, signed their players to 12-month contracts and asked them not to participate in overseas leagues this year.
Harbour View granted some leeway, however, generally allowing players to go overseas during a one-month window earmarked for leave. Most returned for preseason training and the club continued its preparations without the missing players.
But Portmore issued a strict directive, demanding that all players show up for preseason, which began in June.
"The club took a decision that if they missed this preseason their contracts would be torn up," said Horace Reid, technical director and a director on the club's board. "It goes for everybody."
Officials at Harbour View and Portmore, which are getting ready for both the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships and the NPL, claimed players often returned to Jamaica late, out of shape and hurt, after playing primarily in the United States summer leagues in Atlanta and New York, which begin around May/June.
They are unable to properly train and compete because their bodies did not get enough chance to heal after the previous eight-to-nine month NPL season that usually ends in May, clubs claimed.
"Our experience is that all the players come back with injuries," Reid explained. "All they do is aggravate old injuries and develop new injuries."
Reid said the Portmore players are professionals, paid throughout the year, and the club has the right to protect its investment. That stance may spark a ripple effect, with other NPL clubs following suit in seasons to come.
"We recognised four or five years ago the value and danger of (the summer leagues)," said Harbour View's general manager Clyde Jureidini. "After the first year we realised that this was not going to work. This year we told them we did not want them to go."
Harbour View's Jermaine Hue, Clifton Waugh and Kemeel Wolfe are still in the U.S., according to Jureidini. Two of the three could possibly face club penalties, he said all have been in constant contact with the club and are due home within the next few weeks.
COMPLAINTS
For years, several clubs have complained that late returning players contributed to their slow start. The clubs' concerns have bee since the NPL's introduction of a new format over the past two seasons, eliminating the play-off system.
Now the team with the most points accumulated over the entire season wins the NPL.
Players from the St. Catherine-based club, once regulars for teams based in Atlanta and New York, did not show up for competitions in the U.S. this season.
"Portmore had certain players they did not allow to leave," said Courtney Francis, boss of the Boys' Town club, which plays in Atlanta's Caribbean Soccer League (CSL). "It's kind of difficult to get them."
But many summer league clubs continue to use big name players from Jamaica. This year, current and former national players such as Hue, Waugh, Garfield Reid, Christopher Nicholas, Kevin Lamey and Keammar Daley have turned out for clubs in the U.S.
While the standard of play is improving, U.S. summer league competition is well below NPL level. Jureidini described it as "casual, recreational" where players sometimes develop bad habits. But players not earning a salary in the NPL off-season are sometimes lured by clubs which take care of airfares, accommodation and, according to one club representative, "give them a thing" to play.
This season the CSL's Boys' Town lost some of its best talent due to Portmore's decision. Forward/midfielder Anthony Bennett, for example, was key to the club's success in recent seasons he received able assistance from others, including current national player Xavian Virgo and Michael Campbell, both of Boys' Town in Jamaica. The team is coached by Desmond 'Ghaddafi' Smith, a Portmore coach and former national defender.
Yet, Francis said he will not oppose the decision of the Jamaican clubs in the interest of the players' development.
"You can't mess with a good thing," he said.
"They (the clubs) have a point (to keep the players)," he added later. "I agree with them to a certain degree."
Francis said he allows the players to join Boys' Town in the CSL each summer to offer them exposure and opportunities to play college or professional football as scouts often visit CSL games. Quality players have competed in the CSL.
Jamaican Dane Richards, now a rookie star with New York Red Bulls of U.S. Major League Soccer, has played in the league. But not all the summer league teams are looking out for the players' best interest, Francis argued.
"Some clubs don't care about the players," he said. "They just want them to play."
With Jamaican clubs beginning to clamp down, soon they may not be allowed to do even that.
Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.
Picking winners
Are you an expert on the Barclays Premier League and the FA Cup championships?
Can you accurately predict game winners?
Join The Gleaner/Sports-Max prediction panel for the 2007/2008 season and see how you fare among other experts.
Send us a note(in 100 words or less) to sports@gleanerjm.com telling us why you should be selected. Include your full name, address, telephone numberand email address.
published: Thursday | August 9, 2007
Gordon Williams, Contributor
( L - R ) Anthony Bennett, Harbour View's Hue - file photos
Local clubs are trying to stop the flow of their top footballers towards overseas summer leagues, fearing their time away from Jamaica could damage the clubs' preparation for upcoming competition.
Defending National Premier League (NPL) champions Harbour View and runners-up Portmore United, for example, signed their players to 12-month contracts and asked them not to participate in overseas leagues this year.
Harbour View granted some leeway, however, generally allowing players to go overseas during a one-month window earmarked for leave. Most returned for preseason training and the club continued its preparations without the missing players.
But Portmore issued a strict directive, demanding that all players show up for preseason, which began in June.
"The club took a decision that if they missed this preseason their contracts would be torn up," said Horace Reid, technical director and a director on the club's board. "It goes for everybody."
Officials at Harbour View and Portmore, which are getting ready for both the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships and the NPL, claimed players often returned to Jamaica late, out of shape and hurt, after playing primarily in the United States summer leagues in Atlanta and New York, which begin around May/June.
They are unable to properly train and compete because their bodies did not get enough chance to heal after the previous eight-to-nine month NPL season that usually ends in May, clubs claimed.
"Our experience is that all the players come back with injuries," Reid explained. "All they do is aggravate old injuries and develop new injuries."
Reid said the Portmore players are professionals, paid throughout the year, and the club has the right to protect its investment. That stance may spark a ripple effect, with other NPL clubs following suit in seasons to come.
"We recognised four or five years ago the value and danger of (the summer leagues)," said Harbour View's general manager Clyde Jureidini. "After the first year we realised that this was not going to work. This year we told them we did not want them to go."
Harbour View's Jermaine Hue, Clifton Waugh and Kemeel Wolfe are still in the U.S., according to Jureidini. Two of the three could possibly face club penalties, he said all have been in constant contact with the club and are due home within the next few weeks.
COMPLAINTS
For years, several clubs have complained that late returning players contributed to their slow start. The clubs' concerns have bee since the NPL's introduction of a new format over the past two seasons, eliminating the play-off system.
Now the team with the most points accumulated over the entire season wins the NPL.
Players from the St. Catherine-based club, once regulars for teams based in Atlanta and New York, did not show up for competitions in the U.S. this season.
"Portmore had certain players they did not allow to leave," said Courtney Francis, boss of the Boys' Town club, which plays in Atlanta's Caribbean Soccer League (CSL). "It's kind of difficult to get them."
But many summer league clubs continue to use big name players from Jamaica. This year, current and former national players such as Hue, Waugh, Garfield Reid, Christopher Nicholas, Kevin Lamey and Keammar Daley have turned out for clubs in the U.S.
While the standard of play is improving, U.S. summer league competition is well below NPL level. Jureidini described it as "casual, recreational" where players sometimes develop bad habits. But players not earning a salary in the NPL off-season are sometimes lured by clubs which take care of airfares, accommodation and, according to one club representative, "give them a thing" to play.
This season the CSL's Boys' Town lost some of its best talent due to Portmore's decision. Forward/midfielder Anthony Bennett, for example, was key to the club's success in recent seasons he received able assistance from others, including current national player Xavian Virgo and Michael Campbell, both of Boys' Town in Jamaica. The team is coached by Desmond 'Ghaddafi' Smith, a Portmore coach and former national defender.
Yet, Francis said he will not oppose the decision of the Jamaican clubs in the interest of the players' development.
"You can't mess with a good thing," he said.
"They (the clubs) have a point (to keep the players)," he added later. "I agree with them to a certain degree."
Francis said he allows the players to join Boys' Town in the CSL each summer to offer them exposure and opportunities to play college or professional football as scouts often visit CSL games. Quality players have competed in the CSL.
Jamaican Dane Richards, now a rookie star with New York Red Bulls of U.S. Major League Soccer, has played in the league. But not all the summer league teams are looking out for the players' best interest, Francis argued.
"Some clubs don't care about the players," he said. "They just want them to play."
With Jamaican clubs beginning to clamp down, soon they may not be allowed to do even that.
Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.
Picking winners
Are you an expert on the Barclays Premier League and the FA Cup championships?
Can you accurately predict game winners?
Join The Gleaner/Sports-Max prediction panel for the 2007/2008 season and see how you fare among other experts.
Send us a note(in 100 words or less) to sports@gleanerjm.com telling us why you should be selected. Include your full name, address, telephone numberand email address.
