SELFISHNESS IS HINDERING the development of football in Barbados.
This observation was made by Dexter Marshall, head of Dexter’s Brazilian Football Academy, while revealing the findings of a post mortem coming out of the staging of the inaugural Os Barbados Youth Football Tournament recently at the National Stadium.
Marshall was responding to a question whether there was too much focus on what one academy or one individual could achieve instead of working towards the total development of the national game.
“My whole idea about his programme is that if we want to see Barbados go to that level it has to come from the Barbados Football Association (BFA). They are the governing body for football in this country,” Marshall replied.
“If they [BFA] decide they are going to set a standard, this is what I want all of the academies to follow; it has to come from the Barbados Football Association. I think that is the only way that we can achieve it.”
Marshall, who was trained in Brazil, said even though each academy might have its own programme, all should be geared towards national development.
“We have sufficient youngsters in Barbados that each academy can have a corps of players to develop. If we as an academy develop them in the right way, then the national football association can draw from each academy the best players and put them into one pool of national training. It is achievable, but it has to come from the Barbados Football Association,” he reiterated.
Adviser Paul Leacock echoed those sentiments:
“One of the things that can hinder the development of youth football in Barbados is individualism and parochialism, which is totally unnecessary. In doing the Os Barbados competition it was evident there was way too much politics to wade through to just do what would have been an excellent youth competition,” Leacock said.
“One of the things that this academy is concerned with is not itself, but the entire development of football in Barbados and all of us who are involved in this game have to do so with the national good and with the youth at heart, not our own individual selves.”
Despite poor spectator support and a lack of subscription from some of the academies, Marshall and his team were moving ahead with plans for the 2013 event.
Coming out of the inaugural staging, he said several countries from the Caribbean, North America and South America had expressed an interest in taking part. For the first time, teams from Brazilian clubs Cruzeiro, Atletico Paranaense and America competed in Barbados.
“I believe that we have an excellent product and I want to see it continue to grow and develop for the future of Barbados football,” Marshall added.
