MAINSTREAM FOOTBALL might be on the verge of losing another of the traditionally strong community-based teams.
I may have to ask supreme community practitioner Hamilton “Hammie La” Lashley why this seems like a growing trend. He may have more insight than me about this subject.
Pride Of Gall Hill and Pinelands, in recent times, and Deacons, some time ago, have all been booted out of the Premier League and, based on the current standings, it seems that Brittons Hill could follow them at the end of this season.
I am tackling the subject in this manner because I am sure it isn’t happening because of the lack of player ability since all have players of comparable skills with the other teams.
I would hate to think it is a lack of pride or desire or both, because each has an outstanding legacy which the contemporary generation should be fighting so much harder to defend and safeguard.
Appalling
I mean, Brittons Hill’s body language has been nothing less than appalling this season, and it is not surprising that they are at the bottom of the table with just two points and the second round is about to begin.
If I were one of their staunchest supporters, I would want to tell myself they are going through a bad patch and they will bounce back. They are not the first or the last this can happen to, but I’m seeing the shadow of a team that is usually vying for a top four spot.
Alas, they appear to be a team just turning up to play but simply not competing. This is not how Brittons Hill of the past represented their community. I saw more teeth, more grit, more fight. Now I’m seeing a very laid-back and lame response to what seems to be a crisis. Where is the will to survive and fight back?
Sentimental
If you pick up that I’m sounding emotional it is because I am. I am very sentimental about Brittons Hill because that’s where I enjoyed my childhood most and I can’t cut that part of my existence loose just so.
Those days spent “running ’bout” in areas like Reservoir Road, Gunsite, Bonnetts Avenue and Villa Road will never be erased from my memory. I don’t know if those personal ties entitle me to demand better since I no longer live there but those who do give me the sense that they want a bigger effort to help uplift one of the island’s communities, which, as Hammie La is fond of saying,is “bastardised”.
I don’t like the language because I maintain we have to define where we come from and not let where we came from define us. There are plenty of positives associated with Brittons Hill and these, more than the negatives, must be pointed out and repeated to the players associated with the football and other teams representing the area.
However, I am seeing some similarities associated with the decline of Pinelands and Gall Hill which can be ominous for Brittons Hill’s survival in the Premier League. It was food for thought when I saw how disjointed Pinelands looked and much was revealed when they were mauled by the defending champions UWI Blackbirds.
Ran cold
I was struck when I recognised that many of Gall Hill’s home-grown players opted to represent other clubs. There’s no way that would happen during the era of the Sealys, Cedric Nicholls, Levere Blackman and others. There was no team more creative and entertaining than Deacons. Then they simply ran cold and subsequently got dropped from the football limelight.
Clearly, there has been a paradigm shift in the way these communities now approach football and it is proving to be detrimental to their survival in the Premier League and inflicting a lot of hurt on the people they represent.
I really ought to be giving credit to the front-runners like leaders Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme, Weymouth Wales and Rendezvous, all of whom have the capability to cash the winners’ cheque, but the Brittons Hill predicament was weighing much too heavy on my mind to sweep it under the carpet.
Oh shoot, Compton from Waterford, Bush Hall, are also in deep relegation trouble. I must hurry up and have that conversation with my good friend Hammie La.
• Andi Thornhill is a veteran sports journalist. Email [email protected]
