Construction of the house of former national football star Miguel Blair in Rae Town was completed after three years and Michael Tulloch, one of the founders of the Unsung Ones Foundation, was more than happy with the project.
In the 1970s, Blair, of Santos fame, would be compared with the likes of Allan 'Skill' Cole, Peter 'Dove' Marston, Derrick 'Shastri' Denniser and Herbert 'Dago' Gordon as the leading players of that era.
But Blair has fallen on hard times and was living in squalor in an open lot that was eventually turned into his beautiful home.
Tulloch, a feared striker in his time, had high praises for the efforts from the government through the Sports Development Foundation (SDF); the Food For The Poor, Bert’s Auto and members of his organisation including Allan “Skill” Cole, Charlie Chaplin, Neville Oxford and Bev Melbourne to name a few.
“Miguel (Blair) is elated and that’s what’s important,” Tulloch pointed out.
“I just want to thank everyone involved. The Ministry of Sports through SDF and Mr Denzil Wilks provided the funds to get the trucks and the tractors to clean up the land. Bert’s and Food For the Poor all did a tremendous job,” Tulloch explained.
Wilks, General Manager of SDF, outlined that they have been providing care packages to Blair and collaborated with the Sports ministry, his family and the Vere Technical High School past students in making him as comfortable as possible.
“We also provided the Justice of the Peace to verify his living conditions then we sent off the information to the Food for the Poor”
“The Ministry also made contact with his sister, Pauline Blair, in regards to the house title and we are aware that the Vere Technical Past Students assisted in paying off the taxes so that the land would be available,” Wilks pointed out.
Members of the Bert’s Auto team were on hand, working feverishly to finish the project and Marketing Officer Waynette Strachan, said joining the cause was a no-brainer.
“It’s a one-day construction so we intend to hand it over today (Thursday) and at the end of the day Mr Blair would be in a new structure of a two-and-a-half bedroom,” said Strachan.
“With the new design that Food for the Poor has, there is a septic tank, a water tank, two solar panels that power the light bulbs. He also gets three double beds, a kitchen and a bathroom.
“He used to live in a shack before and his story was carried in 2018 so when Bert’s reached out to Food for the Poor saying that we wanted to donate a house to somebody and when they brought this to our attention it was a no brainer.”
Food for the Poor’s Development and Marketing Manager Marsha Burrell-Rose was also on-site.
“We are here with the Bert’s team, they are the donors for this house and when it came to us, Bert’s wanted to assist somebody with the house and since they are close by we decided to align the two together,” said Burrell-Rose.
“If you see where Mr Blair is coming from in terms of where he is currently living; and so we are very excited to just see the difference that this house is going to make.”
Despite scoring an unbeaten century for Team Blackwood on day two of the BestvBest match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Thursday, Nkrumah Bonner said spending time at the crease was more important to him as he prepares for the West Indies’ upcoming tour to Sri Lanka later this year.
Monterrey claimed a fifth CONCACAF Champions League title after edging Mexican rivals Club America 1-0 in the final.
Rogelio Funes Mori was the hero, with the Mexico international's ninth-minute goal proving the difference at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe on Thursday.
America defender Sebastian Caceres failed to deal with a ball into the penalty area, his whiffled clearance gifting Mori and Monterrey the early opener.
Former Tottenham striker Victor Janssen went close to doubling Monterrey's lead with 10 minutes of regulation remaining after rounding goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, but his effort was cleared off the line.
There were incredibly 15 minutes of stoppage time and America came close to dramatically equalising in the 101st minute when Federico Vinas rattled the crossbar in a goal-mouth scramble.
Monterrey, though, held on for their second Champions League trophy in three years.
Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz will face another empty stadium for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against the United States, after a request for permission to have fully vaccinated fans attend the game was denied by the government.
The Jamaicans are scheduled to face the United States in a crucial encounter on November 16, as the team looks to push itself back into contention for a spot at next year’s World Cup.
So far, the team is the only country not to allow fans into the stadium, in some capacity. However, with an estimate of just 12.4 percent of the population being fully vaccinated Jamaica also has the lowest rate of any nation in the final round and is the only one below 20 percent.
According to a recent press release the denial was based on concerns regarding the capacity and logistics required to ensure that only vaccinated persons were allowed inside the stadium. The decision caught Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) boss Michael Ricketts off guard as, according to him, the football body had harboured optimism of having fans return in some capacity for the upcoming round, following positive talks with government entities.
“We had discussions with persons from the Ministry of Health and we would have put our ID unit in motion. In fact, one suggestion was that we would merge both ID entities so that once you apply for a ticket the JFF could say to you we can or cannot verify your vaccination,” Ricketts told TVJ.
“We put everything in place, all the plans. We made several site visits. We were working closely with IPL on how to have the patrons seated. We had a meeting and went through all the protocols and that gave us the confidence that we would have been permitted to have fans.”
The government has indicated, however, that the proposal is under review and the request could be granted in time for the January round of matches. The team is currently in 6th place on 5 points, three outside of an automatic qualifying spot.
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) said it is to meet with Reggae Girlz Head Coach Hubert Busby Jr. next Tuesday to discuss allegations that he tried to solicit sex from a player while he was head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Women’s team a decade ago.
Busby Jr has denied the allegations.
The 52-year-old Busby was appointed Reggae Girlz head coach in January 2020, taking over from Hugh Menzies, who resigned his position over financial disagreements with the JFF.
“The JFF is aware of allegations surrounding National Women’s Head Coach Hubert Busby. The executive of the JFF will convene next Tuesday to discuss the matter with Mr Busby,” the JFF said in a tersely worded statement on Thursday.
The allegations against the Canadian-born former player emerged in a story published by the Guardian newspaper in England in which it is claimed that he made unwanted sexual advances to Malloree Enoch, who at the time, was seeking a job in the administration of the Whitecaps in September 2010.
According to the Guardian, Busby suggested that she could play for the club instead of working in the front office and plied her with “sports equipment as gifts, take her to restaurants in one-on-one situations, and ask her to stay with him alone in his hotel room while working in his role as Whitecaps coach.”
Enoch told the Guardian that on one of those occasions she spent three nights in his hotel room but said she made no sexual advances toward her during that time.
In another incident, Enoch said: “He insisted I stay (in his hotel room) because now it was late and when I agreed it was far too late to drive back. When we got back to the hotel he again didn’t have a room reserved for me. I had to stay in his room. This particular night there were two beds and I laid in my own bed and he made his way to my bed and at some point was standing over the top of me.
“He was on all fours fully on the bed. He was definitely aroused. He tried to kiss and touch me. The light was not on but I don’t think he had his shirt on. I had to negotiate to get him off the bed. I told him I wasn’t interested.
“I think there was a lot of emotion. I was definitely scared. I had this dream to be a soccer player and I was trying to pursue something I had wanted to do since I was five and now I was put in a really shitty position. He was using this power because he had something that I wanted. I was very uncomfortable. I was resistant to it and he tried to pursue it and pursue it and then he got pissed off and went over to his own bed and went to sleep.”
She said she did not report the matter to the club because she was embarrassed and did not want to compromise being able to play for the club.
She was eventually signed by the Whitecaps.
However, at the end of 2011, the Guardian reported, the Whitecap players sent an email to club officials detailing a list of complaints concerning inappropriate behaviour by Busby and the coaching staff.
The club hired an ombudsman to interview the players and in October that year, the club sent an email to the players stating that “it was in the best interest of the club to make a change in the coaching staff for our women’s team programme.”
The email also told the players that it would be inappropriate for the players to comment on the matter publicly.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has congratulated West Indies cricket legends on recently being awarded honorary doctorates from the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Nkrumah Bonner scored an unbeaten 90 as Team (Jermaine) Blackwood reached 234-4 at the end of day one of the BestvBest match against Team Brathwaite at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Wednesday.
Supporters' Shield winners New England have made more history with Wednesday's 1-0 win over Colorado Rapids breaking the MLS record for most points in a single season.
Bruce Arena's side, who clinched their first-ever Supporters' Shield on Saturday, won thanks to Tajon Buchanan's 74th-minute strike.
The result took Revolution's season tally to 73 points from 33 games, eclipsing the previous record mark held by LAFC with 72 points in 2019.
New England have one more regular season match to extend their record, playing Inter Miami at home on November 7.
Canada international Buchanan came up with the winner, showing fast feet to make space for a low shot that beat Rapids goalkeeper William Yarbrough, who had sensationally kept out Henry Kessler from close range minutes earlier.
New York Red Bulls slipped out of the Eastern Conference play-offs spots after a 1-0 defeat to DC United who moved above them into seventh place.
United snapped a four-game winless skid, while also ending the Red Bulls' four-game running run and eight-game unbeaten streak in the process. Kevin Paredes side-footed home the ninth-minute winner for United.
Sporting KC moved into top spot in the Western Conference and dented LA Galaxy's play-offs aspirations with a 2-0 win.
Johnny Russell extended his scoring run to eight straight games with both goals for KC who clinched a top-four seeding as well.
Randall Leal scored two goals and grabbed an assist as Nashville came from two goals down twice to win 6-3 at Cincinnati.
Portland Timbers moved in the west's top four with a 2-0 home victory over San Jose Earthquakes, while Vancouver Whitecaps climbed up to fifth with a 2-1 triumph over Minnesota United.
New York City boosted their Eastern Conference top-four seed hopes with a 1-0 home win over Chicago Fire, while Josef Martinez's winner helped Atlanta United past Inter Miami 2-1 after Gonzalo Higuain had opened the scoring from the spot.
Columbus Crew upset Orlando City 3-2, Toronto held Philadelphia Union 2-2 as Jozy Altidore netted while Real Salt Lake scored twice in the final 10 minutes to win 2-1 at Dallas.
Legendary West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has questioned the team’s level of planning, particularly when it comes to its batting line-up on the back of two dismal performances to start the T20 World Cup.
The defending champions have been handed back-to-back losses at the hand of England and then South Africa. Both losses were underpinned by underwhelming performances at the crease, which first saw the West Indies dismissed for 55 and then in the second match collapsed to 143 for 8 all-out after a promising start at 73 for 1.
Following its substandard showing against England, the team tinkered with its batting line-up promoting Nicholas Pooran up the order while pushing Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer further down.
“I think the planning season to be all over the place,” Lloyd said in assessing the team’s performances thus far, on the Mason and Guest radio program.
“I think if you look at what has happened. Fifty-five runs, we are much better than that. Our planning seems to be terrible. (Against South Africa) We had a wonderful start, and we didn’t promote people in the proper order,” he added.
“You expect the captain to come up when you are going at 9 an over, to continue, but you send Pooran who hasn’t been batting well and you have Hetmyer who has been batting well and making very good scores. So, the batting order seems to be all over the place.”
Lloyd believes that for the team to be successful someone has to take control of the batting order.
“At one stage the prediction was 174 and we were down to so, but somewhere along the line, we feel like this game is about hitting sixes. We are getting caught on the boundary, it’s a big ground. If I’m at 58, I’m looking to get to 80 or 90, get more runs and take the game away from the opposition.”
Los Angeles FC moved into MLS play-off position with a 3-0 defeat of Seattle Sounders on Tuesday.
The victory put LAFC on 44 points and moved them ahead of Vancouver Whitecaps on goal differential for the seventh and final Western Conference play-off spot.
However, Vancouver have a game in hand and ninth-place Real Salt Lake (42 points) have played two fewer games than Los Angeles, so plenty of work remains for head coach Bob Bradley's side.
Still, they will be pleased with the all-around effort Tuesday as Jamal Blackman turned in a clean sheet and three different players found the net.
Brian Rodriguez opened the scoring in the 21st minute, slipping a shot past Stefan Frei, while Latif Blessing added a critical goal in first-half stoppage time and Cristian Arango sealed the win from long distance in the 51st minute.
Seattle remain atop the Western Conference on 58 points but continue to struggle as the play-offs approach, with three losses and a draw from their last four games.
Jamaica long jumper Tajay Gayle has admitted that he is excited to be adding the 100m sprint to his repertoire when the next track and field season gets underway.
Earlier this month, Stephen Francis the coach of Jamaica-based track club MVP, where Gayle plies his trade, had revealed that the athlete was set to add the 100m sprints to his list of disciplines for the 2021-2022 season.
Gayle, the 2019 Long Jump World champion, had shown plenty of promise last season after clocking a reasonably quick 10.18 over the distance. The athlete has spent a good portion of the offseason recovering from a knee injury, which negatively impacted his performance at the Olympics. It might be twice the work but Gayle admits that it is with a sense of excitement that he views the new season than apprehension.
“I wouldn’t say challenging, I would say exciting. All the fun the fear, the anxiety, and all the pressure that comes with it (100m), that’s what keeps me going,”
“The fact that I can lose or might lose, you just can’t be sure.
The final of the World Championship in the 100, the sky’s the limit, why not, why would I say I can’t. I wouldn’t say a challenge, it’s just an exciting year for me next year, once I get the knee up to speed.”
The Jamaican government has given the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) the green light for the staging of schoolboy football this season. As such, ISSA said it is now finalizing arrangements to commence the Manning Cup and DaCosta Cup on Friday, November 12 or Saturday, November 13.
New England Revolution completed a stunning last-gasp comeback to earn a thrilling 2-2 draw with Orlando City in MLS thanks to two-goal hero Adam Buksa.
Supporters' Shield winners the Revolution trailed 2-0 with nine minutes of regulation remaining before Poland international Buksa rescued an unlikely point for the high-flying outfit on Sunday.
Buksa pulled a goal back in the 81st minute and then struck in the third minute of stoppage time to salvage a dramatic draw and extend the Revs' undefeated run to nine matches.
Orlando had been in control thanks to quick-fire goals from former Manchester United star Nani and Daryl Pike, who made it 2-0 five minutes into the second half.
With the point, New England (70 through 32 games) – having equalled the record for most road wins in a single regular season in the post-shoot-out era in MLS thanks to Wednesday's 10th away victory – closed within two points of the league record of 72, set by Los Angeles FC in 2019.
Elsewhere, lowly Austin upstaged Houston Dynamo 2-1 courtesy of a two-goal first half.
After Marco Maric's seventh-minute own goal, Sebastian Driussi put Austin 2-0 ahead in the fourth minute of added time in the opening half.
Another own goal, this time in favour of the Dynamo after Julio Cascante's moment of misfortune, made things interesting in stoppage time.
Last season was the first time in Houston's 15 MLS campaigns they finished averaging less than one point per match (0.91 – 21 points in 23 games). With 30 points in 32 rounds this term, the Dynamo are on pace to do so for a second consecutive year.
The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel announced the squads for the upcoming Best v Best men’s red-ball matches.
The panel named 24 players for two three-day fixtures, which will be played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground on October 27-29 and November 1-3. The two teams will be led by Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood.
The players will use these matches as preparations ahead of West Indies’ forthcoming tour to Sri Lanka for two Test matches following the ICC T20 World Cup. The team will depart from Antigua on November 6 and the tour will run until December 4. The full tour squad and schedule will be announced at a later date. The series is the second of six series, three at home and three away, that West Indies will play in the 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship after drawing the first Betway Test Series against Pakistan in August.
“These Best v Best matches are a critical part of the Test team’s preparation for the series in Sri Lanka. For a number of players, it will be the only serious red ball cricket they will have since the Betway Test series against Pakistan and prior to going on this tour. So, it helps to get them back into the groove of the red-ball format and gives the Selection Panel an indication of the players’ readiness for the tour,” said Lead Selector Roger Harper.
SQUAD A: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Shamarh Brooks, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Veerasammy Permaul, Jayden Seales, Preston McSween, Nial Smith and Jeremy Solozano.
SQUAD B: Jermaine Blackwood (Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Jahmar Hamilton, Chemar Holder, Kavem Hodge, Alzarri Joseph, Imran Khan, Shayne Moseley, Kieran Powell, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach and Jomel Warrican.
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