Nodley Wright, Staff Reporter
Shabazz
THE COACH of the Trinidad and Tobago women's football team, Jamaal Shabazz, has lauded the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for appointing long-time national coach Carl Brown as technical director of the island's football programme.
Shabazz, who was in the island last week with his team for the CONCACAF Women's Under-19 World Cup qualifiers, hailed Brown as a "committed soldier".
"Based on the timing of his appointment, I cannot see any better person for the JFF to appoint than Carl Brown," said Shabazz of the man who two weeks ago was named by JFF president Captain Horace Burrell to take over from the dismissed Clovis de Oliveira.
"I felt that he being under (Rene) Simoes and the other coaches and even his work before that period, his experience and commitment is something that money cannot buy," Shabazz said.
In supporting the appointed of Brown, Shabazz warned against what he termed a re-colonisation of the region.
"At this time, not only Jamaica but the whole Caribbean, particularly in football, seems to be going through a period of re-colonisation where the administrators are adopting the label that foreign is better and they are bringing in foreign coaches because they feel that that is the way to go," said Shabazz whose country fired one of their own, Bertille St. Clair, in 2000 after he guided them to their highest position in the Gold Cup competition.
In St. Clair's place a Scotsman, Ian Porterfield, was hired but he failed to qualify the country for the 2002 World Cup and was replaced by Simoes, who led Jamaica to their historic 1998 World Cup qualification.
"I am saying that a coach is a coach, be he foreign or local. We have got to be careful because if the football fraternity was to adopt the same principle with administrators, we could easily go to England (for administrators). Why have we not gone to England, wider Europe and South America to bring in administrators from those countries to be our head administrators and pay them accordingly?"
According to Shabazz, who kept goal for Trinidad and Tobago at the youth level and who had two caps at the national level, "the mission" that Brown will be embarking on will not be one for himself but for the entire Caribbean coaching fraternity.
"It is a mission on behalf of all Caribbean coaches - be it Mervyn Richards in Antigua, Stuart Charles in St. Lucia, 'Star' Brown in St. Kitts, Lennie Taylor in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Bertille St. Claire in Trinidad and TobagoT. "It is an important statement for and on behalf of coaches in the region. When you look at the man himself, he has displayed tremendous commitment. Jamaica cannot ask for a more committed soldier."
The JFF, Shabazz said, showed vision in getting Brown attached to a professional club and said such a move was long in coming "because the argument against Caribbean coaches has always been that we lacking experience".
"Why have federations in the Caribbean not sent their top coaches abroad on six-month and one-year attachment courses? Because this has not been in place, one can see that their thinking in the long run has always been that when one foreign coach goes another comes."
Shabazz expressed the hope that what the JFF has done with Brown is the sign of a new trend.
"I hope that the JFF understands that it could become pioneers again with this recent move and that they give Carl 110 per cent encouragement and support."
