By Adrian Frater, Staff Reporter
The New Pride Park, home of Seaview Football Club, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. - Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH THEIR glamour years of the 1980s all but a distant memory, many might consider Seaview Football Club, which is based in the Whitehouse area of Montego Bay, a spent force as the team no longer commands a place among the elite clubs in national football. However, for the club's dynamic president Milton Russell, whose dad Aston Russell, was among the football enthusiasts who founded the club 25 years ago, he thinks the club is still far from realising a fraction of its true potential. "We are working hard to return to the glory days but this time around we a looking at putting in the infrastructure in place to encourage long term growth and development," said Russell, whose vision includes transforming the home field into a multi-purpose sports complex. "We have renamed the facility 'Pride Park' because we want the residents to be proud of what we have here."
The club was slated to have its groundbreaking ceremony for its clubhouse yesterday and a fun day to officially mark its 25th anniversary. The next stage of the development is to re-surface the playing football and the put in standings and floodlights.
"When we are finished here, we will have a top class sports complex and a theme park in one," said Russell, who said funding for the various projects has already been identified. "We are planning to have the beach that surrounds the playing field as a part of the attraction."
Since coming to the fore back in 1977, through the instrumentality of Aston Russell, a former top St. James footballer, Dr. Hugh Woozencraft, former national player Edwin Alcock and former national All-Schools goalkeeper Alvin Clarke, the club had had much to be proud of.
"We were St. James champion twice in the 1980s and we had the distinction of playing in the Craven 'A' National Club Championship (now Craven 'A' NPL competition," said Russell. "We have also produce players such as senior national player Lawrence Kelly and junior nationals such as Christopher Gibbs, Christopher Harris, Andrew Morris and Keith Wilson."
The development at Seaview has not gone unnoticed by the St. James Football Association as they association recently sent a letter to the club, commending it for his effort to streamline its football and bring new development to the Whitehouse community.
"We are quite pleased with what Seaview has been doing and we are supporting their effort 100 per cent," said businessman George Evans, the FA's president. "We wish more clubs had the insight to do what Seaview is doing. Development is the key to a successful future.
