Contributed
Harbour View Football Club members and other football officials participate at the function honouring the team's victory in the CFU Caribbean Club Championships. (Inset) Harbour View Football Club chairman, Carvel Stewart, who is also the vice-chairman of the Premier League Clubs Association.

Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

STRIKERS NEED to blast up the scoring rate if the Cash Plus Premier League (CPPL) is to become really exciting. That's the charge from Carvel Stewart, chairman of Caribbean Club Championship winners Harbour View, who are also the reigning Premier League champions.

"If the league is going to be a spectacle, you'll have to score 3-4 goals. That's what people want to see," noted Stewart, who is also vice- chairman of the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA).

In 60 CPPL matches this season, 133 goals have been scored at an average of 2.3 goals per game.

Goalscoring

"We'll have to step up the goalscoring in the Premier League," Stewart urged as the club celebrated its Caribbean Club champs triumph with its executives, players and specially invited guests from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Kingston and St. Andrew Football Association, PLCA and the media dining at the Knutsford Court Hotel.

The Stars of the East beat off the challenge of Trinidad and Tobago home teams San Juan Jabloteh and Joe Public in the semis and final, respectively, to win their second title in the past four years.

Harbour View, who won in 2004, also beat fellow Jamaica team, Portmore United - the 2005 champions - in the quarter-finals.

Pointing to the fact that Jamaican clubs have won thrice in the past four years, Stewart stated that "... Jamaica's Premier League is the premier league in the Caribbean.

"The bar was set very high before we left Jamaica. It got even higher when we got to the quarter-finals. The format and venue changed," Stewart continued, referring to their unscheduled early meeting with Portmore United, as well as other nagging problems involving accommodation and transportation.

"This victory is a testimony to our strength and character," he remarked. "The players stood up to every adversity."

Team manager Ann-Marie Massey concurred: "We found every reason to be positive. We turned every negative into a positive."

Jamaica advance

The Jamaican champions advanced to a quarter-final fixture in the eight-team CONCACAF Club Champs, which also includes top teams from Mexico and the United States.

"We have started the planning for the CONCACAF rounds already ... preparing for the kinds of assault we're going to launch on those fortresses," Stewart said. "We're not going there to participate, we're going there to achieve as much as possible."

He pointed to 2-2 losses against U.S. teams in previous tries to illustrate their competitiveness but noted they will need to be resilient to make it past the quarter-final round.

"There wasn't a blowout in any of the games against U.S. teams, just two 2-1 games. One was played in 11 degrees fahrenheit. That's the strength of character which we'll need going forward," Stewart said.

"If Harbour View are to succeed, then it's Jamaica which will be succeeding. It's not Harbour View going forward, it's Jamaica's football. We're trying to grow this sport into a major industry in Jamaica. That's what we're building here in Jamaica."

Expounding his thoughts to the national level, he said utilising more local talent in the national team would better serve the purposes of development.

"We will not develop if we keep recycling those who we send abroad, and not inject those who are here. I am convinced that our league is of a high standard. It's not usually regarded as it should be," said Stewart.

Raymond Anderson, first vice- president of the JFF, said: "We've gained back some respect from the region. Harbour View have brought Jamaica's football back on a high again. The Premier League in Jamaica shows we're improving."

Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, the PLCA chairman, talked of the sport's popularity and called Harbour View a role model.

"Football is the most popular sport in the world, more popular than all sports put together. It attracts more spectators than any other in the world. Perhaps, it's the only sport at all," Seaga said.

Management

"Harbour View have demonstrated that management in football is important. Harbour View are a role model for all teams in the league."

He added: "In this competition there's no trophy, no prize money, but there's bragging rights. That's what Harbour View went for and now it can brag as it's the champion team in the Caribbean."

Ambassador A.B. Stewart Stephenson, president of KSAFA, called it a "very special occasion ... as we celebrate the success of our senior affiliate in winning the Cup for the second time. It's a memorable victory.

He added: "The victory by Harbour View is a very fitting testament to the strong develop-ment in KSAFA. Without any doubt, this is an exemplary performance of any football team. It shows the vision of the club as there was no prize money. I think that was a tremendous investment in Jamaica's football.

"We're extremely proud and absolutely delighted of Harbour View winning the CFU Club championship," Stephenson said.