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Don’t blame the RSPL! - PLCA official defends local league after Jamaica U22’s 9-0 disaster in Japan

Published:Saturday | January 4, 2020 | 12:18 AMLivingston ScottGleaner Writer
Ricardo Thomas (right) of Waterhouse fights to retain possession against Cavalier’s Alex Marshall in the Red Stripe Premier League semi-final at the the National Stadium in Kingston on Monday, April 15, 2019. Both players were part of Jamaica’s Under-22 team that suffered a 9-0 defeat to Japan last week.
Gladstone Taylor
Ricardo Thomas (right) of Waterhouse fights to retain possession against Cavalier’s Alex Marshall in the Red Stripe Premier League semi-final at the the National Stadium in Kingston on Monday, April 15, 2019. Both players were part of Jamaica’s Under-22 team that suffered a 9-0 defeat to Japan last week.

Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) vice-president, Carvel Stewart, has defended the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL), after some experts blamed the poor standard of play and lack of professionalism in the RSPL for the 9-0 drubbing suffered by the national U22s against Japan last weekend.

In a letter to The Gleaner, Stewart said he was bewildered by comments published in The Gleaner and attributed to Clarendon College coach Lenworth Hyde and former Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ) chairman Don Anderson in the wake of the 9-0 embarrassment.

Stewart said both men gave the general impression that the RSPL was a contributing factor in the defeat, but he begged to differ, arguing that inadequate arrangements and insufficient acclimatisation period to the harsh Japanese winter were the main causes for the 9-0 debacle.

“I agree with almost everything Hyde stated except reference to transition from schoolboy football to senior and possible transfers to more developed and better financed leagues. Keeping young exceptionally talented players out of the Premier League in favour of schoolboy competitions hinders their development and should be re-examined,” Stewart said, while pointing to the exploits of Belgian-based striker Shamar Nicholson, who did not play Manning Cup or daCosta Cup.

“He (Nicholson) entered the Premier League at an early age, honing his craft against stiffer opposition,” Stewart added.

Stewart noted that most of the Jamaican players in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final were developed and played in our Premier League, and that in the 2017 Concacaf Gold Cup Final team, every Jamaican player in the squad was developed in the Premier League. He also pointed that all but one Jamaican player in the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final, were developed in the Premier League.

“It is remarkable that when success is achieved the League (RSPL) and PLCA are not accorded acknowledgment but failures are attributed to them,” said Stewart.

On the matter of professionalism or the lack thereof, Stewart believes RSPL clubs are doing everything to comply and adhere to the Concacaf professionalisation mandate requirements.

“The member clubs of the PLCA have at all times responded to the JFF satisfactorily on all requirements that were said to be from or recommended by CONCACAF. The true matters at hand that need more detailed assessment are the genesis and organisation of Jamaica’s Under-22 men’s participation in the Kirin Cup (Trophy) against Japan’s Under-22 Men. Some details of the trip are worth noting. The Jamaican players were selected from United States colleges, United States Soccer League and the Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL) and only the RSPL players are currently active. The other players have inactive for some time.

“Conversely, the Japanese players are all reportedly active in the J-League, which is their Premier League. The (Jamaican) travelling party left in two groups on Monday, December 23 and arrived in Japan Christmas night (Japan time). The game was played two days later. Those arrangements were clearly inadequate, no proper acclimatisation afforded. There were other shortcomings that would have more directly affected the players’ substandard performances. Lack of professionalism of the PLCA’s clubs and the RSPL did not factor in those shortcomings,” Stewart said.