Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer
Godfrey Stewart's coach Carl Palmer.
THE NAME Carl 'Long Life' Palmer has hit the headlines this year with his leading Godfrey Stewart Technical High School to the daCosta Cup title, the second school from Westmoreland to do so and in only its sixth year in the competition.
While some are only getting to know the man and the name, he has been around for quite a while and has had a long life in the sport.
As a player, he fell just short of the heights to which he has led his charges, but like some of his players he raised eyebrows as a schoolboy baller.
At the imposing height of 6' 4", solidly built and a shot to match, many felt that he was not the average schoolboy and many stories were circulated about him when he represented St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in 1979.
One of those stories speaks about a big enough child hollering Daddy! Daddy! from the sidelines as he played.
"I am from a big family. All that talk about a child shouting out daddy at a match while I was playing are just rumours. This came about because of my size and height. I was always a big child," explained Palmer. "I was born on October 10, 1960. Do the mathematics."
Additionally, Palmer dismissed talk of him not being a regular student at STETHS as rubbish.
GOT SCHOLARSHIP
"The situation is that I was at Vere Technical first. I got a scholarship in 1977 and stayed there for a while but had to give it up as it was too expensive to travel from Westmoreland to Clarendon and my parents never really had it financially," he explained.
Two years later after being a part of the history-creating Jamaica youth team, which missed out on a place at the 1980 Moscow Olympics on the toss of a coin in Dallas, Texas, he returned to Vere and then left for STETHS, which was more convenient as it was closer to home.
Having set the schoolboy football world alight then, much was expected of Long Life.
"I was also called up for the senior team in that time (1979) but it was felt that I was more suited for the youth team," said Palmer, who never received another invitation to the senior squad.
Natural progression took him from STETHS to Reno where he featured for three seasons before misfortune struck.
"I played for Reno for about three seasons and drifted out of football for about two years due mainly to injuries. I then retired at 25 in 1985."
With that retirement Palmer went straight into coaching, building a name at the grassroots level. His first move was to Russia, his community team which he guided to the Division Two title twice. That was before it became the Major League. He also took them to the National Premier League qualifiers when the A League was introduced in the 1990s.
In 1995-96 he had a stint as coach of the Westmoreland youth team which he led to the Confederations semi-finals in both seasons where they lost to Clarendon and St. Catherine respectively. He continued to be something of a football gypsy and had stops at parish clubs such as Orange Hill where he laid the foundation, Division Two outfit Dean's Valley Youth Club and Blackness, which took the Major League title under his watch.
Palmer had his first taste of coaching at the schoolboy level between 1995 and 1998 when he served as assistant to Owen "Bones" Cunningham and Boysie Nicholson respectively at Frome Technical.
Godfrey Stewart was his next destination in 1999. Taking over the team just three days prior to the start of the season did not help his cause. They did poorly and he was not retained in the position at the end of the season.
While Godfrey Stewart showed him the door, his home team Russia embraced him. They were not disappointed as he took them to the Super League.
Godfrey Stewart were to come calling again in 2002. He assisted Desmond Pringle for that season then took over fully in 2003 and started his programme of developing the champions of today while managing to guide Reno to the semi-finals of the 2004-05 Red Stripe Knock Out competition.
In the 2005-06 season he had to give up his voluntary position at Reno to concentrate on his paying one - Godfrey Stewart - and it certainly paid off.
"I was confident that we would have won having seen the players who stepped up to the Under-19 team from the Under-16s and those who had returned from last year's team," said Palmer who in his moment of triumph found space elevate the other daCosta Cup coaches in the parish.
"Football in our parish is on a low. It took a lot of hard work from the different coaches of all the daCosta Cup teams in the parish. The coaches in the schools have to develop our players so it is even more rewarding to see it bear fruit," he added.
Having delivered the daCosta Cup to Godfrey Stewart, Palmer's next move could be to seek personal deliverance.
"God was the strong man behind the team so we have to move in that direction. I need to pay more attention God who has been quite good.
"I am in his hands so it is up to Him. Whatever he wants me to do is what will happen so if he does not want me to coach then that is what will happen," he said when quizzed about his next step.
