Orville Taylor | Flagging the Cup

We did go for history and go for cup, and succeeded at one. Watching the teams parade, including our infinitesimal Caribbean neighbours, Curaçao and our fellow Africans, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is painful.

We missed it after getting the easiest path possible, ever. This failure to repeat history is inexcusable and talk as one may, it would be disingenuous to solely blame it on the expatriate coach, who was only one cog in the system, which was perfectly designed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

It was not merely failure of the players and coach. It was a whole slate of (in)decision makers, who dropped all balls, as if playing cricket during the football matches.

We did not do our best, and nothing substitutes. A proud Jamaican, who finds no conflict with being African, cannot be satisfied with watching an international competition and enjoying it vicariously, supporting countries, including some which would never welcome us.

Knowing what it feels like to see our track and field athletes win Olympic and World Championship gold, and having witnessed firsthand the amazing journey and performance of the Reggae Boyz in 1998, watching World Cup 2026 means simply football, with no sense of allegiance for me.

When no male won a global medal in the 100 metres between 2017 and 2023, I still watched and had my sentimental favourites. Then, when we experienced a female drought in the 2024 Olympics, I cheered for Julien Alfred. She was CARICOM, and had studied in Jamaica.  Moreover, my largest body of friends outside of Jamaica in the Anglophone Caribbean are St Lucians. 

Yet, my sense of Jamaican pride would never allow me to fly any other flag on anything that belongs to me. For starters, despite King Charles being my head of state, there is no way that the Union Jack or even the red, white and blue could hang. No other CARICOM, no European or American.

World Cup football is exciting. It is the biggest global spectacle and features a sport played by most countries. Though not my favourite, I enjoy the game, and it is a modest substitute for track and field.

Truthfully, I am looking forward to sitting and cheering on my selected team, Africans of course, while having a cold beer, stout or dark rum on the ice. Putting up my feet in the company of my childhood bredren, in the living room of my childhood home, is highly anticipated.

A child of the 1970s, like the majority of Jamaicans we were enamoured with Brazil, because of the visit of Pele. Pele himself who looked like the majority of Jamaicans, and the gold jersey, made us feel that in many ways that country epitomised by the ‘Black Pearl’ was some kind of proxy for poor little Jamaica that had little prospect of ever reaching that stage.

Yet, I never had the kind of emotional attachment. My admiration, which was inspired by the deftness of Dago Gordon, Devon ‘Roots’ Lewis, and the one and only Allan ‘Skill Cole’, kept me yearning for our apotheosis. These men made me feel very proud to be Jamaican. Had they been active in this era, I would not be drying tears. Clive ‘Busy’ Campbell understands.

For me, this is not about football only. After all, I mildly understand the zeal of fans supporting English or European league teams. Of course, I find it rather silly that Jamaicans, with zero prospect of visiting the UK or any of the European countries, getting so heated in arguments about which team is better, that one would easily think that these clubs actually compete in Manning and daCosta cups, or Champs.

It is a different thing, however, when in support of another country, we fly flags, including those of some of racist and xenophobic nations.

Maybe I missed it when I lived in the United States or visited during their missed World Cup In 2017; but I cannot recall any hordes of Americans, flying other countries’ flags. This is one area where compared to the USA we fail miserably.

In this period where we clearly seem to be losing our way, and make personal attacks against cultural legends because of their defence of the sanctity of Jamaican symbols, artefacts and traditional music; the flying of foreign flags is at best noisome and at worst unpatriotic.

Mark you, the selling of flags at this time is a micro, small, and medium-size enterprise. Everywhere, with more frequency than the young men who rush to wipe windscreens, vendors are peddling multi-coloured pieces of cloth. ‘Man affi eat food!’ and the temptation to produce a bumper crop of cloth is strong.

Many drivers are flying little flags on their vehicles.  Others proudly hoist foreign flags outside their homes.  Among these sycophants are persons, who have never displayed the Jamaican black, gold, and green, even during Independence or Emancipation.

Bet you that some of these very persons would not recognise the flag of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

There is so much ignorance surrounding the display of flags, that we do not understand that it is forbidden for any foreign flag to be displayed in Jamaica, under normal circumstances.

Exceptions are made obviously at missions, consulates and embassies, which essentially are regarded as foreign premises.  Therefore, it is as if the flags are being shown on their native soil.

In other cases, if any foreign flag is mounted, it must have the Jamaican flag to the right and it cannot be larger than the Jamaican. Still, had we simply not kicked over our bucket of milk…’Ah Bwoy!’

Anyway, enjoy the World Cup, but no self-respecting Jamaican should call the foreign teams ‘we’.

Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com