A unique perspective

AS A player, Rodolph Austin has literally covered every blade of grass on the pitch. From grass roots to international level, the former Reggae Boyz captain and central midfielder has racked up many titles and scored many firsts for Jamaica.

He played professionally for more than a decade in Europe and in the continent’s top competition, the UEFA Cup for Norwegian club SK Brann against Spanish rivals Deportivo de La Coruna, and represented several others, including well-known English club Leeds United, where he also wore the captain’s armband.

A natural leader, Austin has traded running from box to box across the pitch and laying precise long passes, crunching tackles, or scoring his trademark booming long-range goals for the coach’s box at Jamaica Premier League club Portmore United, the place from where he catapulted onto the global stage.

He had, in fact, returned to his roots as a player in the quiet COVID 2022 period where games were played without spectators but saw greater value in coaching, with a philosophy of developing players holistically, on and off the playing field, as he aspires to reach the highest levels of coaching.

“My aim is to bring out the best in the players, not only in football, but in life because if you’re only teaching them football, you’re not teaching them nothing,” Austin said.

“If they fail in football, I want them to be some good role models in society. So for me, that’s a win also. And I want to help these players to realise their full potential because a lot of talent is here.

“Our responsibility as coaches is to get it out of the players and let them see the game in a different way and let them see that they can make something out of the game to change their lives in a positive manner.”

Selling players

At the professional level, football is a business that is largely defined by the buying and selling of players. The big prize for local clubs and players comes with the transfer of players to Europe, especially.

For instance, former Reggae Boy Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner (Bolton Wanderers) along with Austin (SK Brann) netted big one-million-pound deals for local clubs Harbour View FC and Portmore United FC, respectively, when they were snapped up by European clubs. A recent Gleaner article revealed that current Reggae Boy Leon Bailey earns over a billion JA dollars annually at English Premier League team Aston Villa.

Austin wants local players to cash in on these opportunities, believing that as coaches, they must make a bigger impact in ensuring that players align behaviours to fit professional standards.

Asked about entrenching this culture in Jamaica, Austin said: “If I’m being honest, it’s not really being taught. And when I say it’s not really being taught, it’s us, some of us as coaches, we need to have a stronger line. We let the players get away with too much.

“For me, discipline is very, very important. And if you’re going to be successful in life as a football player, you have to be disciplined. And if we, as coaches, don’t hold the players accountable and push them out of their comfort zone, they won’t achieve anything.”

Player Jermie Lynch, a former national player who also represented Harbour View FC and who returned recently from playing professionally in Vietnam for six years, says players have a massive role in advancing their status to capitalise on the big-money overseas opportunities in football.

“Most of the players if they want to leave, they have to put themselves in the situation. They have to come to training, work hard and show that they want to play so that he can select them to play because he’s not granting nobody no free play,” said Lynch.

“All he has to do is stick to his philosophy and continue to go with it,” the player added.

“He’s the second young coach that I’ve worked with. He’s a pretty decent coach. He has his style and his way how he handles things. He’s going to get better over time. That’s how coaching goes, just like playing.

“We’ve a good understanding. He always asks me to chip in, share my knowledge with the younger players. He also shares his expertise with us while we’re playing,” Lynch added.

Austin, noting that his passion and leadership influenced his move into coaching, acknowledges that there is much to learn.

“I’m here learning, and I talk to people who have been coaching before me. I have a few mentors out there, who, after each and every game, if I have a problem or a situation to solve, I would pick up my phone and call them, or sometimes they reach out to me. It’s just a learning process for me,” he said, noting Phillip Williams, Bibi, Rudolph Speid, Xavier Gilbert, and “people from overseas,” said the Portmore coach who got his feet wet as an under-20 assistant to John Wall under the Heimir Hallgrimsson-led Reggae Boyz coaching unit.

“I might be playing the game, but they have more experience coaching,” said Austin, who started rattling up titles as a player from a tender age.

His first trophy came at Morgan’s Pass All-Age, when they beat Clarendon College for the parish Under-14 title. He then moved onto Clarendon College, advancing farthest to the semis of the daCosta Cup. His ability saw him bursting onto the scene as a national under-20 player and his stocks rose from there.

Austin’s major achievements as a player, however, came while representing Jamaica; winning the Caribbean Cup title on three occasions (2008, 2010, 2014) and earning the Most Valuable Player award twice (2010, 2014).

He also captained Jamaica when the team advanced to its first Concacaf Gold Cup final, losing 3-1 against Mexico.

However, one of his most memorable and biggest achievements came as captain when the Reggae Boyz defeated the United States for the first time in international football, scoring a free-kick in Jamaica’s 2-1 win on September 7, 2012.

In Norway (SK Brann) and Denmark (Brondby), Austin played in cup finals, having started off at Portmore United, where he won the Premier League twice.

Transitioning from being a player carries its advantages, and defects, argues Austin, who has 84 caps for Jamaica and scored seven goals.

“It can be positive and it can be negative because when you really play the game, for example, if you think you can make a simple pass and a player doesn’t make it, sometimes you have to really catch yourself and look at it from a different perspective. So you are there to really teach them, not to really judge them,” he said.

“I’m just thankful to still have the energy to be involved in football because as past players, we do have a responsibility. I always look up to the past players and respect them because they paved the way for us, and without them, we wouldn’t have a future or something to go at.

“That’s the part I am playing, trying to sell something to the younger players for them to see that. Bibi, Claude Davis, Jermaine Johnson, Ricardo Fuller have done it, and others before I went there. Now Bailey (Leon) is there doing well,” Austin recalled. “So it’s really the path that we have to walk and show the younger players that come in. That’s our responsibility.”

With 22 rounds completed in this campaign, Portmore United sit fourth in the JPL on 38 points, this after scoring four victories in their last four encounters. Mount Pleasant Football Academy lead the standings with 52 points, with Montego Bay United second on 44 and Arnett Gardens third on 42.