Football chief Jeffrey Webb, president of the Cayman Islands Football Association gave a brain storming keynote address at
Clarendon Football Association’s Awards Ceremony recently.
It was the 33rd running of the popular annual event, held at Versalles Hotel in Clarendon, Jamaica.
Businessman Webb, 42, is a busy man. He is the Manager of Business Development for Fidelity Bank, Managing Director of Webb Investments and Consulting, President and CEO of LaFarge Developments and Vice Chairman Captain Bakery Cayman.
He is also the vice-chairman of FIFA’s Internal Audit Committee, Chairman of CFU Finance Committee and member of CONCACAF Finance and Youth Committee.
Webb did his research on the Clarendon Football Association and the parish itself and impressed the guests turning as he belted out some historic details of the parish and the FA’s history.
He mentioned the progress of the youth programme over the years and stated that it was one of the best in Jamaica having produced several players for the national programme.
He praised veteran head coach John Green for being the pioneer behind this successful programe and mentioned how the parish had four players at the recent Pan Am Games when Jamaica won the silver medal.
‘Certainly it is indeed an outstanding acheivement to have developed four players on that national Under-20 team,’ Webb said.
He also mentioned the FA’s current president Micheal Ricketts who he said had built on the legacy inherited in this dynamic association and was responsible for many improvements during his three-year reign pointing out his significant achievement in getting a team into the National Premier League, for securing increased and new economic and corporate partners for the FA’s various competitions.
‘You have secured a place in the NPL with Sporting Central and in addition, you have established a very worthwhile exchange programme to ensure that your referees gain international exposure,’ Webb emphasised.
He then went on to elaborate on the success of one of Clarendon’s greatest football administrators, Captain Horace Burrell the Senior Vice-President of CFU; Executive member of CONCACAF and FIFA Ambassador for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
‘Burrell could not kick a ball straight but was able, under his administration, to successfully guide the Reggae Boyz to the 1998 World Cup Finals in France,’ Webb joked. He was also on target in listing the names of outstanding players from the parish who had made their mark while wearing the national colours.
He listed players like the legendary Allan ‘Skill’ Cole who was voted by FIFA as the best player to have come out of the Caribbean, Winston ‘Fanna’ Griffiths, Ray Graham, Anthony Corbett, Omar Daley,
Allien Whittaker and Orville Edwards. Webb mentioned coach Winston Chung Fah who is in the Cayman Islands doing a marvelous job with the youths at one of Cayman’s top clubs, The Academy.
‘How could I leave out the great track and field acheivements of Clarendon. Merlene Ottey, Veronica Campbell, Aileen Bailey and Sandy Richards are from Clarendon and at one time or the other this was their training ground. Schoolboy football is also a success as this parish has won the Dacosta Cup more than their other competitors.
‘I discovered another Clarendonian, Claude McKay whose prose was used by Winston Churchill to inspire the allied troops to victory against the Nazis tyranny in World War II. The words were: ‘If I must die, let me not be like hogs, hunted and penned, in an inglorious spot’.’
Webb also went on to mention the late Monsignor Gladstone
Wilson an internationally renowned scholar with doctorates in cannon law , theology and philosophy who was the first black Roman Catholic priest in Jamaica who served the Vatican in senior positions.
‘At the time of his death in 1974 at the age of 68 he was acclaimed the seventh most learned person in the world. A simple man from Clarendon.’
He held his audience of over 450 people to full attention and received a thunderous standing ovation, headed by His Lordship Mayor Milton Brown.
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