Cayman youth footballers can beat their chests with pride after beating a professional side from England and drawing the other two games in a series of exhibition matches.
Swindon Town Under-13 were the visitors. They drew 1-1 in their first two games and lost 3-1 to a Bodden Town and Cayman Athletic select side last Thursday at the TE McField Annex. Admittedly, Cayman played a few over-age players in each match but the fact that Swindon are able to cherry pick the best players from thousands compared to Cayman’s tiny pool balances it out.
Swindon played Academy’s finest first then a West Bay select at the Ed Bush stadium. Little Sebastian Martinez is the link between the two sides. The 13-year-old wonder kid was so brilliant for Virgil Seymour’s Academy teams that last summer he got a trial with Swindon, the English professional side and did so well that he is now on an 18-month professional contract there.
Jeffrey Webb, President of the Cayman Islands Football Association, said: “The feedback from Swindon Town has been excellent. It was great to have them here, a great opportunity for our young players and good for the local youth to see a good standard of football at a professional youth level. It’s amazing watching the Swindon kids, their movement off the ball, their discipline, stature and first touch. That for us are the biggest things that our players learnt from this experience.”
Webb is pleased that the Swindon coaches spotted four or five talented Cayman youngsters who they think could make it with their club or possibly other English professional clubs. There is talk now of forming an exchange programme with a Cayman team and coaches visiting the United Kingdom later in the year. Webb would like to see Cayman coaches going out for between one and six months to experience the professional set up.
Webb added: “The Bodden Town defender Luigi Hernandez has gone back to Forest Green in south London and Theron Wood goes back there after the Digicel Cup final. Of our youth players, we’re learning that they need to perfect the basics first rather than an emphasis on just winning. That’s probably the biggest message that Swindon communicated to us. The head Swindon coaches job is not to win trophies at Under-13 but to develop players that will get to the first-team. That is the type of culture we need to embrace in our coaching fraternity.
“I want to congratulate the West Bay Sports Foundation, especially Ardin Rivers, Barry Martinez and Phillip Ebanks and all their supporters. It is a great initiative and shows that football clubs and community groups have a huge role within the development of football and its exposure and it doesn’t necessarily take a national association to create programmes. I want to encourage them and other clubs also to do the same thing because at the end of the day it is all about development.”
Webb added that he looks forward to the Wednesday’s Digicel Cup final between Elite and Bodden Town at the TE McField Annex and it will be a great showpiece for local football.
Mark Scotland, President of Bodden Town Football Club and Minister of Sports, was pleased to see his youngster excel against Swindon Town. “The feedback has been excellent. It was a very successful visit by Swindon. It hasn’t just been a football tour but also building a partnership. Sebastian of the first of many we hope to get out to English professional clubs. Sebastian is obviously a great example with all his talents. It was important for us to let other youngsters see the level that Swindon play and the three matches have been very successful with great crowds.
“We will continue this exchange so as to help develop our players and getting them over to the UK which is where the opportunities are.”
As for the Digicel Cup final, Scotland said; “I’m very proud of the Bodden Town team getting to the finals. This is the second Digicel Cup final for them in three years. We lost against George Town a couple of years ago. We have a good solid, young team and Digicel couldn’t want for a better final with the team top of the league against us. It’s a challenge. Bodden Town have lost both the league matches so far this season to Elite. Even so, I’m looking for a very good final and the best result.”
Scotland hopes BT can spring a surprise on Elite again, as they did in the FA Cup final three years ago when as heavy underdogs his side beat an over-confident, under-prepared Elite side.
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Forest Green is not in south London, it is in Gloucestershire, about 2 and a half hours west of London. But anyway, we keep sending these older players over and still they havn’t signed? The clubs have surly seen enough to make a decision by now. As for the statement Cayman played a few over-age players in each match. I was at every game and clearly the majority of the players that were fielded against Swindon’s 12 year olds were in the 15-16 year old range. Let’s be honest about the state of football in Cayman if we are going to try and improve. The Swindon boys bossed the games, controlled possesion but just lacked the physical size of the Cayman boys. If we want a true refelction of where our local boys stand we should have invited Swindon’s U16 team over. Let’s be honest, its the only way we will improve.