Malcolm WESTERN BUREAU:
THE FEARS of mourners trampling the grass and damaging the cricket pitch at Jarrett Park during next Wednesday's funeral for Jamaica footballer Steven Malcolm have been allayed.
President of the St. James Football Association and a member of the committee co-ordinating the funeral, George Evans, said yesterday only family members, invited guests and members of the media would be allowed on the field.
Others would be asked to sit in the stands.
The coffin would be placed under a tent at the northwestern end of the park, Evans said and mourners would file through the gate leading from the changing rooms to view the body and file through the double gates to exit after viewing the body.
Malcolm was killed on Sunday night when the car in which he was travelling with two others, team-mate Theodore Whitmore and friend Charles Ewan, blew a rear tyre and overturned on Spring Hill in the parish of Trelawny.
The Gleaner has also learned from reliable sources that Whitmore has delayed his return to his English Division Three club, Hull City and would remain in the island indefinitely.
News reports carried yesterday had members of the St. James Cricket Board voicing their concerns about possible damage to the Jarrett Park field that is been prepared for a Busta Cup cricket game on February 16-19 between Jamaica and West Indies B.
Earlier this year the Park was closed to football matches to start preparation for the game.
Meanwhile, Chaplain to the football team, Rev. Al Miller, and Rev. Carriel Graham, pastor of the Church of Christ just chains from where the Malcolm family resides in Anchovy, St. James, are co-ordinating the funeral service.
Evans said the service would start at 1:00 p.m. and the body would lie in state from 10:00 a.m.
