By Paul A. Reid, Senior Staff Reporter 
IAN ALEN/Staff Photographer
Jamaica's Dane Richards (left), tugs at the shirt of Haiti's James St. Cyr while both tussle for the ball during their Caribbean zone Under-20 World Cup qualifier at Harbour View Mini Stadium yesterday. Haiti won 2-1.
WESTERN BUREAU:
CORNWALL COLLEGE'S national senior team midfielder Dane Richards was forced to make a choice between country and school on the weekend as he was summoned to Kingston to get ready for yesterday's Under-20 clash against Haiti at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium.
The Gleaner learnt from reliable sources that the Cornwall College coaching staff was told between Friday and Saturday morning that Richards would not be allowed to represent the daCosta Cup champions in their Zone A game against Muschett High as he was expected to be in Kingston to join the other members of the squad for the game yesterday.
It was understood that invitations were sent out on Monday last for players to report for the week-long camp in preparations for the game but Richards trained with his school team all week.
One senior member of the Cornwall College coaching staff told the Gleaner on Saturday that they did not get any such fax message and as far as they knew, Richards would have been available to lead the team in their game on Saturday.
When contacted head coach for the Under-20 team Wendell Downswell told The Gleaner that he could not speak to the conflict between country and school and added that it was team manger Paul Young who was responsible for sending out the invitations on Monday.
Young was however said to be off the island on Saturday and was unavailable for comment.
Downswell said as far as he knew the invitation for Richards was sent to both the school and to the St. James Football Association offices.
When asked if he felt comfortable selecting a player for a crucial game who had not trained with the team all week before the game, Downswell said that it would depend on the player and the circumstances surrounding why he was not able to report for camp.
The Jamaica Football Federation's president Captain Horace Burrell who responded to The Gleaner's message minutes after he returned to the island yesterday, said while he was not fully appraised of the situation, said as far as he was concerned "country would always take precedence over school" every time, especially in a crucial game such as the one Sunday.
Richards, a mercurial player with exceptional close ball skills and speed was included in a national senior team that had a two match tour of England for friendly internationals against football minnows India where he played just 12 minutes in the first game, a 3-0 win at the same time when a Under 20 team was on a tour of the Cayman Islands.
