Members of the national senior football team go through their paces during a training session at the Catherine Hall mini-stadium last Friday. WESTERN BUREAU:
THE GENERAL Secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Horace Reid, thinks that if the football field at the still unfinished Catherine Hall mini stadium is made available to clubs from the region, it could help in restoring the football fortunes in western Jamaica.
Mr. Reid, who is also the technical director of newly crowned National Premier League champions, Portmore United (formerly Hazard), said that the field at the stadium could only compare to the one that was recently re-laid at the National Stadium, adding that "players can only get better when they play on good surfaces."
Ironically, the field at the stadium was transplanted from the Catherine Hall complex, to get it ready for a number of international fixtures and was also hailed by many, including present and former players, as the best they had ever seen the surface there.
Reid, who was at the field on Friday watching a training session of the national senior team, pointed out that some members of the Reggae Boyz were more than happy to play on the field that has never been used for football purposes prior to this. The players, he said, did not want to stop when it was time to end the first session there.
The facilities have been used for track and field previously and, when the complex is completed, it is expected to be able to host indoors games as well. The football field and the eight-lane Mondo running track and the perimeter fencing are complete and change rooms, seatings and other amenities will be put in place.
When the facility is completed, Reid said that the JFF would be looking to utilise it as much as possible and said that "as fast as they can get some seating here, it would be the better."
- P.R.
