Adrian Frater, News Editor

DOWNSWELL

Western Bureau:

Reno FC will be staging a football game at the Frome Sports Ground in Westmoreland on Thursday to help raise funds to assist with funeral expenses for former national striker Caple 'Corntail' Donaldson, who succumbed last week to injuries sustained after he was shot by a policeman.

"He was an integral part of the Reno family for many years, so we feel obligated to ensure that he gets a proper funeral," said Reno's coach, Wendell Downswell. "We would like all the people who he used to entertain to come out and support this venture."

Donaldson, who became mentally ill after a brilliant career which saw him representing Rusea's in the daCosta Cup, Reno in the Premier League and Jamaica on several occasions, including the 1991 Gold Cup, was shot and injured by a policeman he reportedly attacked in the Savanna-la-mar market in December last year. He died in hospital on January 11.

Tribute and fundraiser

According to Downswell, the game, which is both a tribute as well as a fund-raiser, will feature a Reno team of the 1980s and 1990s against a Western All-Stars team of the same era.

"The two teams will feature players, who played with and against him (Caple) at both the schoolboy, club and national level," said Downswell. "Caple was one of our most gifted players over the years. He basically won everything at the schoolboy level for Rusea's and came to Reno and did the same thing."

The Reno squad, which is to be coached by Boysie Nicholson, reads: Linval 'Palla' Wilson (captain), Aaron Lawrence, Kingsley James, Mark 'Haglar' Wilson, Clive Richards, Clifford Smith, Donavan Brown, Donald Hewitt, Calvin Valentine, Richard Ford, Michael Graham, Hector Linton, Kevin Williams, Owen McKenzie, Jeffrey Foster, Donald Wilson, Donovan Jones, Raymond 'dye Job' Webb and Andred Andrews.

The Western All-Stars squad, which is to be coached by Emerson 'Diggy' Henry and Anthony 'Follies' Williams, reads: Stennett Saams, Loxley Reid, Norman Foster, Leroy Foster, Linton Stewart, Paul Young, Desmond 'Gaddafi' Smith, Michael Tulloch, Theodore Whitmore, Paul 'Tegat' Davis, Cassman Williams, Linval Dixon, Carl Palmer, Phillip Wong, Vinton Williams, Kenneth Gaynor, Neville Brown, Delroy Brown, Hugh 'Binghi' Blair, Durrant Brown and Lenworth Hyde Sr.

Donaldson, who had a brief stint in the United States at the end of his local playing career, will be buried in Savanna-la-mar on Sunday, January 27.

The Jamaica Football Federation, through its president, Captain Horace Burrell, has also pledged to assist with the late star player's funeral expenses.