Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Tivoli and Arnet mix it up on the netball courts as well.

SHARPLY SPLIT by social and political tension, there was a time when the only safe match between rival west Kingston communities, Tivoli and Arnett Gardens, was hidden away deep inside the walls of the Jamaica Defence Force's (JDF) military base at Up Park Camp.

These days, in many instances, loyal spectators of both teams casually flutter in and out of each others' home grounds and, as they sit side-by-side in the stands, all else seems to take a backseat to football.

chance to mingle

"Sport did it. People got a chance to mingle and they realised none of them had horns or a tail. They realise they are just normal beings and pretty soon friendships develop - even across the boundary lines." explained Edward Seaga, former prime minister and current president of both Tivoli Gardens FC and the Premier League Club Association (PLCA). Present at every major sporting event for his team, and even a few minor ones, Seaga is credited with developing the community's rich sporting culture, a feat which he began in the '60s.

"That's what it (sport) does, it forces you to mingle and the more mingling you do it's the more you realise that these are people I can treat as friends that where the real value lies," he said.

pandemonium

With both communities having strong alliances to the two major political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party, any meeting between the sides had often ended in pandemonium. In 1981, shots fired at the KSAFA Major League semi-final between the teams at the National Stadium led to the entire competition being called off.

However, in 2002, having not contested a game on each other's home ground for nearly two years, a peace initiative, which included both teams playing games at each other's home ground and a march from the Anthony Spaulding Complex to the Railway Oval, seemed to usher in a new era.

"Sport has cut across constituencies and the relationship between Tivoli and Arnett, Tivoli and Boys' Town and the cooperation between Mr Seaga and myself through it has been a major factor in reducing most of the tensions that used to exist between those communities," said Arnett chairman and former minister of finance, Omar Davies.

"Within the community that has been the single most powerful instrument we have used. Apart from all the other benefits like exercise and things like that, it acts as a sort of cohesive." he added.

A former Boys' Town player himself, and now their head coach, Andrew Price has also seen where sport has not only advanced the community but the individual.

great achievement

"For me, one of the greatest achievements I have seen is a player like Oneil Thompson, growing up in the heart of the inner-city community with all it's influences and going on to have a professional career." Price said.

"It has given youngsters a new sense of hope that through sport an individual can improve his status in life," he said.

"Football is possibly the single, most unifying activity in this country. I say that without apology. It is a beacon of hope for a lot of people, whether you are a supporter or a player in the inner-city community," he said.