How Sedley Joseph changed Tobago football

THE EDITOR: In the 1960s, the late Alfred Geyette, Hubert Mcfarlane and myself laid a new foundation for what has become known as football in Tobago today. I did so as a member of the Tobago Football Association, secretary of the Tobago Referees’ Association, and founder of the Slammers Club in Tobago.

Having spent the last half of the 1950s in Trinidad, I had the opportunity of enjoying and studying football there, so that when the Slammers Club was founded in the early 1960s, I was clear about modelling its football after what I saw in Trinidad, and by extension Tobago’s football.

Topping the list of available models for me were Malvern, Maple, Shamrocks, Colts, and the football of south Trinidad in general with the likes of Doyle Griffith, Noel Daniel, Jim Lowe and so forth.

I chose Maple as my model. This was based on its style of play. Sedley Joseph was the captain of Maple at the time and he was quite instrumental in what Maple-style football was, along with what football of that period in Trinidad was and aspired to be, which incidentally paid off by 1986.

So, for those in Tobago who recognise and acknowledge that Slammers football changed the style of play on the island, you have Joseph to thank for much of that.

Condolences to his family and associates, but Sedley Joseph lives on through his legacy, with Tobago’s football a part of this.

MERVYN O’NEIL

via e-mail