Stadium to be named after Marvin Lee

THE stadium where Marvin Lee received his crippling injury, the football field at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macoya, Tunapuna, will be renamed in his honour.

FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss Austin Jack Warner made this disclosure during the funeral service of the 21-year-old Lee at the Centre of Excellence yesterday. The former Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 football captain passed away at the Arima Health Facility on Sunday morning following a bout of pneumonia. Warner received lusty applause from the gathering when he said, “this venue is called the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence but there is no name for the stadium that we play on. From today, this is going to change.”

The prominent administator revealed that, since there is no cemetery designated for national heroes, the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation gave the family “a plot of land where he (Lee)  can be buried” at the Tunapuna Cemetery. His grave will be covered with a tombstone “that will mystify you.” Warner footed the bill for Lee’s funeral as well as his medical care at the St Clair Medical Hospital, the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and at his (Lee’s) Santa Rosa, Arima residence following his injury sustained after a collision with American striker Landon Donovan during a CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup qualifier at the Macoya venue on March 20, 2001.

A tearful Warner told Lee’s mother Dawn Warrick that she will become the newest employee at the Warner Group of Companies “working directly under me.”  At Warner’s request, Warrick left her job at the Mt Hope Hospital to attend to Lee’s needs full-time. Turning his attention to the large number of current national footballers in attendance, Warner, who learnt about Lee’s death while in New York following a FIFA meeting in Tripoli, Libya, said, “There is no fear in representing our country. “There will not always be a Jack Warner to make things happen for you, but you must be respected.” Warner also revealed his major role in the inclusion of Lee on the national team for the CONCACAF qualifiers. “When the team was selected, I received a call from (manager) George Joseph saying that Lee could not represent this country since he was a recruit in the army.” “I called (recruiting officer) Colonel John Sandy and said ‘this is madness’ and I added that Lee must play on the team. Since then I’ve forged a lasting bond with Lee, a bond I didn’t expect to come to a close so soon.”

Warner blamed himself for the end result, saying “If I didn’t ask for him, this would not have happened.” “I said that I’d do anything possible to make up for it,” he continued, “and I thank his mother for that. Anything we could have done for Marvin, we did it,” adding that he thought Lee would have followed in the footsteps of paralysed Superman actor Christopher Reeve and regain partial use of his limbs.

Attending the service were Sports Minister Roger Boynes, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Oliver Camps, national football team technical director Hannibal Najjar and assistants Anthony Barrington and Ross Russell, TTFF officials Neville Ferguson, Ed Watson, Raymond Tim Kee and Richard Groden as well as former and current national coaches Jimmy Blanc, Keith Look Loy and Jamaal Shabazz. Also among the gathering were Lee’s teammates on the 2001 Under-20 team, members of the Defence Force and Joe Public youth teams, the current national Under-17 unit and Team 2001 striker, Nkosi Blackman, fully recovered from head injuries which he suffered as a result of a fatal vehicular accident in Point Fortin a year ago.