Jack gives Walsh football award

FIFA Vice President and Caribbean Football Union President Jack Warner has presented a special award to former West Indies fast bowler and captain Courtney Walsh for outstanding service on behalf of the Caribbean Football Union. The CFU  held their 25th anniversary ceremony at The Pegasus Hotel, Kingston on Sunday night. Walsh was among a special group of individuals honoured for their outstanding contribution to Caribbean sport over the past 25 years and he expressed great pleasure on receiving the award. Warner, Jamaican Sports Minister and deputy Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and leader of the Jamaican Labour Party and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga all stood on the same stage for the presentation. “I was extremely surprised and as they say, bowled over, to have received the award at a non-cricketing event. I think it really shows that the organisation is dedicated to not only football but also the overall sporting fraternity in the region and this can only auger well for all of us,” said Walsh.

“It demonstrates that the President Warner and the people involved in CFU are committed to the cause of the region and I am happy to be part of it all. I will hold this award close to my heart,” said the world record holder for Test wickets. Warner  in his address, called on Simpson Miller, whom he referred to as the only “sensible minister of sport in the Caribbean”, to organise a CFU sports ministers’ symposium to discuss the common problems of the region on sports. He  also hinted that if discussions prove worthwhile then the CFU will assist in the staging of a Caribbean Games for all sports, similar to what is staged in Africa and Asia. Meantime, Walsh added that he will also support any efforts to develop other sporting disciplines. 

“I am also a football fan and I have been to all the matches that the Reggae Boyz have played once it didn’t affect my cricket schedule. I went to France to see them play at the World Cup. And then when they played Brazil. I have also gone to see Trinidad play a few matches,” said Walsh. “Obviously Jamaica will be my first choice team but I will always support the Caribbean teams,” he said. The former Jamaican captain also paid high praise to the West Indies Under-19 team at the recent World Cup and also had some words of best wishes to skipper Brian Lara and his men ahead of the upcoming series against England.
 
Other persons honoured at the event by the CFU included Locksley Comrie (former president of the Jamaican Football Federation, chairman of the Kingston Technical High School Board, President of the West Indies Students Union in London and Ireland); Patrick Anderson (vice president of the JFF, former Jamaican national teams manager and community relations officer for sport and youth development in Jamaica); Hubert Tromp (former FIFA referee and chairman of the CFU Referees committee and a FIFA referees instructor); Joseph Ursulet from Martinique; and Jacques Guy Rugard, former president of the Guadeloupe Football Association. TTFF President Oliver Camps and CFU General Secretary Harold Taylor were also recognised for having been members of the CFU since their inception in 1978.