Dear Editor,
The Jamaica Observer editorial of June 11, 2016, ‘Goals badly needed’ highlights the perennial problem of the Reggae Boyz, but it stopped short of examining why this has been so. It’s not complicated.
I first saw Jamaica play way back in 1948, and I have followed the fortunes of the national team off and on since. I can assert, without fear of contradiction, that the shooting back in the good old days was far superior to now.
In recent times only Deon Burton, of the 1998 World Cup team, comes close to matching the likes of Noel Tappin, Owen Parker, Ken East, Allie McNab, Lindy Delapenha, and many, many others for power, accuracy, consistency and frequency.
Why? Because modern footballers, not just in Jamaica, don’t practise shooting as passionately as they once did.
On the past two occasions when Jamaica played in Toronto I watched the entire pre-game warm-up session. What I saw could never have happened back in Delapenha’s day; in a one-hour-90-minute warm-up not one minute was spent on shooting practice. The players practised everything else but.
It is cold comfort that most of the high-profile international teams, such as those in the Copa America, are not much better. The standard of shooting worldwide has fallen badly.
Could it be a function of prosperity? Back in the day, many football teams were so poor we could afford only one ball. You either scrimmaged or you lined up on the edge of the penalty area and took shots at goal. Nowadays every player, it seems, has a ball, and they practise everything except trapping the ball with their noses....and shooting. That’s why our strikers can go through an entire game without ever testing the opposing goalkeeper. But do they look ever so clever with those neat six-metre passes!
Errol W A Townshend
Ontario, Canada
ewat@rogers.com
The Jamaica Observer editorial of June 11, 2016, ‘Goals badly needed’ highlights the perennial problem of the Reggae Boyz, but it stopped short of examining why this has been so. It’s not complicated.
I first saw Jamaica play way back in 1948, and I have followed the fortunes of the national team off and on since. I can assert, without fear of contradiction, that the shooting back in the good old days was far superior to now.
In recent times only Deon Burton, of the 1998 World Cup team, comes close to matching the likes of Noel Tappin, Owen Parker, Ken East, Allie McNab, Lindy Delapenha, and many, many others for power, accuracy, consistency and frequency.
Why? Because modern footballers, not just in Jamaica, don’t practise shooting as passionately as they once did.
On the past two occasions when Jamaica played in Toronto I watched the entire pre-game warm-up session. What I saw could never have happened back in Delapenha’s day; in a one-hour-90-minute warm-up not one minute was spent on shooting practice. The players practised everything else but.
It is cold comfort that most of the high-profile international teams, such as those in the Copa America, are not much better. The standard of shooting worldwide has fallen badly.
Could it be a function of prosperity? Back in the day, many football teams were so poor we could afford only one ball. You either scrimmaged or you lined up on the edge of the penalty area and took shots at goal. Nowadays every player, it seems, has a ball, and they practise everything except trapping the ball with their noses....and shooting. That’s why our strikers can go through an entire game without ever testing the opposing goalkeeper. But do they look ever so clever with those neat six-metre passes!
Errol W A Townshend
Ontario, Canada
ewat@rogers.com