Pembroke Hall coach laments poor parenting after 16-0 beating

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September 14, 2023

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Pembroke Hall’s goalkeeper Jahnaine Bartley blocks a shot from St George’s College’s Matthew Spence during their schoolboy Manning Cup football match at Winchester Park yesterday. Spence scored four goals in St George’s 16-0 win.

Keith Johnson, coach of Pembroke Hall, wants parents to do more and ensure their children focus more on schoolwork and achieving good grades for their exit examinations.

Pembroke Hall suffered a humiliating 16-0 thrashing by St George's College in Group F of the schoolboy football Manning Cup at Winchester Park yesterday.

According to Johnson, his squad was decimated by unqualified academic players, and he insists parents should be doing a lot more to help their youngsters achieve respectable academic standards.

"The summer programme we had wasn't up to scratch, and we trained a portion of guys for the Manning Cup, and when the registration started, 16 out of the 25 were not qualified, but I won't blame the school. I blame the parents. The parents let the kids do as they please, and I do not appreciate that," Johnson said.

"How can a youngster come into your house with big ring, earring and say he is going to school? They have to stamp out those things.

"The youths' focus is not on football. They are more focused on the image of the times, but silver and gold will vanish away, but a good education will never decay," he reasoned.

He said he resorted to under-16 and under-14 players to supplement the team, but despite the bad start, he aims to be competitive in the group stage.

"It's only two months that I have been there, and these guys are only 14, 15 and a couple of 16-year-olds. It's a work in progress. I have seen the material, and I told them we would use the Manning Cup as practice, and when they drop down to under-14 and under-16, they show their class.

"We have George's out of sight. We will try at Campion, Jose Marti and Waterford. We will try to compete with those teams, so let's see if we can do that," he said.

Matthew Spence led the 'Georgians' with four goals (10, 75, 85, 90+1); captain Adrian Reid Jr and Brian Burkett both bagged first-half hat-tricks; with David Grantson (52, 78), Tae-Sean O'Neil (16, 87) and Ryland Campbell (38, 62) each scoring a brace.

St George's led 9-0 lead at the interval, and assistant coach Marcel Gayle was pleased with the start they got to their campaign.

"There was not much we could ask of them. We got nine goals in the first half. Pembroke Hall tried to press us in certain areas, but it's a learning curve for them.

"The most important thing today is that we suffered no injuries. We will take it a game at a time. We got 16 (goals) today, and we must credit the players for that. The players played to instruction, and their execution was excellent today," Gayle said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com