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Bell/Ziadie recipient reminisces about pay ‘strike’ to play for Jamaica
October 17, 2023
Cornell 'Granny' Marshall, one of four football stalwarts honoured at the annual Bell/Ziadie football match yesterday at St George's College, is pleased that players are now getting paid to represent Jamaica, as he revealed that he led the sport's first strike in Jamaica in 1968.
Marshall, a lethal goalscorer in his days, said after playing professionally in Costa Rica for a year, on his return to represent the national team, he was told he needed to sign a document, which would render him an amateur once more. He refused and never really played for his country again.
"I led the first football strike, so man can start to get paid for (playing) football," he told STAR Sports.
"I was a professional. They wanted me to become an amateur player, so they said I should sign a paper so that I would play for the country for free.
"I told them, as a professional, I can't play for my country for free. I asked them, 'Did all the people in the stadium come in for free? So where is the money going? Is that what you will tell my kids when they come through, that you don't have money to pay'? So I said it had to stop now.
"So I took off my boots and said no more. I'm not going through this," he said.
He was called up a few years later for a game against Cuba but claimed it was the only time he played in the national jersey again.
Nevertheless, he believes his stance paved the way so that the national federation started to recognise the value of players and give them their rewards, despite players not getting contractual remuneration for national games until the late 1990s.
"It was 1968, and I don't quite remember who we played, but I remember I took off my boots and said, 'I was not going to play for free no more'.
"I live to see my son (Tyrone) playing for Jamaica and getting paid to play, and I said to myself that I have done something good," Marshall said.
Marshall was elated to be honoured by organiser Clive 'Busy' Campbell. Other honourees were former Reggae Girlz coach Lorne Donaldson, former national defender Calvin 'Webber' Stewart, and Othniel 'Dolphy' Gordon, Jamaica College curator for 50 years.
However, Marshall believes more can be done to recognise some of the game's true stalwarts.
"This must stop. People must be recognised in Jamaica. People must get what they deserve. Don't promise because promises don't go far," he concluded.
