THE EDITOR: It was with a heavy sigh of relief that sporting fans welcomed the announcement of football at Skinner Park following inspection of the venue by the authorities.
Following this, quite coincidentally, the TPFL announced a tier two fixture between San Fernando Giants and Club Sando, home venues of both clubs and equivalent to a local derby, played there Saturday.
The SFA also fixtured a Big 6 play-off there last Friday, an early Christmas gift.
This has brought the opposing charges and opinions of the park into a finality, football wise. The new venue is quite superior in many ways to what existed before and Udecott seems to have adhered to requirements for the needed use of the park, which it claim was done in consultation and agreement with stakeholders, which has not been denied to date.
It may be useful to look at what Skinner Park has meant to the city, region and country over the years.
As the only venue of the original SAFA (Southern Amateur Football Association), changed to SFA, when our pioneering professional players, among them Archibald and De Leon (names immortalised in the naming of the new highway section to Point Fortin), would not have been able to play in our domestic competitions.
For many years it was the nursery of many a player and referee, of which I was one.
Spectators at Skinner Park were the most knowledgeable in the country and formed opinions and assessments accordingly. They were a "useful stress factor" to your performance as a referee. It was there that budding south referees were noticed.
The park is therefore now approved for SSFL games as well, and the recent situation of two schools from San Fernando playing an Intercol final outside of the city will not recur. We recall easily the most famous national Intercol final between St Benedict's and Fatima mid-1960s there, with the largest crowd ever for such an occasion.
It was also the first floodlit ground in the country, thanks to the drive and initiative of the late John Alleyne, after whom something meaningful in Skinner Park should be named.
LENNOX SIRJUESINGH
former FIFA referee
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