BVI Football Association season finally gets underway

BY DEAN GREENAWAY 

The BVI Football Association opened its 2004 season on Sunday at the A. O. Shirley Recreation Grounds with six of the nine teams in the league playing in a Soccerama competition. With plans for construction of a 400 meter track on the grounds, the association had been scrambling for a place to contest its league before receiving news that the work scheduled for the end of September had been delayed. The news came as a welcomed relief to association officials, as the BVI has plans to contest the upcoming Digicel Cup competition in the Cayman Islands.

In Sunday’s action, Roger Alexander scored 10 minutes before the end of regulation to help Valencia seal a 2-1 victory over the VP Wolves. Earlier, the VP Wolves blanked the East End Connections 3-0 in their opening match, before downing the HBA Panthers 2-1. The Panthers played Veterans to a 1-1 draw, but got the victory based on accumulated points. Valencia who had a first round bye, beat Valencia II—3-0 to advance to the final.

“I was very impressed obviously with the Valencia players, both the first and second team,” BVI Football Association Technical Director Ben Davis said. “The standard of football was higher than when I was here seven years ago. I hope that bodes well for the future of BVI Football.”

Davis said that four under 17 players from the winning Valencia squad have been drafted into the senior national team that is preparing for regional competition. He said the reason is that they will learn more from training with the team. “It gives them a bit more sense of responsibility and playing against older guys actually enhances their game. I’ll be looking closer at that team when they play in the league,” he explained. “Those players on the under 17 national team are the future players on the senior national teams to come.”

While teams were playing for a limited amount of minutes, there were other players that caught Davis’ eye who are not currently in training for the national team that is preparing for next month’s Digicel Cup in the Cayman Islands. “You’re always looking out for players who might have slipped through the nets as it were, but it’s an ongoing process,” Davis said. “Sometimes, I might add one or two players but, I have to trim the squad down to 18 so I’ve got to be careful and be aware of talent coming on to the island.”.