WELL EQUIPPED

By Kurtis Hinds

The Parish Land Football Club will sport a new kit in the upcoming Barbados Football Association (BFA) Division One season, following the renewal of a long-standing partnership with Member of Parliament for Christ Church East, Wilfred Abrahams.

Speaking during the recent presentation of gear at the Parish Land Pavilion, the parliamentary representative revealed that he has been closely associated with the club for more than 10 years and was pleased to continue his sponsorship.

“The team is under new management and over the last three years has performed wonderfully. We keep talking about empowering young people, including them in the decision-making process and that sort of thing. If there was an example of that being successful, it is the Parish Land football team.”

Over the past three years, the Parish Land team re-entered league competition in BFA Division Three, earned immediate promotion to Division Two, and secured another promotion last season. According to the minister, the team now has its sights firmly set on the Premier League.

“It has brought back a life and a community spirit to Parish Land. They’ve brought with them a very, very active following. It is a lot of young people now associated with the team learning the discipline of teamwork, the benefits of hard work and having responsibilities to the collective. The resulting progress of the team has been nothing short of miraculous.”

The team also played a key role in designing their new kit, which Abrahams described as a great honour.

“The team insisted on putting my name on the front, but they wanted to make it look completely international, so the design and what’s on the logo and how it looks, that’s entirely as a result of the young people, not even me. It’s a fantastic honour for me to represent these young men and work with them and it’s just an inspiration watching them and what they’ve done, showing what you can actually achieve with determination and resilience.”

The renewed sponsorship extends beyond playing uniforms and includes practice dummies, markers, cones and balls, in addition to boots provided a few weeks ago.

The development marks another major boost for the team, following recent upgrades to its playing field and supporting facilities. The venue has been earmarked as one of several mini stadia around the island and is also expected to host matches in this year’s Prime Minister’s Cup.

“The pasture took a while. When it was initially decided that the work would be done, I was given an option; a quick fix after which point it would return to use in a couple of months, or to re-engineer the pasture. Parish Land had a slope of about a difference of about eight feet between the bottom and the top from one side…That field was regraded entirely; it’s pretty much level now and fenced in, and they have created an area for parking.”

With refurbishment work also encompassing the pavilion, Abrahams said that aspect became a community-driven effort.

“They renovated the pavilion, and the amazing thing with the pavilion is that a number of the same footballers and people from the area actually took over and finished the renovation. They did the painting, tiling, and that sort of thing to get it done quicker. So this is not a real Wilfred Abrahams project; this is not even a government project entirely. This is effectively the government and the community working hand in hand [for] the benefit of the community.”

Further developments are also planned for Christ Church East, with new lights expected to be installed at Fairy Valley within the next 28 days.

The Parish Land Football Club will retain its traditional name, while two nearby rival teams have also maintained their sponsorship relationships with Abrahams.

“Silver Sands has retained and refuses to give up the name Abrahams United Silver Sands. I’m also interested in sponsoring Potential Ballers, so all three community teams are being sponsored by me, and all three are in the exact same First Division. It’s going to be a very interesting year,” the MP added.