IN THE twilight of his eventful and sometimes controversial career, Neil Shaka Hislop is keen on assisting Trinidad and Tobago football, in any way possible.
“I don’t know. Not a lot in playing terms, not a lot more anyway. But when I do come to the end of that road, I’ll weigh my options, see what’s available for me and make a decision.” The lanky Shaka’s career has been one of numerous ups and downs, where the issue of his loyalty to Trinidad and Tobago was the focus during the 1990s. Born in Hackney, London on February 22, 1969 and raised in Trinidad since the age of two, Hislop made his mark as a goalkeeper both at St Mary’s College and at Howard University in Washington DC, where he earned NCAA All-American honours while majoring in mechanical engineering. In fact, he was touted as a successor to Michael “Brow” Maurice as the national team’s goalkeeper and was recalled for the 1990 Caribbean Cup in Trinidad. Sadly, he never saw action for the TT squad as the tournament was abandoned due to the July 27 coup attempt.
With his British passport in hand, Hislop turned professional at English Second Division team Reading where he stayed until the start of the 1995-96 season when he was signed by then Newcastle’s manager Kevin Keegan at a fee of 1.5 million pounds. Demoted to the bench following the inclusion of Irishman Shay Given, Shaka left the “Magpies” for fellow Premier League team West Ham United, under the management of Harry Redknapp, on a free transfer in 1998. Shaka enjoyed four years as a member of the “Hammers”, as he was a key component in his team’s fifth-place finish in the 1999-2000 Premiership season and, in the process, was adjudged West Ham’s Most Valuable Player, ahead of the likes of English players Rio Ferdinand, Trevor Sinclair and Italian Paolo Di Canio. The arrival of current English goalkeeper David James to West Ham meant that Shaka was relegated down the ranks and his contract was not renewed by manager Glenn Roeder after the 2001-2002 season.
The affable Shaka still believes that a broken leg suffered during a Premiership encounter against Bradford in January 2000 was the reason for the addition of James to the club, and his subsequent exit from the Hammers. Shaka did not remain unemployed for long, as Redknapp, who was now the boss at First Division club Portsmouth (and still is), signed the six-footer on a three-year deal in June 2002, where he was named on the Division’s Team of the Year after his first year with “Pompey” (his club’s nickname). How does he feel to be in the uprights on a weekly basis in one of the world’s toughest leagues? “It’s just (like) playing internationally,” Shaka responded in a self-effacing manner. “Not many players can make it to 35 and, certainly, not at the top level. “It’s really becoming a young man’s game,” he continued. “It is, to be fair, a certain level of achievement in that I’m still involved in the league at this stage. I keep saying that money has never been my motivation, it’s about enjoying it. And I’m enjoying it!” During his years in the Premiership, he has had to face a number of the game’s leading attackers, including countrymen Dwight Yorke and Stern John in addition to the likes of Thierry Henry, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andy Cole, Michael Owen, David Beckham, Alan Shearer, Louis Saha, Dennis Bergkamp, Wayne Rooney and Jimmy Floyd Haselbaink.
“It’s a challenge,” is how he describes it. “In the Premier League, week in and week out, you’re playing against the world’s best. It’s nice coming up against those players and testing your own wits against them.” What has also been a challenge are Shaka’s problems with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). After a dispute between Shaka’s father George (a former magistrate) and TTFF special advisor Jack Austin Warner in 1994, the then Reading goalie (and only one in fact), who had agreed to represent his country at the end of the 1994-95 season, was ordered by Warner to attend a friendly international against the US. The game was scheduled for the Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 19, to commemorate the five-year anniversary of their 1989 World Cup qualifier. The battle-lines were drawn — Warner, now a FIFA vice-president, wrote to the sport’s global governing body asking that Shaka be banned from the game while the elder Hislop led his son’s cause against the Switzerland-based organisation.
Warner raised the issue that Shaka was on the TT team for the 1986 CONCACAF Under-19 qualifying series while the judicial mind stressed that his son never made it out to the field, and therefore could not be categorised as a TT player. FIFA voted for the Hislops and, for good measure, Shaka registered with the English FA allowing him the chance to choose between TT and its former colonial masters. While he played for an England Under-21 team versus Switzerland, Shaka was among the reserves as the English senior team, under coach Glenn Hoddle, were beaten 2-0 by Chile at the famed Wembley Stadium, London. Up until today, Shaka refuses to elaborate on the disagreements between himself and the TTFF, but he waited until March 1999 to make his international debut against Jamaica, as the Bertille St Clair-coached squad prevailed 2-0. Recently, there were reports circulating which quoted the soft-spoken goalie as signing off his international career. He later refuted those stories, even though he is keen on the development of fellow TT keepers Clayton Ince, Kelvin Jack and Daurance Williams.
His dedication to the sport, and his personal fitness, endeared him to his TT teammates and officials, and he remained as the squad’s number one goalie, and captain, until their humiliating exit from the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup following a 1-0 loss to Martinique. What will he describe as his finest achievement in the sport? “As far as international football is concerned, it has to be the first time that I captained Trinidad and Tobago, against Mexico in Mexico City,” Shaka replied. “Unfortunately the result didn’t go as one would’ve hoped, we lost 3-0, but I think that’s one of the biggest honours that I’ve received in the game so far.” Shaka is also aspiring to become a goalkeeper coach and intends to take up the position full-time in England, where he still resides with his wife Desha. For one mocked during his school days as being too ungainly to become a top-class goalie, Shaka has surely made his mark in Trinidad and Tobago football. Only time will tell how he would be judged.