okay ... here are my questions ... is the discriminatory element in football such that it has cast a chilling effect upon the local game ... to the point where the participation rates of the (putatively) affected groups have declined to relatively few involved ... OR ... were the rates low to begin with and did the low rates of participation precede the perception of discrimination (whether actual, tangible or imagined)?
These questions are KEY to assessing the character of race in our football environment.
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Moving on ... this books v ball thing is a false dichotomy ... as if one group has a monopoly on one of the two 'considerations' ... moreover, not only is the environment of the schoolyard distinct from the environment of the school's representative eleven ... it (the schoolyard) is also indistinct from the multiple opportunities available for spontaneous play on random streets, alleys, and grassed or denuded patches all over the island outside of the ambit of school ... the sport is available as 'playing democracy' in widespread form ...
[yet, de island has 'exclusive sweats' here and there ... some based on the pillar of socio-economic distinctions ... some based on race (although someone is sure to want to identify an affirmative action sweater
... de point is de men sweating dey largely of one persuasion and not de other ...]
Always quick so we're keen to arrive at comparing meritocracies of playing or studying and the implied relative success we think tells us "something" about the groups ... dahis an attractive distractor, but not a sophisticated one ...
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Moving on ... Jah Gol's comments bear credence ... and not a little bit ... now to say that DOES NOT not discount vb's anecdotal evidence ... but are we going to indict the "system" based on experiences that are hardly the product of institutionalised policy (OBVIOUSLY, for one, the mere presence of the affected groups at national call-ups etc. is suggestive of a reality pointing AWAY from institutional bias) ... and absent a groundswell of protest or independent action by the powers that be ... the status quo is unlikely to change
Moving on ... what's to be done ... nah lehme save that fuh last ...
We're only having this discussion because of the grandeur and scale of football as a going concern and NATIONAL pastime ... when we ready to engage the forces of democratisation to apply to other sporting activity in the island ... wherever there is a corollary of (at least) perceived institutional bias ... give me a blasted call.
What's to be done fuh football ... grassroots work ... nothing novel, nothing fancy ... FIFA has tonnes of similar projects all across de world ... it's clear the game has to expand in certain sectors because I am not convinced that we have busted the seams in tapping local talent or in maximising development ... that said, we live in a POST-COLONIAL society (btw, I accept the relevance of the grammar school here and how the 'college tie" was then influential) and it is this (the post-colonial society) that has created "priorities" moreso than the dubious rationalization of monopolies and choice selection and comparative advantages we impute to the races. Furthermore, it's not like books and ball are mutually exclusive or ordered by race.