St. John's Sports and Hurricane

During the period between 1960 and leading up to 1970, at the end of each football season, you can bet that the two remaining teams of the Grenada Football Association (GFA) that would eventually be playing in the final were Victoria’s Hurricane and their Green Jersey and Gouyave’s St. John’s Sports Club with the familiar Blue and White striped Jersey.

The game was usually played on a Sunday afternoon to culminate the end of the football season and to give everyone the opportunity to enjoy this spectacular day of football. The intensity was our Grenada’s version of a Manchester United versus Arsenal at Old Trafford and was not devoid of the hype and hysteria that went with it.

And for the days/weeks leading up to that game, the busses leaving Victoria on their way to St, Georges would slow down on the Lance, and Down Street, enough for their passengers to trade and exchange words of torment and mockery with Gouyaverians with “words” and “tone” that was familiar to all football loving fans. You could have heard them shouting, “ all you getting lix! for so!” some screaming “lix in all you aaaaaaaaaa*” with others saying “ all you bache!, we geeing all four! In all you tail”. Needless to say the response coming from US was of similar tone, with references being made to each other’s Mother and every private part they possess. These words were exchanged, not with any intent of hostility and hatred for each other, but with a sense of pride, passion, respect and adoration that the two parishes shared and continue to share for each other up to this day.

This was football time and all around Grenada, football lovers were about to be treated with ninety minutes of seeing some of the best talented players Grenada could have offered and no one in their right mind would have denied themselves of this treat.

From Victoria, you had the George Brothers (Alston, Ashley and Tompaign) with others like Motel, Arthur Fletcher, Steve Mack and Float(their Goalkeeper) while Gouyave possessed the two guns of Dyer Marquez, (macay),Don George (euh-e, who had defected some years earlier from Victoria) Alfred Phillip(doh-laff, the Engineer) and George Glean(du-boot) with Seon Frank (Frankie) as our Goalkeeper.

On the evening of the match, one could have observed the procession of busses leaving St. Georges, all heading North to the venue of the day. Those from Grenville would traverse the island by coming from “over the hills” and down the Closier route. For Sauters, it would be a straight drive South on the Western main road to either Victoria or Gouyave. They would come on foot, Bicycles, “hop a ride” on the way, but all roads on that afternoon would lead to Gouyave or Victoria.

And as it was customary in tradition between the two parishes, the usual “Cheer Leaders” of both teams went the extra mile to instill fear in each other players by inciting the spectators into a frenzied level of torment and noise-making. In Victoria, it was Conch shell, whistle, singing, dancing and the ultimate (if Victoria had scored first) was the effigy of the coffin draped in blue and white to signify the death of St. John’s Sports followed by a precession around the field by the Hurricane diehard supporters.

In Gouyave, we tormented them by cutting pieces of Glory Cedar wood and using them for support as we stand around the field “grand-charging” and shouting to their players “we may loose de game, but we en go loose de war.”

It was the height in football madness but Hurricane had the edge on us in playing the psychological game of football which eventually had led them to defeating us more often and with a much weaker team. They knew how to do it and were masters in the promotion of fanfare.

But the final of 1965(I believe) was a game that would go down in infamy as the result left many a Gouyaverians wanting to jump from Lance Bridge into the river to end it all. The fact that I cannot remember what year it was is indicative of the emotional and psychological scar that game left on me, that even today, the pains of the result of that match, still remains.

That one was played in Windsor Park in Gouyave with the usual and customary carnival atmosphere attributed to it. Cudbet Peters (schuff) was the Referee or as some would say, “Gouyave twelfth man” (if you know what I mean) and in a game so emotionally charged, Gouyave was poised to give Victoria a good licking.

We scored first, on one of Doh-laf’s specialized “tru passes” to Macay who went on to “bend the ball” around Float’s head and into the far upright corner of the net, and as was customary, our fans ran unto the field in great jubilation to congratulate him.

We then scored a second, third and fourth and Windsor Park began to literally shake. And at the whistle signifying the end of the first half we were up four to nil and Hurricane was dead today.

Pandemonium began as Gouyave fans began to salivate at the thought that Hurricane was about to be treated like raw meat and be devoured by the Tigers of St. John’s Sport.

“sen message to dem in Grampovia, tell dem we mudderin! dey ‘so an so’ today” some of our fellers shouted.

“dey deeead!,dey deeead” you could have heard Tony Marqs shouting from the sidelines.

The second half began with Victoria’s Ashley George almost decapitating our Seon Frank’s head with a left footer. He then went on again to send a bullet passed Seon, one that if he had touched were sure to fracture at least five of his ribs or sever his arms from his body.

Hurricane came back and gave St. John’s Sports five in the second half and went on to win that game.

It was a sad day to see the procession of Gouyaverians leaving Winsor Park with our Glory Cedar in hand to support our bodies from falling along the way as we proceed up to the Lance.

It was probably one of the sadist days in Gouyave I could remember and up to this day, my Victorian friends never allowed me to forget about it.

Gouyaveman, 22^nd May 06 ©

One for the Boys

Gouyaveman 17^th May,2006

The phrase “Coming Out”, even though it is commonly used within our West Indian culture takes a different implication when it is used in the context of what was expected from our own Gouyaverian youths.

For many a young man in Gouyave, it meant the crossing of the bridge and the realization that one had made the transition from adolescent to adulthood and that also meant that you were under the watchful eyes of your elders. As you began to take charge of your place in “the established pecking order of things”, it was expected of you to cast away your childish behavior to earn your place in Gouyave’s society and be recognized, not so much of who you were but most importantly, what you intend to become.

For those who dared to entertain the thought of quickly rising up the social ranks to mount a challenge against the more seasoned and establish men like Wright, DeCoteau, Crowe, Spra-gi-digs and Bald Plate in their practice of “territoriality”(^._.^), you had to first be subjected to a preliminary test of a dress rehearsal and be prepared to walk the “runway” of The Lance “before you kud call youself, man!”.

Their predecessors (like Pajamas, Sweet Man Durey, Ting-ah-Merry and Pampalam) had already established the “rules of engagement” and had acquired the appropriate accolades and nicknames associated with their feat; so to venture into that territory meant you had every intention of displaying that inherent biological characteristic that differentiate you as a Bull from that of a Heifer and be willing to stake your claim. Needless to say, the Girls/Ladies would be watching you also, but their reserve and conservative upbringing would defer their choices only after carefully concluding that your attire and behavior were appropriate enough so as not to draw any attention to the “other watchful eyes in Gouyave and “oh Boi, there were many”.

Every young lady at the time knew what it meant to be stigmatized with the phrase “She Break Away” and no one wanted to be associated with the social decadent behavior attributed to it and risk being stained with disparaging remarks made against their character.

But as a prerequisite to all of this, the simple art of knowing how to dress was enough to determine if one was to remain among those who were possessed with overactive libido and high testosterone levels and needed a “quick bite to eat” or if he was to exercise the required patience, exuberance and courtship that was necessary to elevate himself to make a smooth transition across that bridge. Failure to adhere to the proper dress code could have meant the designation of a nickname for which one would have to carry for the rest of one’s life.

So at the height of this display in personal attire, the “Gouyave Dappers” had created a subtle level of competition thus creating by extension, two distinct classes of dress codes among the men; and the four most prominent pieces of clothing that had heavily influenced Gouyave’s culture at the time was the Banlon Jersey, the Terelyn Pants, the Handkerchief and the “Stingy Brim Hat.

One could have tell which side of the fence a young man was heading by his display of all four or three of the four, but this was the attire of the time and you could not have been considered to “worth your weight in gold to demand your pound of flesh” and compete with the other Dappers if you could not elevate your taste in attire to the established standards.

The Sunday afternoon stroll was indeed a display in “groomeology” (if you will) and a chance to walk on the runways of Gouyave streets.

To begin with, the hair had to be well coiffed, preferably with the skills of Sarda(aka, Doggie) or Par-Bain, from Down Street.

The Banlon Jersey was of the Polyester blend variety and had to be worn neatly tucked inside the slacks and capped over the belt, making the perfect silhouette to enhance the curvaceous tone of the body.

The slacks had to be made out of the finest of Gabardine or light-weight Tropical Wool Worsted from the stocks of Granby’s, Everybody’s or General Commodities. But the Dappers ultimate in sporting slacks had to be tailored from Terelene and tapered with the fine tailoring skills of Figs, Ah-pooh, Tony Marqs or Domingo. They took pride in sporting and pointing to the sharpness of the “pants seams” ensuring that they were well pressed and were of the same length from mid-thigh to the bottom. The preferred styles were either “gun mouth” or “Bell Bottom”, but whatever the style was, you could have betted that none would have violated the standard “yard and three eights” it took to “make the thread”(‘pants’ in Gouyave lingo) as we used to say.

The “bam pocket” sported the folded white handkerchief, exposing approximately half inch from end to end.

The socks were usually black in color to match the shoes that were buffed into a shine that only “Nugget” c  could have provided. But the “Jigger Boots” was the ultimate in foot-ware as its rubbery bottom provided comfort to “strut the stroll” of the Dapper and draw attention to him by the lookers-on; so with that combination, one was ready to walk on the runway extending across The Lance Bridge. You knew “you had your shidt together”(pardon the indulgence Mr. Web Master) if you made it passed the bridge with no remarks as to your attire, but if you had the proclivity to sport a Stingy Brim on your head, the whole of Gouyave would begin to “shu-shu” as you would be on your way of establishing your reputation as a “ah Gouyave Saga Boi”.

Wright, DeCoteau, Crowe, Spra-gi-digs and Bald Plate knew never to wear that infamous Stingy Brim Hat and that kept their reputation and character in tact.

Gouyaveman ©