While acknowledging the level of talent that presently encompasses the Senior Men’s Programme, former Golden Jaguars captain Christopher Nurse, says that Guyana runs the unwanted danger of losing its identity due to the lack of a strong local core.
This was stated during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to the defensive midfielder, who has represented Guyana during the period of 2008-2017, “The current national programme has some of the most talented overseas-based players we have ever had within the programme, but we are missing the core of essential local talent that has always had the programme heavily connected to its roots. Without that core of local players we run the risk of success at the expense of losing our identity and authenticity. I think the current coach is aware of this and is committed to ensure a strong local presence remains within the programme.”
Nurse, who also served as captain of the national side from 2011-2017 and has found the back of the net five times during his playing career, stated that the lack of competitive football has stagnated the development of local players, and that the objective should be to create platforms that best serve the advancement of the local contingent so that they can compete for berths in the programme.
The former FC Edmonton star affirmed, “With little local football playing at a high level it has stagnated the level of development of the local players, the challenge is to establish how we can best serve the local talent to give them the best chance to develop and compete for positions on the national team. Without the professional environment and the high level platform to perform the local players will forever be disadvantaged despite many possessing natural talent. We know talent alone is not enough, especially at the highest level.”
According to Nurse, “I retired from playing professionally in 2017. Since then I have embarked on a coaching career with some early signs of a prosperous future, it’s been a natural progression into coaching and I am enjoying the journey. Representing Guyana has given so much to me in my development as a person and footballer. It encompasses some of the peak highlights of my career. It is my responsibility to continue to learn, develop and grow so I can have a positive impact on the next generation.”
He further revealed, “Whether that is in the tenure of this administration or future administrations. When the time and the situation is correct I am always willing, ready and able. I think it’s no secret that I was outspoken and lived by the motto “stand up for something or fall for anything”. I think my willingness to be outspoken was both a blessing and a curse. Experiencing high level environments I always applied the pressure to those in charge to match those expectations. The problems arose was that many of the people I was trying to influence had never worked or experienced the day to day professional operations of a football club in the United Kingdom or in Europe or the USA so the information was not absorbed as it should have been.”
Nurse added, “But I was always willing to put my neck on the line for the progression of the team and the game and I know many of my teammates appreciated that. It’s led to a situation where I feel as though I have been unjustifiably blacklisted from contributing to the programme in any capacity but there are two certainties in life. God’s timing is always perfect, and almost nothing lasts forever. The challenges life throws at us makes us stronger and we are highly blessed beyond our wildest dreams.”
