Although he recently played his last football tournament, if Vurlon Mills has his way he will able to help future generations use the sport to transform their lives.
At just 33, Mills is the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Technical Development Officer (TDO) with responsibility for Georgetown. He is also owner of the Vurlon Mills Football Academy, through which he is on a path to develop rounded individuals who can make a living from football and even away from it.
“People do not see football in Guyana as a means to transform their lives. The GFF is making that effort of changing that culture and I want to be part of that process through my academy,” Mills told Stabroek Weekend in an interview.
Mills was recently appointed coach of the Guyana Police Force’s female football team, which won the GFF Women’s Super16 Festival 2021 that ended earlier this year.
As TDO, he works with players in Georgetown between the ages of 11 and 17 years and is in charge of the GFF academies that cater for the best players in the city. The GFF also runs a grassroots programme in their academies in which Mills plays a role.
Born in Georgetown, the third of seven siblings, Mills started playing street football at about age nine with older boys. “That is where I developed a love for the game,” he explains.
However, as a pupil at St Agnes Primary School he played cricket every day. Under ‘Sir Kurt,’ the physical education teacher, he said, St Agnes had one of the best primary schools’ cricket team in Georgetown. Mills captained the school’s cricket team, which gave him his first medal and trophy.
“In the first Scotia Bank Kiddies Cricket tournament I played in I was named the Most Valuable Player. I went on to play cricket in secondary school with Christopher Barnwell, one of our top cricketers in the country.”
At Apex Academy, where he completed his secondary education, Mills played cricket throughout his school years. “I was sportsperson of the year twice, back-to-back, representing Apex at football, cricket, draughts, table tennis, [and] athletics—almost every sporting discipline except for basketball.”
At 13 years, he began to play football for his church team, where he was the youngest, in South Ruimveldt under late coach Peter Lashley.
However, his father, Jerry Mills, wanted him to be a cricketer. He took Mills and his brother, Richard, to the National Park on Sundays to teach them to play cricket.
When Lashley told Jerry Mills that his son had the potential to play football for Guyana, he allowed him to join Western Tigers, where Lashley was a coach.
His first match for Western Tigers, at the age of 15, was against Camptown Football Club (FC) in an under-18 football tournament.
“I had no football boots. I had an old pair of soft shoes that I played in on the streets. I played in that until my father bought me my first pair of Mitre football boots from West Indian Sports Complex for $9,000. I was super excited. After every practice I cleaned them and put them up.”
Player-coach
Although he had joined Western Tigers, Mills felt his father was overly strict about his school work and insisted on revision and homework when he wanted to play football.
“I got away to play with the club. My grandmother and my former nursery school teacher, Waveney Mills, would tell my father, ‘Let the boy go and play football.’ She is one of the main reasons I became a national player. She always encouraged me to play, got my father to give me time to play and was a big part of my development.”
At 16 years, Mills was called for the Under-17 national team trials. “Over 200 players from across the country, from which 30 were to be selected, were at the trials. I didn’t feel pressured, maybe, because I was one of the leading young players at the time.”
At the end of the trials, he was selected for the team.
At 17 years, he took a transfer to Fruta Conquerors FC, which was closer to his home, and played in the youth team in his first year.
“Conquerors had one of the best senior teams in the country, with some of the best players. I wanted to play with them.” In his second year with Conquerors he started to train with the senior team.
“For the first two games in the Mayor’s Cup with the senior team I remained on the bench. My youth teammates were skeptical about me playing with the senior team but I knew I was going to make the team. By the third game, when Conquerors was playing Victoria Kings, a player was substituted and I was given the opportunity to play. We were down 1-nil with about ten minutes to the game. I was defending. I won the ball and played it down to Anthony ‘Awoo’ Abrams. He scored the goal and we equalized. The game went into extra time. Within the first minute of extra time I scored our second goal and we went up 2-1. We won that game 5-1 in extra time.”
After that, he said, Conquerors also won the Kashif and Shanghai tournament and the Sweet 16 Tournament.
He was one of the outstanding youth players in the Sweet 16 Tournament and was given a scholarship to pursue computer studies at Global Technology. This was after he had written the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations.
As an under-17 footballer Mills represented Guyana at the Inter-Guiana Games, and was on the under-20 squad that went to Suriname for the World Cup qualifier. “At the time I was always one of the fittest players and always topping the beep tests.”
Then in 2006, at 18 years, United Petrotrin FC from Trinidad and Tobago brought their football team on a pre-season training to Guyana. In their game against Fruta Conquerors on Tucville ground, Mills said, “I scored a beautiful header in that game.
Unfortunately, the referee raised his flag for offside. Petrotrin scored a goal and the match ended 1-nil in their favour. After the game, Petrotrin’s coach told me the goal that was disallowed was actually a perfect one. He invited me to play with their team in Trinidad. I was elated. It was the first time I was approached to become a professional footballer.”
He agreed to go to Trinidad after he completed his studies at Global Technology.
From 2007, he joined Petrotrin and was with the team for three years. During that period, he was called to play for Guyana in the under-23 team. “Again I was one of the youngest player and I had to work extra hard. I was one of the second choice forwards on the team. We had players who were the starting forwards. By the start of the tournament I was a number one forward along with Dwight Peters.”
After that tournament, he returned to Trinidad and continued playing in the Pro League. During a practice game in preparation for a tour to St Vincent and the Grenadines, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee and surgery was recommended. “It was scary. I immediately thought this was the end of my football career. Before surgery I had to strengthen my knee to ensure that the recovery process would be faster. Wayne Lawson, who worked with TT national team, took me through therapy for three months pre surgery.”
Immediately after surgery he underwent therapy for six months.
After recovery, his first game was in the Reserve League, where he played three games before returning to the Pro League.
In 2009, he was called to play for Guyana’s senior team, a dream come through. “I liked the challenge of being around the best players. For the first few games I wasn’t one of the starters. Anyway, I worked hard, had some challenges but made the team. After that I kept going back and forth between Guyana and Trinidad while playing for the senior team.”
In 2010, Petrotrin ended its football programme and Mills played for one season with W Connection FC and then took a transfer to T&TEC (Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission) FC, which had one of the better teams in the Pro League. Again he succumbed to a cartilage injury in the knee that was injured before and was out of commission for three months. This time he did laser surgery on the knee and therapy again with Lawson.
After T&TEC ended its football programme, Mills played in the Super League for one season, then with Santa Rosa FC for another and finally Caledonia FC for yet another.
In 2015, he returned home to Guyana to play for Slingerz FC. “I still wanted to make a living through football and Slingerz agreed to pay me what I was being paid in Trinidad. We played in the West Demerara Senior League and won it twice. We played in the GFF Elite League which we dominated and which we won back to back.” After Slingerz folded he played again with Western Tigers and finally returned to Conquerors.
He retired in 2020 from international football during the COVID-19 pandemic and played his last tournament with Conquerors in the recent Kashif and Shanghai tournament.
While in Trinidad he coached the University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus men’s football team and coached several teams that were part of the Minor League. He also assisted in coaching the Caledonia FC youth team.
“Coaching was something I liked doing even before I went to Trinidad to play football. I always helped to coach Conquerors youth team. I am excited when a youth I worked with excel and is called to represent Guyana.”
On his return to Guyana, he assisted in coaching the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) under-17 team following the demise of its coach, Lashley.
“When the under-17 was making progress competing against some of the bigger and better youth teams like Conquerors, Pele and Santos, I coached the senior team because they had no coach. We started to transform the senior team by transferring the best of the under-17 players to the senior team. With GFC rebuilding, we decided to start the Junior Jaguars youth programme and I worked with Faizal Khan coaching the Junior Jaguars.”
Mills worked with Khan for four years at several places, including Georgetown International Academy. He also coached Chase Academy football team during which time the school won the Digicel tournament twice, the Milo tournament four times and ExxonMobil Under-14 tournament.
Giving back
His love and passion for the sport led him to start his own football programme in early 2019 with children from two to 17 years in different age groups. In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, the programme was placed on pause. It restarted in late 2020 and has continued to date.
He has six coaches on staff and they work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The final Saturday of the month is games day. “Part of my success as a coach and manager and why we win so many tournaments is because of the coaches and the work they put in.”
“Every day we’re are looking at ways we can improve our programme. With the right resources, our objective is to acquire our own home and create an elite academy for football in the country. My aim is to see players not only playing for the academy but playing for the country or at an international college or university and securing professional contracts.”
Mills football academy is located at St Stanislaus College Ground. “When I started, I had no ground to use.” Mr Barrow from GNS ground granted him permission to use the GNS ground.
“Thanks to him I got the programme off the ground. During that time, I was in talks with Saints and with assistance from Robert Fernandes we got permission to use Saints ground. We help to maintain and beautify the ground. We offer free training and coaching to St. Stanislaus College students interested in playing football and we are open to helping them in preparation for tournaments.”
For the past two years, Mills said that 85 per cent of players at the under-15, under-17 and recently the under-20 players were part of the academy’s programme free of cost. They include Brandon Solomon, Devon Padmore, and Sealon Sue, most of whom he coached at Chase Academy.
In a recent outreach in Albouystown, the academy hosted over 65 players. The majority were not affiliated to any club. A number of them were identified to join the academy for free. The academy has also helped some parents, either by reducing the fee, to accommodate their child or children. “This is my way of giving back.”
Through the academy, some parents have sponsored some children whose talent were spotted during a tournament the academy hosted, but who could not afford to pay for some aspects of the academy’s programme, with uniform, equipment and transportation to practice sessions. These players recently represented the GFF in an under-13 football tournament which they won.
The academy won its first major tournament, the East Bank FA/Ralph Green Under-11 in its first year in operation in 2019. “We’re now getting started,” Mills said.
