Breakenridge recalls fallout with English

July 15, 2020
Arnett Gardens’ Marvin Stewart (left) and Waterhouse’s Desmond Breakenridge tussle for the ball during the Claro/KSAFA Jackie Bell KO final at the Harbour View Mini-Stadium on February 6, 2011.
Irvino English
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Former Waterhouse and national defender Desmond Breakenridge said his reason for leaving Waterhouse in 2005 was due to a fallout with former captain, the late Irvino English, and some supporters who accused him of throwing a game to Premier League game to Naggo Head.

Breakenridge, who started his Premier League career with Reno in 2003 and ended it with Arnett Gardens in 2013, also revealed a number of other incidents that forced him to leave one club or the other.

 

‘Breaker’, as he is commonly called, revealed he started the 2005-2006 season, the year Waterhouse won their second title, with the Drewsland club. But an incident early in the season when they played newcomers Naggo Head gave him no choice but the leave.

“The season Waterhouse won the league, English and I had a difference that involve my babymother and some physical things, and it was heartbreaking,” he told STAR Sports.

“We played Naggo Head and lost, and some (supporters) said I sold the game because Kenardo Forbes scored and before the game I was reasoning with him about coming to Waterhouse. So its like I sold the game to get ‘Morgy’ (Forbes) to come Waterhouse, and because of that I ended up going to Harbour View and play out the season,” he said.

Ironically, Waterhouse and Harbour View were locked in a two-horse race for the title that season, with the Drewsland-based team overcoming a 15-point deficit to claim their second title. But the 39-year-old blamed Harbour View’s collapse on a power struggle between assistant coach Barrington ‘Cobra’ Gaynor and coach Donovan ‘DV’ Hayles.

“I knew Harbour View was going to lose, no matter how many points they had. There was a power struggle between DV and Cobra. Cobra had his players, and DV had who he wanted to use. I was not on anyone’s side because as I had to play, so I wasn’t really in the argument. But the team crashed because they were divided,” he explained.

Breakenridge, who was really on loan with Harbour View, soon fell out of favour with that club’s hierarchy too after they found out that Waterhouse CEO Bruce Bicknell, who had sympathised with him on his departure, still had the player on his club’s payroll.

$35,000 as basic pay

“Harbour View couldn’t pay me what I wanted. I was getting $35,000 as basic pay. But Bruce Bicknell said he understood why I left and knew I would come back and that he was still going to pay me, and that caused a big thing.

“They targeted me, saying I came (Harbour View) to sell them out. But it was not about the money. I was collecting my payslip at Waterhouse and regular basic pay at Harbour, and that was my regular pay cheque But they never liked that and when they found out they were vexed,” he said.

Breakenridge returned to Waterhouse, before leaving for Arnett in 2008. He then moved back and forth between those two clubs until he quit the local game in 2014, after another incident with the Arnett hot-headed striker, Marcelino ‘Bassa’ Blackburn.

“The incident that made me left football was an incident between me and Bassa after Waterhouse beat us (2013). He had a difference with the coach and wanted to fight. And I was telling him he cannot do that. He disrespected me and I told him back. So when I was taking up my things to go to the bathroom, someone shout me to look out, but by the time I look something stabbed me in the head. I realised it was him and we started to fight. So I played one more game after that and left. I didn’t even tell anybody I was leaving, and from I left for America (2013) I never came back until last year November, when I came for a funeral,” he said.

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