Frustrated! - Local Premier League players restive over extended lay-off

Some local Premier League players say training over the last nine months without any football has drove them to the peak of frustration, and they are angry the league cannot get under way despite a number of proposed dates.

But despite the financial impact the delay is having on them, some of the players are willing to wait until things are in place to assure their safety.

Mount Pleasant forward Kemar 'Bushy' Beckford, the leading scorer when the league was cancelled in March, said the frustration has reached fever pitch and the organisers should do what they must to get them back on the field of play.

"It is difficult. I really miss the game. We have been training and training and not playing any ball and it is really frustrating. It is a real hard task," he said.

"Mount Pleasant has been actively training from March. We heard it was going to start in October, then November, then December, and nothing.

No sponsor

"All we get (hear) is there is no sponsor or they are waiting on the Ministry of Health to give the go-ahead. But they have given us a date for January, February and we are just hoping that the league will start."

Beckford also argued that they need the league in order to have a chance to be in Theodore Whitmore's squad for the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers.

"Majority of the players are frustrated. All the players are angry the league is not starting,

"Also a lot of games coming up with the Reggae Boyz and we need the Premier League so we can get that opportunity so the coaches can see us because if we are not playing they will say we are not fit for play," he said.

Dunbeholden midfielder Zhelano Barnes said players are suffering from a lack of income as football is the main source of earning.

"We have bills and families and we are not earning. Players have been struggling to make ends meet because this is what pays us.

"The most we get from the clubs is stipend which we are grateful for because there is no income for the club to give us full pay," he stated.

But the fact that other sectors of society have been thriving almost unaffected by government health and safety restrictions, irritates him.

"I see everything happening normal. I see parties every night, public transportations are packed, work going on.

"Some people who say football cannot be played because of safety protocols they go to work and they are earning, so why stop us from eating and football is most of us bread?

"So even though there is no league, we still have to go out there and look work or something to earn and we keep coming in contact with other people. So everything is still going on, the only thing that is not is football," he said.