On Saturday, December 16 members of the Parade Gardens community, more popularly known as “Southside”, were treated to a day of fun, frolic and football as the Percival “Heightsman” Cordwell Foundation was launched at the Breezy Castle football field.

The initiative is aimed at violence prevention and conflict resolution in the community that has seen an increase in crime and violence in recent times. The foundation is the brainchild of two former St George’s College players — national senior player Devon “Speedy” Williams and Kemar Cummings — who are both from the community and benefited from the guidance of coach Cordwell in their formative years.

The day was highlighted by a six-a-side football competition contested by members of the community, a fun day for the young and young at heart as well as a celebrity all-star football game that featured former and current Reggae Boyz, Red Stripe Premier League players and current Manning Cup stars.

The charity game, which was played in front of a capacity crowd, featured a number of big-name stars including Darren Mattocks, Damion Lowe, Junior Flemmings, Michaud Barrett, Jermaine “Teddy” Johnson and foundation co-founders Williams and Cummings.

In addition to the Jamaican internationals, Manning Cup rising stars Romario Harding of St George’s College and the Kingston College pair of Horace Ramsey and Casseam Priestly, who also hail from the community, were on show for the appreciative fans.

“The community is going in a bad direction, so we are trying to intervene in some way to make it a better place, so that is what inspired this,” said Williams after the game.

The Louisville City FC player said the day was a special one for him.

“It is very special to me because the community came out as you can see and it was a fun day. Thank God, it went well.”

One of the beneficiaries of the foundation will be the Rae Town Football Club.

“We are going to try to facilitate the Rae Town football team as much as we can through the foundation. We want the young men to come and play football for us instead of doing something else,” said Williams.

For Cummings, love needs to be restored in the community of Southside in downtown Kingston.

“It was all about bringing back the love to the community… we have lost it. Violence has plagued the community, so we need to bring back the love,” he insisted.

“The foundation is designed to help with violence prevention and conflict resolution in the community. We want to bring forth positiveness in the community and help youths as ‘Heightsman’ did. His work has helped a lot of youths in the community to reach professional heights and we want to bring back that to the community,” Cummings said.

The launch of the foundation would not have been possible without the help of a number of key players.

“We would like to say special thanks to Mr Peter Chang of Chang’s Trading, Devon Blake and Teisha Robinson for their personal contributions as well as Red Bull, GraceKennedy, MP Ronald Thwaites, Councillor Rosalee Hamilton, who have come on board to make the day possible,” Cummings said.

Cummings, the former UWI FC player, was delighted with the response from the community.

“It was a tremendous day, the community came out and it was just tremendous. To see a lot of overseas players, international players come and play well and entertain the community, the love is here and it is showing, so we just want to build on that,” he ended.

Reggae Boy Mattocks was delighted to be a part of the event and praised his fellow players for lending their support on the day.

“It’s definitely a positive output and to see the top footballers in the country, that represent Jamaica at the highest level come together and play this charity game speaks volumes to the continued development of the Southside community as we come together as one and try to eradicate violence and support positivity within this community,” said the DC United striker.

Cummings and Williams were co-captains of the victorious St George’s College Manning Cup teams of 2008 and 2009.