Reggae Boyz defender Kemar “Taxi” Lawrence says his long-awaited move into Europe is yet another indication that Jamaican players have the stuff to compete at the highest professional level.

His last-minute move in a fast-closing transfer window last month to Belgian topflight club RSC Anderlecht puts another Jamaican international in the massive marketplace of European club football.

Lawrence, who transferred from Major League Soccer’s (MLS) New York Red Bulls on a two-and-half-year deal, joined Boyz teammate and Charleroi FC striker Shamar Nicholson in Belgium.

For those who might have missed it, Jamaica midfielder/winger Leon Bailey also had his introduction to the global space when he distinguished himself at Belgium’s Genk FC, before making a multimillion-dollar move to Bundesliga’s Bayer Leverkusen where he remains a prized asset.

Lawrence argues that contrary to what some people may think, home-bred Jamaican players possess the talent, work ethics, discipline, and ambition to take them beyond and above the US leagues.

But the Boyz left back says a combination of factors have conspired to stymie the flow of Jamaicans into the glossy cathedrals of European football.

“These guys have the mentality and these guys are hard-working players, for example, Darren Mattocks, Andre Blake, Peter-Lee Vassell, Owayne Gordon, Alvas Powell, Jeremie Lynch, Bryan Brown, Neco Brett, to name a few…there is a long list of names, who aren’t just aiming to play in the MLS, not aiming just to play in the USL [United Soccer League], but are aiming for Europe, but I feel like we are not getting the opportunity.

“When we are coming out of Jamaica, how many agents or agencies are we introduced to? We do not have much to choose from. Three quarters of us had to go through Damani’s [Ralph] hands, and I am not saying that it is a bad thing, but we don’t have a bunch of agents or agencies to pick from,” Lawrence told the Jamaica Observer from Belgium on Thursday.

He said that local players are treated in a manner, which is no fault of their own, not benefiting of professionals.

“We are playing at Harbour View and Portmore United, for example, and an overseas club sees a player, invites him on a trial and most of the time it’s an MLS or USL club, and rarely a European team sends for one of us, so we don’t have the same opportunity and the market.

“Also, there is a passport issue, because every where we have to go, we have to apply for a visa, and only recently I had an experience like that with my move to Anderlecht and this frustrated the club because they thought I could have flown into Belgium straight from New York.

“Yes, I have my green card, but they thought I could have flown straight on my passport, and when they realised I couldn’t, they were like asking why, and then the process they had to go through caused a bit of frustration because the timing was not what they had expected because they wanted to get me there right away with my training and so we could hit the ground running,” Lawrence explained.

The former Harbour View FC standout says a number of Jamaican players have lost or compromised opportunities by not being able to have the privilege of ease of travel across continents.

“We have it very difficult, because if they call a player from England or the USA, he just flies there on his passport and quickly.

“And remember people invest in their own even if we have better players…and maybe that player isn’t better than Kemar Lawrence, but he may have some quality, so the club might decide to work with him and build him up than to wait on one of our players to arrive, and that’s just the process sometimes,” he said.

Lawrence, who hails from Southside in central Kingston, pointed to the disenfranchising UK work permit and the impact of the Fifa ranking on the eligibility rules.

“All we are trying to do as players is trying to make our country great for the next generation to come, so when those youngsters try to go into England, they won’t have the problems we have.

“We have been ranked under 50 for a while now, so work permit is not a [big] problem at the moment, and that is what we are trying to do right now, to do things different and better,” Lawrence noted.

He called on wider Jamaica to give greater support to the national programme, arguing that the sky is the limit to what could be achieved if there is commitment across the board.

“We need our country to rally with us through good and bad, give us that push we need, give us that love because love conquers all. I think as a nation if we rally together, we can figure it out.

“We say we don’t have the proper fields and the systems set up in Jamaica, but stop and think for a second that if someone really invested, not only money, but time and energy into the youth players, the Reggae Boyz, the Reggae Girlz, the federation, think of the possibilities. Perhaps we wouldn’t miss another World Cup,” Lawrence suggested.

“Sometimes it feels like everybody is just scared to take that chance; all it needs is someone to flip a coin and take that chance, and just see where it goes,” he urged.