We recall, a few months after his arrival, former Reggae Boyz Head Coach Mr Heimir Hallgrímsson’s shock and consternation at the poor state of football fields in Jamaica.

“…coming from a country (Iceland, close to the Arctic Circle) really struggling with growing grass and trees and flowers because of cold and darkness, I am [amazed] that the grass pitches are not better here and the [sad] part is that you drive past golf courses with like…carpet grass and then you come to a football pitch and you don’t know what it is…” Mr Hallgrímsson said in early 2023.

Would Mr Hallgrímsson ever have come had he known?

We suspect that current head coach, Englishman Mr Steve McLaren, who recently replaced Mr Hallgrímsson, came under no illusions, having done his homework.

The harsh truth is that the inferior quality of fields — which it is well established renders good football extremely difficult — is deeply rooted in Jamaica’s long-standing amateurish sporting culture.

The amazing thing is that this country has developed such a strong, world-renowned tradition in outdoor sport — led by track and field, but also including cricket and football — with such a handicap.

In the late 1990s, celebrated Brazilian Mr Rene Simoes, who guided Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz to the 1998 FIFA World Cup, argued that the achievement was akin to a builder installing the roof of a house without first doing the foundation.

Mr Simoes complained constantly of his embarrassment at being unable to control the bounce of the ball from hard, bumpy surfaces.

Perhaps the most biting commentary on playing surfaces here came from Mr Hallgrímsson, who claimed that Mr Lionel Messi — among the planet’s finest footballers ever — would become an average player in Jamaica, because he would need “two, three touches” to control the ball, after being accustomed to just one touch.

Beyond ball control, poor playing surfaces can lead, and have led, to serious injuries. Importantly too, in an age when television and other audio visuals are of increasing importance, football as a spectacle suffers badly on poor fields. To be fair, those of us old enough to remember decades past, know there has been incremental improvement in playing surfaces here, especially since the turn of the century.

Among aspects we will keenly watch as the popular schoolboy football competition opens will be the quality of fields, starting with today’s games at the recently rehabilitated Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Against all that backdrop, we applaud the initiative by Reggae Boyz goalkeeper Mr Andre Blake in partnering with corporate giants Sagicor and Supreme Ventures to support a sports facility renovation project at his old high school, Clarendon College.

We hear that the field at Clarendon College has deteriorated to such an extent it has not been used for daCosta Cup football in three years.

The $500,000 donation from Mr Blake and his partners form part of a drive by the school community to raise US$100,000 for the renovation project.

“This is a noble cause; let’s provide these children with a place to play, cheer, and develop in their chosen sport,” Mr Blake is reported as saying.

He is obviously referring specifically to Clarendon College. But for us it’s a wonderful example for all to follow.