Jureidini looks back at Harbour View 49 years on
Published:Sunday | March 5, 2023 | 2:03 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
FOUNDED IN 1974, reigning Jamaica Premier League (JPL) champions Harbour View Football Club, nicknamed ‘Stars of the East’, celebrated 49 years of existence yesterday.
According to the club’s General Manager Clyde Jureidini, the organisation was founded out of a burning desire from residents who wanted to play football in their community.
“It was a motivated set of youngsters with the burning desire to play football within their new community that came together at the Harbour View Primary School to organise themselves as an official football club on March 4, 1974.
Then, to approach the Matalon owner of the West Indies Home Construction (WIHCON) who built the houses and ask them for permission to develop ‘The Compound’, explained Jureidini.
Jureidini, who took over as general manager of the club back in 1993, believes that among the plethora of ‘high points’ for the club, his fondest memory to date would be winning the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Championships twice (2004 and 2007), which puts Harbour View in a class by themselves.
He also stated that keeping their youth programme active is also a solid representation of what the club is based upon.
“The high points include the many titles we’ve won as a football club, most of them in young divisions from when we started in the ‘60s in the D&G Minor League, and we’ve stayed true to that, to now we have our youth programme with not just one team, but Under-7, Under-9, along with five teams up to Under-17,” said Jureidini.
The experienced football administrator added that being the first local club to build their own stadium was another high point, but the club’s lowest point, in his estimation, came back in the 1992-93 Premier League season when they flirted with the embarrassment of being relegated but miraculously survived by winning seven games in a row in the dying embers of the season.
CLOSE TO RELEGATION
“We came close to relegation in the 1992-93 season when we had to win our last seven games to avoid relegation, but we did that successfully with a game to go. So, since that, we have organised ourselves better, learned from that mistake and hopefully we’ll never face that again,” Jureidini remarked.
He added that, over the years, the club has also had to cope with the loss of many of their stalwarts, including the likes of Charles Hayles, Harold ‘McCook’ Donaldson, Sydney Masters, Roxy Williams, Gene ‘Skatalite’ Wallace, Linval McKenzie, Peter ‘Jair’ Cargill, Barrington ‘Cobra’ Gaynor, Luton Shelton, Keith Cunningham, Noel Brissett, Lester ‘Smiley’ Francis, Robert ‘Rufie’ Ralph, and many more.
In one sentence, Jureidini stated that his dream for his beloved club is simple, to just remain champions.
“We would love to repeat so that when our 50th (anniversary) comes around we are still champions.”