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.Zandolis Meet Northumberland in Rugby on Tuesday
St. Lucia's national rugby team, the Zandolis, will meet a side from the HMS Northumberland Tuesday 19 at the Mindoo Philip Park, the first outing for the Zandolis since June.
The St. Lucia Rugby Football Union has released the starting ten for the Tuesday evening match. The Zandolis, missing some key players, will still field an aggressive and experienced team.
In the scrum Marlon Daniel and Thomas Fletcher come in as props, with veterans Akim Herbert and Vern Yarde in the second row. Jonathan "Excitement" St. Rose will play hooker.
The backs will include Colvis Samuel at scrum half, Lyndel Norville at stand off and Lenny Yarde on the wing. Garfield Jules will play full back, and Terry Finisterre will start as blind side winger.
HMS Northumberland will be in St. Lucian waters October 17-23. The British Royal Navy vessel is in the Caribbean until December, conducting anti-drug exercises with regional agencies.
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Roots Alley Ballers Take Tense Premier League Finale
(October 14) - Who needs Emerson (Ti Loy) Jn Marie? Southern Sales Roots Alley Ballers didn't need him to wrap up their Premier League title, at least not for the full ninety minutes. Ti Loy was sent off with more than a half hour left to go in the Premier League finale, but the incident that led to that red card was only one item of drama on a day filled with tension.
Wednesday afternoon at the Vigie playing field, the Vieux Fort giants Roots Alley Ballers went into their game against Niabinghi trailing Square United by one point for the league lead, but with a game in hand, meaning that they could win the league with a scoreless draw. This, approximately a year after a team suspension from domestic football for indiscipline.
Roots, back in the fray in a big way, also went into Wednesday's game unbeaten in 1999. Top scorer Oswald Downes had twelve goals from ten Premier League games. Jn Marie - team captain, and a national striker - had netted on thirty occasions from twenty three games in all competitions. His seven Premier League goals placed him fourth in that table.
Both men, and their team, went into the clash with Niabinghi heavy with expectation. The first half was largely without incident. Briefly, the boys from down south dominated, but neither team had a clear advantage. Niabinghi chose to attack, instead of sitting back and trying to survive the expected Roots onslaught. The scoreboard was blank at the half.
The second half began with both teams in ill temper. One Niabignhi defender threatened to punch a Roots midfielder…for kicking the ball into touch! Predictably enough, a player was shown the red card in the fifty third minute, and Niabinghi was down to ten men.
It took the referee ninety seconds to put the game back in the balance, in dramatic fashion. Coming back on defense, Jn Marie was adjudged to have played dangerously by trying to retrieve a ball which had already eluded him. Instead of the ball, Ti Loy's boot found the stomach of his opposite number, marking the end of Jn Marie's Premier League season.
With the game down to ten men each way, Niabinghi brought in fresh legs and proceeded to launch an attack on the Roots goal. Two good chances went begging in the space of ten minutes, the first a volley from twenty five feet, and the second a very hard shot from just inside the box that pressed the goalkeeper into action, forcing his best stop of the afternoon.
Finally, it was Downes who made the difference. In the sixty-sixth minute, the tall forward added to his league-leading tally with a header from ten yards. Premature celebrations ensued, but the fight had gone out of Niabinghi. As twilight fell, it was Roots Alley Ballers who would hold and maintain the advantage to lift a domestic title for the first time ever.
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Micoud and Dennery For Fitz Francis Final
(October 11) - The semifinals of the Fitz Francis Under Nineteen Football Competition were played Sunday evening at the Mindoo Philip Park, with two very similar results being played out. Micoud and Babonneau played to a two-two draw through regulation and extra time. Micoud advanced to the final on penalties.
It was a similar story in the second semi, between Dennery and Mabouya. Aaron Flavien, the goal-scoring hero of Cable & Wireless champs Dennery, was on target again as Dennery held Mabouya to a two-two draw after extra time. Dennery won through on penalties to face their East Coast neighbours on Sunday 17.
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Ledgers Finishes Among top Ten in Martinique
(October 11) - Thirty two-year-old distance runner Victor Ledgers proclaimed his retirement earlier this year, but in the tradition of basketball's Michael Jordan, Ledgers remains an active competitor. The national record holder over ten kilometres, Ledgers ran and won both races in the Roadbusters 5K series. He also qualified as St. Lucia's representative to the 1999 NEMWIL Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Half-Marathon, set for November 21 in Grenada.
Ledgers' latest outing came Saturday in Martinique, where he contested a fifteen-kilometre (nine-mile) road race on the city circuit of Fort de France, the capital of Martinique. Running with fellow St. Lucian and Roadbusters teammate Wayne "Ali" St. Ange, Ledgers finished the race in a respectable 51 minutes, 1 second, good for enough for sixth position. Dominant Vincentian runner Pamenos Ballantyne completed the course in 47 minutes 51 seconds to win the race.
St. Ange clocked 57 minutes 22 seconds, ending in 39th overall. Twenty three years old, St. Ange had finished behind only Ledgers in the Roadbusters 5K series and in the NEMWIL OECS Half Marathon time trial. In the absence of Zepherinus Joseph - currently studying at college in Arizona - the two are far and away the most impressive distance runners in St. Lucia today.
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Roots, Rovers, Young Stars and Mashtown into FA Cup Semis
(October 11) - Roots Alley Ballers from out of Vieux Fort remain firmly on course for the domestic football double. The Emerson Jn Marie-led side drubbed Ghetto Stars Youth Organisation seven-nil in the first leg of the Heineken/Football Association FA Cup quarterfinals. Travelling to Soufriere for the return leg, Roots failed to duplicate that same level of dominance, but they did come away with a one-nil away win and a semifinal berth.
Joining Roots in the semis are two Mabouya valley sides, NCB Mashtown and Premier League club Rovers United. Young Stars from Anse la Raye are the fourth semifinalists. All three clubs had gained first leg advantages over their quarterfinal opponents, White House, Northern United and Foundation respectively. Rovers were the only club to have taken the advantage in the first leg away from their home turf.
At the weekend Mashtown played White House to a nil-nil draw in Dennery, winning the tie two-nil on aggregate. Rovers held Premier League rivals Northern United to a scoreless draw at Mabouya, having won three-two at Gros Islet. Young Stars emerged from the Anse la Raye derby with two victories over Foundation, two-nil in the first leg, and one-nil in the return. The semifinal draw takes place later this week.
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