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From the Publisher

PublisherFrom the Publisher


Shortly after UBAD was founded in February of 1969, a young man by the name of Bert Simon came to Belize, the land of his birth, from the city of Oakland, California, where he had been living. Simon, who is now Nuri Muhammad, was accompanied by a white friend named Michael Allen, who drove a ?long back? Willys pickup truck.


Bert Simon joined UBAD, and introduced the idea of a breakfast program for needy children, a program the Black Panthers had initiated in Oakland.


Mr. Matus has explained to me that he was one of those merchants who supported the UBAD breakfast program. Apparently, Charles X Stamp would solicit his help, and he responded. Soon, Mr. Matus was approached by the Hon. Elito Urbina, a PUP Minister from Orange Walk, who was sent to him by the Hon. Premier George Price to inquire what the dickens Matus was doing supporting this racist group of troublemakers. Whenever Licenciado, as I call him, tells me this story, we both laugh heartily.


I tell you this story in order to give you a sense of what an extraordinary man Licenciado is, in a completely quiet and humble way. And the column this week is about beer, Belizean beer, would you believe.


I can?t say when it was that Licenciado and I became friendly, though I can see from early issues of this newspaper that he was one of the first merchants to advertise in Amandala. What I do know is that sometime in 1974 or early 1975, he asked me to take over the Charger football team, which was being run by the late Oliver ?Racku? Craig, a butcher and a great Belizean sportsman. I had declined Licenciado?s initial request.


Charger was a beer which took over the local market from Belikin, even though Belikin had a development concession and the Matus brothers ? Arturo and Orlando, did not. This took place in the middle 1970?s. The story of Charger?s rise and fall is a sensational one, and after more than 25 years of these discussions between Mr. Matus and myself, it is still a story I am far from knowing in its entirety.


It now appears to me that Charger must not have been bringing out a team for the 1975/76 season, because when I finally went to Licenciado to take on the task of ?bringing out? Charger for the new season, I only had three weeks to construct and train a team for the showcase marathon which opened the season.


I was 28 years old at the time, but I was still an inocente, na?ve where big time politics and big time business in Belize were concerned. If I were not na?ve, I would not have involved myself in the war between Charger and Belikin. But I loved football passionately, and I welcomed the challenge of building the Charger team, partly because I had a lot of confidence in my chief consultant ? the late Ashton ?Eefa? Molino.


Belikin didn?t have a football team. King Street was dedicated to basketball ? Belikin Wheels, led by Pulu Lightburn. More than that, Belikin had sponsored the championship dominoes team Molino and I had built ? the Belikin Tough Guys. In September of 1975, I did not believe that I had ?issues? with the Bowen people, and it was not my intention to get into any disputes with them.


But naivete is no excuse. Naivete can get you killed. Charger under Racku Craig was no marketing threat to Belikin. Charger under Evan X Hyde was another matter. I always told players I recruited, ?Listen, we won?t win, because we will get bad decisions, but we will get girls.? Straight like that. My teams always created excitement and sparked popularity.


As the years went by, Licenciado said to me one time, and he has said it several times since, ?The bank made an offer for us to buy out Belikin.? The bank which was exposed in terms for loans for Belikin was the Bank of Nova Scotia, a bank which came to Belize around 1969 or 1970. The Scotia manager who had made the Belikin loans was a man by the name of Scott-Cowper. I don?t remember his first name. Charger was putting such a hurt on Belikin that the Scotia bank bosses sent Scott-Cowper to work at Belikin in order to save their money. Licenciado said it was Scott-Cowper who made the offer to Matus Brothers, and his young brother, Orlando, rejected the offer. In retrospect, Orlando was not ready for big time business war. Having defeated Belikin, he felt no need to crush it. And so it was, Belikin rose from the dead and then crushed Charger. Orlando Matus went into a broken exile in Louisiana. Barry Bowen became a kingpin.


Everytime Licenciado tells me the Scott-Cowper story, I try to get him to pinpoint exactly when the offer to buy out Belikin took place. Mr. Matus is not sure, but suggests sometime in 1977.


Well, in 1977 Charger, in its second season under yours truly, was leading the first division football tournament in Belize City. My greatest player with Charger was Harry ?Straddle? Cadle, and my favourite player was Leslie Rogers, Sr.


Having read the last name written, you will know why I remembered Charger this week. Rogers was my favourite Charger player because he was fearless. And a lot of pressure was coming down on the Charger team, so much pressure that I went to Licenciado in mid-season, with Charger leading the league in 1977, and asked him to give back the team to Racku.


At the time I thought maybe the pressure was coming against black power I, but nowadays I think it may have been more the Charger-Belikin thing. Charger versus Belikin was a big thing, bigger than I realized at the time. That is why they say hindsight is 20/20 vision. You live, and you learn. For real.

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