Sun. Apr. 24, 2022 — All of this week, our capital city, Belmopan, will be basking in football limelight as the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) hosts an international football tournament, the UNCAF FIFA Forward U-19 Championships; and it will be held at Belmopan’s two FIFA-certified stadiums with adequate seating, bathroom facilities and modern artificial turf – the Isidoro Beaton Stadium in Belmopan proper, and the FFB Stadium on the outskirts of Belmopan adjacent to the National Agricultural Show Grounds. Meanwhile, a few diehard football fans in the old capital, Belize City, are wondering what went wrong, and when will the dreadful football accommodations here finally enter the 21st century.
It used to be that Belize City’s MCC Grounds was the Mecca of football in Belize, where teams used to travel from the other districts to participate in the Belize City competition. Located in the largest population center of the country, which was also the entertainment and commercial capital where jobs attracted players from other districts during the amateur era that only ended in 1991, Belize City’s MCC Grounds remained center stage in the country from the time of its original commissioning for cricket around 1960 by the visiting Marylebone Cricket Club of London, England, until it fell into disrepair and neglect during the second decade of the new millennium.
Along with the prominence of its football centerpiece, Belize City also enjoyed a few years of national football dominance, perhaps beginning with the first countrywide club competition immediately following Independence in the 1981-82 football season. With some nineteen teams from Corozal to Punta Gorda, and including San Pedro participating in that first countrywide club competition, Belize City’s Belikin emerged as national champions; and Belize City’s Milpros (formerly Belprint) were national subchampions.
Thereafter, with independent Belize beginning the process of application for member status in FIFA, the district 1st Division competitions were followed each year by a national competition involving the champion club from each district along with the champion and subchampion clubs from Belize City. The rationale obviously had to do with the fact that Belize City not only had the most teams, with by far the largest population, but had demonstrated a wealth of football talent also.
In the next few years, there emerged national champions from Cayo (Verdes), Orange Walk (Juca) and others. In the 1985-86 season, Coke Milpros were the undefeated Belize City champions; and they went on to become national sub-champions in 1986, behind eventual champions, Verdes from San Ignacio. Coke Milpros then became national champions in 1987, with Verdes as national sub-champions. This was followed in the next year, like in 1982, with the two Belize City teams taking top honors, as Duurly’s was 1988 national champion, and Coke Milpros was national sub-champion.
This apparent dominance of Belize City teams may have led to a growing anti-Belize City bias among certain elements in the national football administration. There were rumors of Belize City teams getting the best treatment and having an advantage over the district teams. Whatever the factors at play, the 1989 national playoffs were structured so that both Duurly’s and Coke Milpros ended up facing each other in the national semifinals. Therefore, it had apparently been decided that it should be impossible for 1989 to see two Belize City teams taking the top two positions in the national finals. After two draw games, and some controversy over a protest, Coke Milpros withdrew from the semifinals, and Duurly’s went on to play in the finals (the result?) and also representing the country in the subsequent 1990 Concacaf champion and subchampion club tournament.
The brouhaha that followed Milpros’ withdrawal from the national semifinals, eventually, through the club’s lobbying and persistent agitation, led to the formation of the first Belize Semipro Football League, which kicked off its inaugural season in 1991. And again a Belize City team, Cemcol-Crown Milpros played for the championship, losing 3-1 in the finals to La Victoria of Corozal.
With the demise of Milpros a couple years later, there arose a few other Belize City-based teams that eventually also reached the national finals, and even claimed the semipro championship, which equates to the national club championship of Belize. These included Acros Carib, Kulture Yabra and F.C. Belize. Through all those years of ups and downs, and spells of dominance, Belize City was always represented in the national 1st Division club competition; first in the BNFA’s (Belize National Football Association) National Competition, and after 1991 in the Belize Semipro Football League (later Belize Professional Football League, Belize Premier Football League, and finally the Premier League of Belize). What went wrong?
Belize City has been without a team in the semipro competition since 2015, and even the recently returned National Amateur Women’s League (NAWL) is now without a team from Belize City, when Belize City’s Millennium Girls were pioneers of women football in Belize along with Gentle Touch of Esperanza. Why?
The last semipro team that represented Belize City in the Premier League of Belize (PLB) tournament was FC Belize, and their troubles became overwhelming when the MCC was closed for renovation near the end of the 2014 season, forcing the team to take its home games to Orange Walk. Their financial problems were compounded by the death of FC Belize owner Lionel Welch in 2012, but the deplorable condition of the MCC weighed heavily on the financial viability of the franchise, and the long shutdown made things worse.
Belize City still produces some of the top talent in the nation, as is evidenced by its consistent success in the national youth competitions. Belize District male selections are the current national U17 champions, and the national U20 sub-champions. But a broken down fence, dilapidated bleachers and primitive bathroom accommodations, along with a terrible playing surface are factors that combine to discourage potential investors in a semipro franchise, which will have a difficult time attracting fans in numbers, while facing entertainment competition from the Princess Casino across the street, the BTL Park a short walk away, as well as the many entertainment spots along Princess Margaret Drive from Moe’s Pizza to Lucca Restaurant & Bar (formerly the Hour Bar & Grill). You have to really, really love the game to bear the inconvenience that is now the MCC park to watch football there on a Sunday evening.
Recently, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the rehabilitation/renovation of the Berger football field, named after the legendary Belize City ’75 and ’76 senior football champions, Berger 404. That is a good move; but there have been ground breakings there before. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. However, we are confident that whatever is done, will be better than what was done to the MCC by the last contractor who was supposed to renovate and upgrade its playing surface in 2014-15. (Check “The MCC, then and now” at amandala.com.bz.) What we got was five years of black soot swirling on every tackle, and a very uneven surface that challenges any right-away kicking effort, and even causes a few twisted ankles. A hard rain leaves large pools of water, especially around the team benches and the gate entrance to the playing area. Indeed, the once football Mecca of Belize, the MCC Grounds, in April 2022 remains a derelict, neglected and forsaken, like our many poverty-stricken and mentally disturbed citizens aimlessly roaming the streets of Belize City — “victims of the system”.
Nevertheless, the love of football will never die. Perhaps, that is why it was called “The Beautiful Game” by the legendary Pele. As long as there is a ball and youngsters with energy, football will be played in Belize City; and some fans will still come to the MCC, in whatever shape it may be, to see our young talents strive to achieve excellence, fame and glory, as another generation of players did in their time, when the MCC used to be aptly called “The Garden”.