Thompson the epitome of loyalty

LOYALTY IN sports is a much-debated and often vexing issue, especially for sought-after players, who rival teams and sponsors go all out to woo from humble beginnings, offering the glitz, glamour and dollar of stardom.

From Dwight Yorke to Raheem Sterling in English football, sports stars have been accused of being ‘sell-outs’ whereas others such as Patrick Ewing and Kobe Bryant, in basketball, spend their entire starlit careers remaining loyal to one team, even when the chips are down.

Netballer Marcella Thompson, goal attack for Jamaica’s Police Nationals’ 30-strong team at the 2024 Florida Netball Classic Senior Open, has been donning the red-and-black kit for 43 unbroken years since being recruited from the Bull Bay Police Youth Club by Netball Jamaica stalwart, Joan Benjamin.

Leading the nationals with a physique that belies her proudly stated age of 53, Bull Bay-native Thompson, a former national invitee, said Police Nationals is her first and last stop in the cut-throat club scene of local netball.

“I have been a part of the Police National from I was a child, 43 years. I was in the Bull Bay Police Youth Club. Miss Joan Benjamin recruited me to the Police National Netball Team at Elletson Road.

“I played for the Police Area 4 netball team. While at Police Nationals, I was called to train with Jamaica’s netball team at age 19, playing alongside Connie Francis, Elaine Davis, Oberon Patterson and Margaret Byfield.

“I was with the national team for four years with Elaine Hall as coach. Persons tried recruiting me to play for Waulgrovians and Jamalco but I chose not to because it was Miss Benjy, who brought me from scratch,” Thompson said, declaring her unwavering loyalty to the team first formed in 1978.

Beaming proudly at Thompson, Benjamin, league administrator, Netball Jamaica, was quick to point out that Sunshine Girls coach and former national, Sasher-Gaye Henry, was a graduate of the Police Nationals team.

“This team was started in 1978 as a community-relations tool aimed at bridging the gap between police and inner-city residents. Sasher-Gaye Henry started with Police Nationals as a 13-year-old attending St Hugh’s High School.

“Former national coach and player, Connie Francis, shooter Elaine Davis, Georgina Hibbert, and Nichala Gibson would have represented different police Areas as civilians,” Benjamin added, explaining that each police Area was allowed to use two Police Youth clubbites in Area competitions.

Police Nationals field three teams in Netball Jamaica Clubs’ League, Police A and B in Intermediate, which they won in 2019, and Police C in Minor.

Meanwhile, Thompson, who cited security reasons for not transitioning from civilian to the police ranks, as many before and after her have done, expressed a desire for the youth clubs in Bull Bay to be based at the local police station.

“The Bull Bay Police Youth Club was formerly at the police station. There is a club that was at Rasta Lane and at eight Miles, Rasta Lane, which has been relocated to Bridge View Basic School, and another at Shooters Hill.

“I think it is more appropriate for the clubs to be at the police station,” said Thompson, pointing to parents’ safety concerns.