Central F.C.’s players and staff took part in an Arrive Alive awareness presentation this week as the California based club aims to promote road safety to its supporters and community.
“We believe that footballers make great role models for both young and older members of the community, so we are keen to promote campaigns that will improve lives and make Trinidad & Tobago a safer place to live” said Central F.C.’s Managing Director, Brent Sancho. “But before we can preach to our community, we must first understand the dangers ourselves and educate our players in the best ways to Arrive Alive.”
Arrive Alive is an N.G.O. dedicated to all aspects of road safety, and they have influenced the government in drafting various laws including the breathalyser legislation.
“When we looked at the statistics, we recognised that our players are firmly in the high risk category, with men being involved in 80% of road accidents overall, while young men between the ages of 18-30 are most at risk.” said Sancho. During the 90 minute long presentation, the Arrive Alive team of Anton Licorish and Jerome Skinner shared various statistics with the players and also involved the players in several demonstrations.
T&T national goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams took a breathalyser test after rinsing his mouth with mouthwash and failed the test! “I was stunned” said Williams “I couldn’t believe that mouthwash would cause a negative result in a breath test” Mouthwash actually contains alcohol, so it’s a good example of how a breathalyser works to detect alcohol.
Another T&T international, midfielder Jason Marcano, volunteered to walk a straight white line wearing special goggles that replicate the effect of alcohol blurring your vision. “I took great care to walk along the line” said Marcano “but I could hear the guys laughing and when I removed the goggles I saw that I was a foot away from the line! It really demonstrated well how alcohol can confuse your senses.” Central F.C. is planning other events in their road safety project and are finalising funding from sponsors.
“We want to produce three TV adverts to promote various forms of road safety” said Sancho. “We pretty much have to costs of the adverts covered but we will appeal to various companies to purchase advertising slots on TV and movie theatres. We are also looking for a sponsor to cover the costs of printing 5,000 bumper stickers which we’d like to sell for $5 each with profit to used for Central F.C.’s youth programme.”
Meanwhile, The Sharks are finalising their community programmes for the season. “As well as repeating some of our events such as “Treat Her Like A Lady”, our Christmas parcels distribution and arranging for children and senior citizens to attend matches, we’ll also have some exciting, unique community events, which will ensure that Central F.C. will again lead the way in Caribbean sport community programmes.”
“I believe that all companies and sports organisations should invite Arrive Alive to talk to their employees and especially their drivers. These presentations will help Arrive Alive spread their messages and continue their excellent work. I am certain that this will help to make our roads safer for everyone” said Sancho
Arrive Alive can be contacted on 868-675-5483.