It is literally fifty years ago that Tyrone de Labastide made his debut with the T&T football team. Ironically enough, it was against Jamaica at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, where we were all seeing the extraordinary talent of one Gerry Alexander, the charismatic former West Indian cricket captain.
Many referred to Tyrone as “the Tank”, while some, like myself, called him “shortie”.
Neither were derogatory, because we were amazed by this outstanding footballer, whose height did not deter him from being an excellent player in the air, and whose shortened strides never stopped him from winning foot races against some of the quickest forwards of that era.
I may have been more fortunate than others to have played with him in the same club team, national team and also the first Caribbean team ever to tour England for several months in 1959.
Unlike the typical aggression of defenders, Tyrone was always as silent as a gentle wind and made his presence felt on the field by his sheer intelligence and superb skill.
It was interesting that he often had to adjust to new partners in the central defence in the teams he had represented, a position which he dominated for close to 12 years.
On that historical tour to England by the West Indies football team, Tyrone was one of only two players to have played every single minute of each of the 17 matches, the other player being Willie Rodriguez, also a stalwart in his day.
Looking through the ages of my years in football, Shortie still holds a place in my memory as the best distributor of the ball from defence that I have seen.
He was never much for carrying a hectic trip down memory lane, but if he did, he would have recalled some of his fine matches as the ones he played against Columbia, Mexico, Argentina in the Pan Am Games of 1967 in Winnipeg, Canada.
Honestly, after some form of lethargy in the first 10 minutes of the initial match against Columbia, I do not recall Shortie making a single mistake for the balance of that tournament.
His days with Maple could only be described as marvellous. His contribution could only have been equalled from time to time, but his consistency was legendary in the history of the game in this country.
I will admit that there were some outstanding defenders in this country over the past 50 years. Names like Syl Dopson, Willie Rodriguez, Jim Lowe, Selwyn Murren, Russell Tesheira, Dick Rodriguez, Dennis Turton, Gerry Parsons, Reynold George, Arnim David, Aldwyn Ferguson, Hugh Mulzac and Henry Dennie will forever remain in our minds. But Shortie seemed to have held a special place in the hearts of fans over the years.
No doubt, he would have been more personally attached to the members of the Maple team of the sixties when the club won numerous trophies with literally the same bunch of players. This was a team that enjoyed each other’s company on and off the field, whether it was a training session by the beach on a weekday, a meeting at the Ariapita Avenue clubhouse, where ideas were shared in a most amicable way and this was followed by snookers and ‘ole talk’ among the lads.
The same friendly relationship existed when we travelled to different countries to play, making the hotels our liming place. Tyrone would be present, but will only join in the fun when we started a joke session and he produced his clever sense of humour.
Some will remember a match played in Winnipeg between T&T and Mexico in the Pan Am Games of 1967. Because I was injured and did not play, another person had to take the penalty. I distinctly recall skipper Sedley Joseph looking around for someone to take the kick, but got no volunteers. In the demanding role of leader that he always demonstrated, Sedley ordered Tyrone to take the kick. Shortie shrugged his head in a “why me” fashion, but started his trek to the penalty spot. He carefully spotted the ball, and knowing what was at stake in this moment, we all held our breath. He ran onto the ball and hit it powerfully, straight to where the keeper was standing, except that the keeper decided that he would choose a corner and dive. The spot was vacated and T&T scored an equaliser against a team which had almost an entire World Cup team from the 1966 England World Cup.
I do not recall another goal being scored by the talented and dedicated performer and probably the best of his era and one of the greatest ever defenders in this country. This gentle giant has left us with the pleasant memories of what greatness is all about in sport. If his extraordinary ability to play the game has eluded you for one reason or another, the respect and admiration which the country has always had for Tyrone de Labastide will be enough to have us label him as “The King of an era of our Football”.
The good Lord will take care of him and may he rest in peace.