Former national Under-17 goalkeeper Kern Caesar of Maple FC was voted as the 2016 Northern Football Association’s Premier Division “Most Valuable Player” at its annual end-of-season awards ceremony held at the VIP Lounge, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on Thursday last.
Held under the patronage of NFA President Anthony Harford, Caesar won the award ahead of fellow “Top Five” Premier Division “Players of the Year” Kusiah King (New Millennium), Jabari Andall (St Francois Nationals), Hakim Gulston (RSSR) and Kareem Davidson (Belmont FC) after leading the Alistair Ramdoo-coached Woodbrook-based Maple FC to the Premier crown.
In the Championship Division, Christon Freitas of champions Cultural Roots United was voted as the “MVP” ahead of club mate Marcus Ashton, Isiah Irish (Malta Carib Alcons), Marlon Carrington (Malta Carib Alcons) and Kareem Charles (Miscellaneous Laventille United).
Reflecting on the 2016 season, Harford said he felt it was a solid one.
He added, “All our competitions were completed and the participation level was satisfactory with us being able to crown our winners in every one of our competitions.
“We also had a near perfect attendance by our referees and there was an impressive debut of the Savannah League with games played under lights at the Queen’s Park Savannah. Additionally our Youth Development Programme has been up and running and is one of the major focal points of the association and we were quite pleased to see ten of our players being selected on the national Under-15 boys team to go to Cayman Islands in May. All in all, our season was satisfactory and we will be aiming to build on this and make improvements in the various departments in 2017,” stated Harford,
The association also honoured three of its existing member clubs for its contribution over 50-plus years in Belmont-based St Francois nationals (50 years ) and Woodbrook duo, Malvern (75 years old) and Maple (100 years old in 2017.
For their distinguished service to the local game, Rolf Bartolo, Glenford Waines, Mervin Mercian, Aubrey Peters and the late Rudy Roberts, were all recognised for their contribution to the NFA.