Close friends grieve for former national footballer

Craig White, a close friend and former teammate of Irvino English, says he is still in shock following his killing on Wednesday’s evening.

English, a former national midfielder, was shot on Ashoka Road in Waterhouse, St Andrew by a gunman. He received multiple bullets to his upper body and was pronounced dead at the Kingston Public Hospital.

The 42-year-old English played for Jamaica’s senior men’s team on five occasions between 2001 and 2002 and he appeared in one World Cup qualifier.

White says his tears have been flowing from Wednesday for the man he played shoulder to shoulder with when Waterhouse won the National Premier League title in the 1997-1998 season.

“I have been crying from I got the news that he was killed because he was my brother,” said White. “The memories that we shared will forever live on. It is sad, but I am here grieving and trying to stay strong.” said.

White noted that he has known English for more than 20 years and therefore it is very sad to see him die in that matter.

“I knew English before we even joined Waterhouse. He attended Norman Manley High and I went to Meadowbrook High and the relationship between the two schools was strong and so remained friends from school days,” White said.

“I just want the family to stay strong and we are here to show them all the love and support that they might need,” he said.

Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson, another former teammate at Waterhouse, also said English’s death has come as a shock to everyone.

“All of us are ‘ballers and we are all friends and once a baller drop out you know that we are going to feel sad and you are going to feel it, no matter the circumstances,” said Anderson who added that he had known English well even before joining Waterhouse FC.

“English and I have been friends from my days at Wadadah so it is sad day for the entire football community,” he said.

“His family just has to hold the faith because I know how they are feeling because it is hard when you lose a loved one,” Anderson said.

PASSION FOR COACHING

Meanwhile, veteran Calvert Fitzgerald who coached English twice during separate coaching stints at Waterhouse, stated that he was destined for a great coaching career at the time of death.

“He was very passionate about the game and he had developed a love for coaching and so to see his life stuffed out in that way was very sad,” said Fitzgerald. “He was making a lot of positive strides in his life and so when I heard that he died, it was just a lot of sadness,” he said.

In the meantime, the Jamaica Football Federation has extended its sincere condolences to the English’s family, friends, teammates and the Wolmer’s Boys School and Arnett Gardens football fraternity and the Waterhouse community.