Order of Distinction for Shelton more than deserved – Stewart
Published:Sunday | August 8, 2021 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
Harbour View Football Club chairman, Carvel Stewart, says that the late national football player, Luton Shelton, has fully deserved his national recognition for his contribution to football in Jamaica.
Shelton is among notable sporting figures announced on Thursday who will be given national honours for service to the country in their respective disciplines. The list includes double sprint Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah, who will be awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander class, as well as four-time 100-metre World champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who also receives the same honour, improving her rank from the Officer class award she received in 2008.
Shelton will be awarded the Order of Distinction, Officer class, posthumously, in honour of his decade-long national team career, which saw him become Jamaica’s all-time men’s leading goalscorer with 35 goals. Shelton passed away in January after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease for three years.
Loss still fresh
Stewart says that while his loss is still fresh, he is glad that Jamaica’s sixth highest honour will be bestowed on him.
“It is a fully deserved honour and the family, I’m sure, must be extremely pleased with the fact that he is so appropriately recognised at this time,” Stewart told The Gleaner. “I think in terms of the growth and development of our sport he would have contributed largely due to his play, the rate at which he scored goals, the manner in which he conducted himself both before when he was (at Harbour View) and when he gained employed abroad.”
Over his career, Shelton played in the English Premier League, Sweden, Norway, Turkey and Russia and has made 75 appearances for the Reggae Boyz. Stewart says that it is not only his play on the field that is being appreciated, but the way that Shelton’s character has inspired other young players. Additionally, Stewart says he could not be more proud of Shelton.
“It really would have been good for youngsters coming forward to have seen him and the manner in which he influenced everybody, the humility that he displayed at all times and in all circumstances,” Stewart said. “It was very painful when he departed, but at least now there is some national recognition and we are really happy for him although he (is not with us) and his family.”
Other honourees include Peter Rae, who will receive the Order of Distinction, Officer class, for his 50 years of service to motor racing; Jacqueline Pusey, who will receive the Order of Distinction, Commander class, for her contribution to Jamaica’s athletics; and former West Indies cricketer James ‘Jimmy’ Adams, Order of Distinction, Officer class.