Former national player Boysie Nicholson is dead

Former national player and Reno FC stalwart Boysie 'Bengeleng' Nicholson, who was battling Parkinson's disease for several years, is dead.

The dynamic midfielder, who was renowned for his robust style in the midfield and was instrumental in the three National Premier League titles Reno FC won in the 1990s, died at his Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, home this morning.

At the end of his playing days, Nicholson turned to coaching and had a fairly successful stint with Reno FC before turning to schoolboy football, where he coached Frome Technical High School to the coveted daCosta Cup, symbol of rural schoolboy football supremacy.

Nicholson is the fifth Reno FC stalwart to passed away in recent years.

His death follows those of fellow national players Caple 'Corntail' Donaldson and Calvin 'Wappy' Valentine, and club stalwarts, brothers Desmond 'Big Head' Pringle and Cecil 'Silla' Pringle.

Nicholson was highly revered in western Jamaica, where he was seen as the forerunner to the generation of western star players, who were instrumental in Jamaica's qualifying for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

- Adrian Frater

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