3 months ago
15
THE PROFESSIONAL Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) continues in its attempt to merge the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) and local dancehall culture as a means of exposing and taking the competition to new audiences.
At this Friday’s Grand Super Final between Mount Pleasant Football Academy and Cavalier Soccer Club, dubbed ‘Trilogy’, slated to take place at the National Stadium at 7 p.m., the PFJL will be honouring renowned dancehall producer Ainsley Morris, more popularly known as ‘Not Nice’.
The final is being dubbed Trilogy because both teams are going to the final for the third season in a row, with each having won one of the previous two.
Included in Not Nice’s tribute will be a half-time show featuring artistes he has come to know as friends.
CEO of the PFJL Owen Hill said while his organisation was excited about the merging of football and dancehall, he wants to make it clear that the Super Final is a football event and not a stage show.
“At half-time, we will have the Wray and Nephew half-time show in commemoration of Not Nice.
“That will happen at half-time in the second game, a 10-minute performance. Not Nice is a producer, so what you will find is that some of his friends will be performing in honour of him.
“A few of them have decided to come out and support him, and will be giving one or two songs within his catalogue.
“But it is not a stage show. It is football. But the half-time performance is them (artistes) coming out in support of Not Nice.”
“We can’t say officially who will be performing because it is not a dancehall entertainment event that we are having. But they will be there for sure, as they love the sport and they are Jamaican. So it’s a big deal for them, too.”
UNANIMOUS DECISION
At last year’s first Super Final at the National Stadium, another famous local producer, Rvssian, was honoured. Hill revealed that they were multiple candidates to be this year’s honouree, but that choosing Not Nice was a unanimous decision.
“We are trying to merge the culture of dancehall and football. So we are having a resurgence. There were several other candidates that came up, and the process of selection came down to the impact and the immediate notoriety.
“We are building up the product – Super Final – and this is a way of building it up. He was selected and he accepted, and since then we have had a strong working relationship just trying to make sure that there is always that merge that is always there between the cultures.”
Last year the stadium was filled to capacity, and Hill said the PFJL anticipates another huge turnout for this year’s staging. He said he is also hoping it will be a fun-filled occasion.
“It is the Super Final and everything is going to be done ‘super-tastic’. We have a lot of activation from the brands, led by Wray and Nephew. Similarly, other brands will be there in their numbers doing their own activations.”
This is the first time the JPL final will be staged on a Friday and on a holiday, but Hill admitted that they had very little choice, as a lot of the local players are set to be a part of the Reggae Boyz squad for the Unity Cup, which starts next Tuesday.
“There were challenges with the date selection. So Labour Day was the best on offer. Had it not been on the Friday, it’s possible it would be a day before, given the fact that Jamaica will participate in the Unity Cup and a lot of these players are expected to be a part of that squad.
“So we thought it was necessary, considering all the factors. So, yes, it has never happened before. But we are putting in all the brain power and muscle to make it work, and hopefully we are surprised at the end of it.”
English (US) ·