The idea for this blog was given to me by Victor Klarfeld who had spotted that a fair few players have been participating in the above tournament while the rest of non-league is in the close season.
Over the last few years there has been an increase in non-league players participating in the Concacaf Nations League. Very rarely does it get noticed nor maybe the praise the players should get from representing their countries at international level.
Going back a few years there were the odd player who had to disappear for a couple of games to represent his country and with no postponements allowed for a single player missing you just had to get on with it.
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This ongoing tournament has extended the season for some and for others it puts them in the ship window as free agents with as many as four games to play before they finally get a break.
Montserrat featured the likes of James Comley and Adrian Clifton formerly of Boreham Wood plus Alex Dyer from Wealdstone along with Brandon Comley recently released by Dagenham & Redbridge. Craig Braham-Barrett of Tonbridge Angels also featured and when you view their squad list there is the odd Football League player dotted around but not many.
One of their opponents Guyana follow a similar pattern but with less free agents on show, Sam Cox well known to Barnet fans has been a stalwart for many years and again the odd Football League player is on show.
Grenada again have their fair share of non-league players flying the flag, Reice Charles Cook from Dartford has one of the goalkeeping berths, Ashley Charles from Wealdstone, Dejon Noel-Williams from Braintree Town and Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong from Aldershot amongst others.
Bermuda are another side littered with non-league players in the same competition, made famous by Shaun Goater many years ago, their players come from as low as Step 3 and 4 of our pyramid and with only a couple of Football League players in their ranks.
In the Bermuda squad you will find the likes of Dale Eve from Spennymoor Town, Willie Clemons and Reggie Lambe from Stowmarket Town, Luke Robinson from newly promoted Worthing and Knory Scott from Hastings Town amongst others.
There are a few more odd ones dotted around other nations too, Krystian Pearce of Hereford with Barbados, Daniel Bowry of Kings Lynn, Myles Weston of Dagenham and Ashley Nathaniel-George of Southend are with Antigua & Barbuda.
At best most of these guys will get a two week break before pre-season starts unless they are allowed a staggered or late return to their squads. But it won’t be these guys you see complaining and moaning about a schedule that’s too packed and very little rest time and they certainly don’t get anywhere near the wages the top stars do.
I certainly didn’t expect to find so many non-league players within this tournament and it’s great to see the game is stretched to the other side of the world too for players who aren’t normally recognised when they go off to play these games.
