Pellau Magazine: Ramphal brews Trini flavour at Chelsea

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Kendall Ramphal shows off the Champions League
Trophy during its appearance at the Barcelona vs
Chelsea clash at Stamford Bridge last week.
Except for Dennis Lawrence and Dwight Yorke,
you will not find another Trinidadian on the staff of
an English Premiership club. Of course Yorke and
Lawrence are past players, with the former now a
coach with the Manchester United Reserve team
and Lawrence on the technical staff of Wigan
Athletic. Others like John Granville was a
goalkeeper coach at Swindon Town and local-
based Terry Fenwick managed Portsmouth. Then
comes a chap from Chaguanas who decides to
further his studies in Information Technology in
England and then chooses to apply for a job as a
bartender with Chelsea Football Club eight years
ago. Fast forward to present day and Kendall
Ramphal holds a senior managerial position for
Bars and Concessions with the 2012 European
Champions League finalists.
The 33-year-old Ramphal doesn't simply pour
drinks over the counter for those among the
40,000 plus fans that frequent Stamford Bridge
every weekend. He assists other senior managers
in overseeing all of the 75 bars and restaurants at
the Stadium, looks after all of Chelsea's formal
receptions including their end of season players
dinner and ensures that all is well for the post-
match get together involving the players and
their spouses and immediate family. Definitely a
proud 'Trini' in London who doesn't actually have
to kick a ball to receive a salary from one of the
top clubs in world football today. "It started off
with me seeing the ad in the newspaper for the
bar supervisor role and deciding to apply for it
eight years ago when I first moved to England.
They loved my personality and said they'd never
had some from Trinidad or the Caribbean work for
them and I got the job," Ramphal recalls.
"After five games, they offered me the role as a
manager for one of the bars and I haven't looked
back since. I had to put my studies to rest
because this became a full time job which has
seen me reach the level of a general manager
position for all of the club's bars and concessions,"
said a proud Ramphal who enjoyed Chelsea's
triumph over Barcelona on Tuesday with some
400 fellow Chelsea staff members over a big
screen at Stamford Bridge. That night, he gave
yours truly a tour of the home and away dressing
rooms and the press conference rooms via Skype,
making special mention of Didier Drogba and a
now worthy Fernando Torres shirt on the hangers
already in place for Chelsea's next fixture against
Queen's Park Rangers on Sunday. Ramphal, who
resides in Wimbledon, works at all of Chelsea's
home matches and has attended several other FA
Cup Finals and also works at the Wimbledon
Tennis Championships. He also has past work
experience in the bar business with Arsenal,
Fulham and Wembley.
He credits world renowned restaurant company
Levy for his training and experience. Levy
operates restaurants for several major US sporting
leagues as well as Walt Disney and Chelsea. The
Couva Government Secondary graduate missed
the 2008 Champions League Final which Chelsea
lost to Manchester United but is set to travel to
Munich next month for the 2012 final. "Roman
Abramovich treats his staff very well. In 2008 he
gave tickets to all the staff members and
chartered two planes to Moscow but I couldn't
make it. Next month I'm definitely making up for
that." Dwight Yorke's been to a Champions
League final before, winning the medal in 1999
and maybe Ramphal will be the second
Trinidadian to put his hands on the Champions
League trophy in celebration mode when it
returns to Stamford Bridge next month.
Yorke for legends tournament in Barbados
Dwight Yorke and Chelsea interim head coach
Roberto Di Matteo are among several household
European names scheduled to appear at the
Barbados British Airways football legends
invitational at the Kensington Oval on May 26 and
27. Eight English six-a-side teams will take part
including Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea,
Blackburn Rovers Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur,
Newcastle United and a Professional Footballers
Association side. Alan Shearer, Gaizka Mendieta,
Dennis Wise, Di Matteo, Andy Cole, Gianfranco
Zola, Yorke are just some of the ex-stars who will
like line up at the festival which is expected to
attract fans from the UK through special holiday
packages that have been set up. The tournament
is the brainchild of the Barbados Tourism
Authority with British Airways, the PFA and the
Kensington Oval among the sponsors. Surely this
is something T&T could consider hosting in the
future. Funds from the inaugural tournament in
2011 were donated to the National Sports Council
Primary Schools Programme which develops youth
football within primary in Barbados and the
Barbados FA also benefitted from it.
Watford's Bennett wants to play for T&T
English-born Watford Centre half Dale Bennett is
still eager to play for this country after expressing
interest prior to its exit from the 2014 World Cup
campaign last November. Bennett was among the
players ex-head coach Otto Pfister planned on
visiting in England in December but T&T's loss to
Guyana put an end to Bennett's 2014 World Cup
qualifying aspirations. But the 22-year-old whose
grandmother is Trinidadian is pursuing a T&T
passport and is making himself available for
national team selection. Bennett captained
Watford's Under 18s before signing a professional
contract in 2008. He made his debut as a 71st
minute substitute in a 1-0 win over West Ham in
the League Cup that year. He has been on loan at
Kettering Town and Brentford but is now back at
Watford and is their squad for their Championship
League fixtures having signed through to 2013.
He has 22 appearances for Watford. Meantime,
another English-born player Rhys Paul has
expressed interest in joining the T&T Under 20
team. Paul had been attached to Millwall but is
considering options for a new club at the
moment. Paul's father is Trinidadian. He
expressed interest in joining the T&T team back in
2010 but was not looked at by then national
coaches. Current Under 20 coach Michael
McComie has already made contact with Paul who
is hoping to try out for the current Under 20 team
prior to its upcoming Caribbean zone U-20 World
Cup qualifiers.
Williams nets winner for Polish club
National Under 23 defender Mekeil Williams scored
his first goal for Polish First League club Pogo
Szczecin in a 1-0 win over Flota Winoujcie on
Saturday. Williams, formerly of W Connection,
netted with a glancing downward header from a
left side corner in the 54th minute to help his
team to the three points. Over in Slovakia, Lester
Peltier netted his 11th goal of the season in AS
Trencin's 2-1 win over Dunajská Streda on
Saturday. Peltier connected from close range in
the 53rd but went down injured and had to be
taken off three minutes later. In MLS action,
midfielder Keon Daniel started but was red carded
in the 75th minute of Philadelphia Union's 1-0 win
over Chivas USA. Scott Sealy came on in the 72nd
minute in FC Dallas' 1-0 loss to Vancouver
Whitecaps.
Shaun Fuentes is the media officer for the
Soca Warriors/TTFF.
shaunfuentes@yahoo.com