Football Fraternity Mourns Coach’s Passing

The football fraternity and the wider sporting population in Antigua and Barbuda on Thursday mourned the passing of former national youth coach and who was a prominent member of the coaching network here, St. Claire “Nashie” Christian, who died suddenly on Wednesday night.
Reports are that Christian, following his Green City team’s 2-0 victory over Real Blizzard in New Winthorpes on Wednesday, complained of feeling unwell. He was then reportedly transported to the Mount St. John’s Medical Center where he died that night.
Deputy Director of Sports, Evans “Jawakie” Jones described Christian as a hard worker and a dedicated employee who looked beyond the pay cheque and saw the need for quality coaching at the schools level.
“Nashie has been working within the system for some time. He has been a dedicated coach for the community and the schools programme, so the ministry will be missing a very good coach and I just want to continue pouring out blessings on the family, his sons who are also footballers, and we in the ministry who are grieving,” he said.
Callers to the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show on Thursday also sympathized with Christian’s family and friends, describing him someone who loved what he did.
One such caller was football coach and administrator Colin James, who said Christian’s passing creates a void in youth football and development.
“I want to convey my deepest condolences to the family of Nashie Christian. Many people would know that Nashie and I were always integrally involved in whatever youth football programme that our various clubs would have been taking part in, and I want to say that Nashie was one of those very dedicated to the development of young players, and his passing will create a void for those young footballers he would have been in contact with, and I hope there will be some effort to make sure that his legacy lives on,” he said.
Christian would have coached several teams across Antigua to include Tryum FC, Rangers FC and Goldsmitty FC.
He was credited with taking Goldsmitty to the football association’s top flight in 2010/11 where they had a stellar run, finishing within the top five.