By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) and former national and Villa Lions striker, Everton Gonsalves, has vowed that the contributions of former national and Parham defender Eustace “Barba” Ferrance will not be allowed to fade into the background.
His statement follows Ferrance’s passing on Monday morning after the former veteran footballer lost his battle to what doctors said was viral encephalitis or inflammation of the brain caused by a virus.
“I just want to tell his family and all who knew him from APUA that what he has contributed to the ABFA will never be forgotten. I know he would never have given you a photograph of himself but I am certain I will find one from old times because he was part of the team and it is things like these we are trying to do in terms of commemorating those who would have given so much to the development of football in Antigua and Barbuda and we don’t want ever, their memories to go unnoticed or unmentioned,” he said.
Two former national players in Ivor “Ninja” Luke and Deon “Daryl” Greenaway, recently paid tribute to Ferrance, labelling him a great player and an even greater human being.
Gonsalves joined the once dominant players in celebrating Ferrance’s contribution to the game.
“He was the nicest adversary that I’ve even come up against. He played hard for Parham and some would argue that he was the most versatile defender that Antigua has ever seen and that he was indeed. He was comfortable on the ball, comfortable in defense, and during the height of the country/town separation, he never displayed any sort of bad behavior. He loved the players from all lover Antigua, especially those from Parham, but we certainly enjoyed a good joke and good team support when we represented Antigua and Barbuda,” he said.
Efforts were being made to fly Ferrance to Trinidad for additional medical assistance prior to his death. The former player was recently discharged from the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center where he spent several weeks.