FINAL JOURNEY: Former Jamaica team-mates (from left) Warren Barrett, Michael Tulloch, Durrent Brown, Aaron Lawrence, Linval Dixon and Lenworth Hyde carry the casket bearing the remains of Peter Cargill from the National Arena following the thanksgiving service for the late national player and coach yesterday. Gargill was buried at Dovecot. (Photo: Karl McLarty)

A sombre mood prevailed at the National Arena yesterday as the nation said goodbye to the late former Jamaica footballer and coach, Peter Raymond Cargill.

The hundreds who turned out to bid their final farewells heard glowing tributes at a huge thanksgiving service attended by dignitaries and a wide cross-section of the local football fraternity.

Cargill. remebered as an invaluable asset to sport and community development in Jamaica

Widow Avril, relatives and close friends did not spare their tears as they mourned the loss of a man they had come to love, and who was loved by all.

After the moving tributes, which included song and music, the casket, painted in gold and green, was carried from the Arena to the hearse by Cargill's Jamaica team-mates Linval Dixon, Durrent Brown, Warren Barrett, Aaron Lawrence, Lenworth Hyde and Michael Tulloch, who were all overcome by the moment and wept.

Cargill, 41, perished in a motor vehicle accident on April 16 as he and his Waterhouse team travelled to Montego Bay for a match against Wadadah.

The former Reggae Boy and national coach thus died the way he lived - going about the business of football.

Cargill was remembered as a leader, teacher, man of discipline; a committed, determined, loving and passionate individual, especially about the sport that shaped him and that he fashioned in his own way.

Among the dignitaries attending the three-hour long service was the minister of sport Portia Simpson Miller, who knew Cargill well.

"Peter was an invaluable asset to sport and community development in Jamaica... he exhibited his passion for the sport he loved... and he will be greatly missed," she said.

Opposition Leader Bruce Golding, in paying homage to the inspirational midfielder who played 84 times for Jamaica, described him as a "teacher" on a day when Jamaica celebrated its teachers.

"He was teacher as he taught the skill and spirit of the game to many. He was also a public servant and made a difference," Golding said.

Cargill's stint in the game of life may seem short, but according to Golding, "the quality of a person's life should not always be measured by longevity, but by the impact he makes".

Other notable personalities on hand were minister of finance Omar Davies; state minister of sport Wykeham McNeil, and member of parilament Olivia Grange.

Cargill was remembered by Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Crenston Boxhill as a fearless campaigner on the field of play and for the things he believed in.

"He will be remembered as a fearless player who showed signs that he had what it takes to have a successful coaching career," said Boxhill of the former Camperdown High School star.

Former JFF boss Captain Horace Burrell, the visionary behind the Reggae Boyz's historic World Cup Final appearance in France in 1998, remembered Cargill thus:

"He showed a high level of discipline and professionalism and was a no-nonsense man. He was also destined to become one of the best local coaches," said Burrell.

Carl Brown, former national technical director with whom Cargill worked as assistant, said: "Peter was serious with work and never joked... I have lost a son and friend."

Meanwhile, KSAFA head Ambassador Stewart Spephenson said Cargill "was an exemplary servant of Jamaica's football and he was indeed Jamaica's football ambassador".

During his eight-year stint playing professionally for Macabi Natania and Bethar Jerusalem in Israel, Cargill made many friends from the Jewish state. Amir Amar is one of them.

"Peter Cargill was not my friend, he was my brother. For my wife and children and friends back in Israel, it's a great loss.
A lot of friends back in Israel wanted to come and be here but as you know Israel is very far away, it's about a 36-hour trip," Amar said from graveside at the Dovecot Memorial Park, Cargill's final resting place.

In his sermon at the National Arena, pastor Errol Bolt, chaplain of the Reggae Boyz team, likened Cargill to the Apostle Peter, whom he said was a man of conviction and resolve.

The service ran smoothly and was punctuated by soul-stirring musical renditions. However, it was Angel Shalome's cover of Michael Jackson's Gone Too Soon that triggered great emotional response.

Cargill's almer mater Camperdown also rendered a moving version of Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, which was well received.

Cargill's brother Paul and sister Rosemarie read the first lesson from Ecclesiastics 3:1-11.

During the service, players from Cargill's former club Harbour View, Waterhouse (the team he last coached), current Jamaica and Camperdown team members formed a guard of honour around the casket.

Cargill's close friends and Camperdown team-mates Andrew Hines, Barrington Gaynor, Austin Cyrus, Michael Clarke, Anthony Tomlinson and Richard Greene were the pall bearers from the hearse inside the Arena.

Before being taken to the hearse for the 13-mile trip to Dovecot in St Catherine, Harbour View players clad in their gold and blue colours carried the casket to Cargill's Reggae Boyz team-mates, who took it to the waiting vehicle.

At the burial ground, players from Waterhouse did the final leg by taking their coach's body to the graveside for the final rites.

And in the pelting early afternoon sun, nobody had the time to break a sweat, as the graveside sermon and interment were quickly over. Many missed it and some even complained, but it was over and Peter Cargill was gone.
Cargill is survived by widow Avril and children Danique and David.

Factfile of Peter Cargill

Alias: Jair
Date of Birth: March 2, 1964
Position: Midfield
Caps: 84
Current club: Retired

Previous club(s): Harbour View, Swallowfield FC, CC Lions, Port Morant United, Maccabi Natania, (Israel)
Honours (as player): Manning Cup titles (1979, 1982 with Camperdown High School), Major League title (1984 with Harbour View), World Cup Finals in France (1998 with Jamaica's National senior team)

Honours (as coach): NPL title in 2000/01 with Harbour View, Jackie Bell KO in 2000/01, NPL second end-of-round final in 2000/01, NPL first end-of-round final in 1999/2000, JN Federation Cup in 2001/02, and 2002/03, runner-up first and second end-of-round final with Waterhouse in the 2005 NPL.

Assistant head coach, Jamaica from 2000-2004, head coach national Under-23 until he was sacked in 2004.

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