Jermaine Hue, Harbour View’s little trump card

Coming from the rural parish of St. Thomas where many of Jamaica’s great football players find their boots, the diminutive, almost shy Jermaine Hue rose to fame as a Harbour View player.

Today he has undoubtedly one of the most dangerous left feet in the local game and while the season started slowly for him, he has been absolutely sublime in his last few knocks on the park. Harbour View’s destiny this season will be determined by whether or not he can maintain this form.

Born on June 15, 1978, Hue first turned up in the blue and gold of Harbour View as an under-14 player in 1993, before making his debut in the first team ten years ago.

So astonishing was his talent that by 1999, he copped the Premier League’s Most Valuable Player title. It seems, Harbour View is his home and he can’t be comfortable anywhere else. He has had three overseas stints, where he played for Mandela United of the New York ‘A’ League, before the Kansas City Wizards spotted him in September 2005. He only spent one season there before making the move to Mjällby in Sweden where he only played nine games.

Hue made his debut for Jamaica in 1999 but was not an instant success and it was only at the end of the failed 2006 World Cup campaign that his value was seen.

That campaign, which ended in early 2005, was followed by a successful run in the Gold Cup, where Hue scored against Guatemala and South Africa and performed admirably.

Returning to the Premier League in 2007, Hue looked a shadow of himself, but as he has got fitter, he has shown himself to be invaluable to the team.

While not known as a tackler, or a player who puts in a lot of work, he is known as a player that changes games.

Jermaine Hue passes the ball exquisitely, is able to wiggle his way out of the tightest positions and still keep the ball. He has remarkable balance, fantastic awareness of where other players on the field are, including his opponents, and he also happens to give the ball a fair wallop when he kicks it towards goal. He is also a threat on free-kicks, as he can bend the ball a great deal and has the uncanny ability to make the ball dip viciously at the last moment, whether under a crossbar or under a diving goalkeeper.

With those attributes at their disposal, Harbour View is a real threat. Even when he is well marked and not able to make a valuable contribution, what he does is stop those paying close attention to him from playing the game completely.

If the 29-year-old can re-ignite his career this season, Harbour View are in with more than a chance of overtaking the Premier’s League’s leaders and defending their title.

Re-igniting his career could even mean a national call-up from coach Rene Simoes, who was not a fan of what he terms Hue’s ‘work ethic’. If he can convince him, Harbour View would have done well and Hue might find himself in the SPOTLIGHT yet again.