For­mer na­tion­al foot­ball cap­tain Sed­ley Joseph passed away yes­ter­day at the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal af­ter he was ad­mit­ted on Wednes­day. He was 80.

One of the all-time greats of T&T foot­ball fra­ter­ni­ty and Sports Hall of Famer was un­der­go­ing dial­y­sis treat­ment for some time now due to kid­ney fail­ure.

Joseph, who at­tend­ed St Mary’s Col­lege, was a stand­out for Maple club in the 1960s. It was the ef­forts and lead­er­ship of Joseph that as­sist­ed Maple to reach the great heights of foot­ball in T&T, lead­ing them to 28 tro­phies in nine years and was named T&T’s cap­tain of the cen­tu­ry.

Joseph cap­tained Maple to suc­cess be­tween 1960 and 1963, a four-year sweep of the same league ti­tle. His first class ca­reer be­gan in 1959 and the fol­low­ing year he was made cap­tain of Maple. His lead­er­ship qual­i­ties were ev­i­dent and he be­came cap­tain of T&T.

For eight years, he manned T&T’s mid­field, mak­ing tours to Haiti, Suri­name, Guyana, Bar­ba­dos, Ja­maica, Cana­da, Hon­duras and Cos­ta Ri­ca.

His first daugh­ter Monique, told Guardian Me­dia Sports yes­ter­day: “We were prepar­ing men­tal­ly be­cause of how ill he was. We knew that this day would come. We knew that dad­dy was not go­ing to make it and it was bet­ter he go and be at peace. It was a rough five years for the fam­i­ly. The fam­i­ly had a big birth­day cel­e­bra­tion for him in De­cem­ber and we are glad that we did that for him and with him.”

Joseph cap­tained the na­tion­al team from 1964 to 1968, and was al­so at the helm of the Port-of-Spain Foot­ball League for many years, dur­ing which time they won the ti­tle in com­pe­ti­tion with the oth­er out­stand­ing leagues.

In the ten years he cap­tained Maple, the club won the league ti­tle sev­en times. Un­der his cap­tain­cy al­so, T&T won a bronze medal at the Pan Amer­i­can Games in Cana­da in 1967 and par­tic­i­pat­ed in the CON­CA­CAF fi­nals in Hon­duras the same year. Joseph was vot­ed “Play­er of the Year” in T&T in 1967.

Dur­ing his time as T&T cap­tain, Joseph, who lived in Val­sayn, this coun­try made its first ap­pear­ance in World Cup com­pe­ti­tion against Suri­name in 1965.

The for­mer T&T foot­ball man­ag­er earned the T&T Hum­ming­bird Medal Gold for his ser­vice to sport in 2005 and was in­duct­ed in­to T&T’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.

His best friend Alvin Corneal said that: “He was much more than a foot­baller, he was my best friend and we played our foot­balling lives to­geth­er. He was man­ag­er of the T&T foot­ball team when I was coach. We trav­elled all across the Unit­ed States. His pass­ing is a big shock to me and my fam­i­ly. He was a very en­cour­ag­ing cap­tain on the field. He was nev­er an­noyed with any­one, he was a leader of men.”

The T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) in a re­lease yes­ter­day ex­tend­ed its deep­est con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly of the for­mer Sports Ed­i­tor at CT Tem­po 105 Sports and foot­ball com­men­ta­tor fol­low­ing his pass­ing.

“He dis­played sol­id lead­er­ship skills while cap­tain­ing his coun­try and club. Re­spect is earned and he earned it de­serv­ing­ly due to his skills, ded­i­ca­tion and lead­er­ship qual­i­ties.

“In this re­spect, Mr Joseph was a fine ex­am­ple to his fans and the pub­lic at large while he was ac­tive­ly en­gaged in sports and af­ter re­tire­ment dur­ing which he served as a foot­ball com­men­ta­tor,” said the re­lease.

“There are many val­ues that lo­cal sports per­son­al­i­ties and fel­low Trin­bag­o­ni­ans can learn from this leg­end. He worked hard to get suc­cess and he was true to his be­liefs and virtues. And most im­por­tant­ly, his char­ac­ter, both on and off the field of play was ex­em­plary. He has sim­ply left be­hind a lega­cy worth em­u­lat­ing.

“Thank You Sed­ley Joseph for your years of ser­vice and ded­i­ca­tion to the sport and to our coun­try. You will be missed. May your Soul Rest in Peace.”

Joseph al­so re­ceived the FI­FA Cen­ten­ni­al Or­der of Mer­it in 2004 and the Hum­ming Bird Medal Gold (for Sport) in 2005.

He leaves to mourn two daugh­ters. His wife died five years ago and his on­ly son died in 2017.

Ho­n­ours for Sed­ley Joseph

2005 - T&T Hum­ming Bird Medal Gold (for Sport)

2004 - FI­FA Cen­ten­ni­al Or­der of Mer­it

1985 - In­duct­ed in­to T&T’s Sports Hall of Fame

1967 - T&T’s Foot­baller of the Year