It’s re­mark­able how cer­tain in­di­vid­u­als leave a last­ing im­pres­sion on us, even with just a sin­gle en­counter. Their pres­ence and the way they car­ry about them­selves can be so pro­found that, years lat­er, the mem­o­ry re­mains vivid, shap­ing our per­cep­tions and in­spir­ing us. When such a per­son pass­es on, the im­pact they had on us feels even more sig­nif­i­cant.

I ex­pe­ri­enced this first­hand when I met Sven-Göran Eriks­son at the Trinidad and To­ba­go ver­sus Eng­land World Cup match in 2006. At the time, it was a brief but un­for­get­table mo­ment, one I thought would fade in­to the back­ground of time. But 15 years lat­er, dur­ing an in­ter­view, I was as­ton­ished that he re­mem­bered me. It was a pow­er­ful, hum­bling mo­ment that un­der­scored how deeply cer­tain con­nec­tions can res­onate, not just in our mem­o­ries but in our lives.

And I say sur­prised be­cause on June 15th in Nurem­berg, Ger­many, I was 25, very much a kid in the pro­fes­sion, and I had a brief in­tro­duc­tion to him in the lock­er room area and would have sat in the au­di­ence at the post-game press con­fer­ence.

Even more sur­pris­ing­ly, dur­ing our in­ter­view, which came about from a pre­vi­ous hook-up with Chris An­der­son, Sven re­called he had in­ter­act­ed with me dur­ing the 2010 World Cup group stage match be­tween Ivory Coast and North Ko­rea as he (as head coach) and Di­di­er Drog­ba sat on the head ta­ble for the post-match press con­fer­ence for which I wore the hat of a FI­FA Me­dia Of­fi­cer.

“To be part of the World Cup, that is the best thing you can do. So it’s beau­ti­ful. It’s the best of every­thing foot­ball in the world. I re­mem­ber Rooney com­ing in against you (Trinidad and To­ba­go). It was nice, but we didn’t win it (the World Cup),Sven told me.

When such a per­son as him pass­es away, the mem­o­ries of that en­counter be­come even more poignant. It’s not just about what they said or did; it’s the re­al­i­sa­tion that their essence, their char­ac­ter, left an in­deli­ble im­print on your life.

It’s these en­coun­ters that re­mind us of the hu­man ca­pac­i­ty to con­nect, to leave a lega­cy, even in the small­est of ways. When such in­di­vid­u­als are no longer with us, their im­pact doesn’t fade; if any­thing, it be­comes more pro­found. Sven passed on Au­gust 26th at age 76.

I turn the script over to Joey “Posh” Richard­son. Post: The Flag­man Who Car­ried a Na­tion’s Pride in the rich ta­pes­try of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s sport­ing his­to­ry. Cer­tain fig­ures have stood out not just for their pres­ence but for the in­deli­ble mark they left on the sport and the na­tion. Posh was one such fig­ure. His re­cent pass­ing leaves a void that goes be­yond the sta­di­ums where he waved our na­tion­al flag with un­matched pride and vigour.

For years, Richard­son was more than just a spec­ta­tor at foot­ball match­es—he was a liv­ing sym­bol of our na­tion­al spir­it. His un­wa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion saw him trav­el­ling near and far, en­sur­ing that the red, white, and black of Trinidad and To­ba­go was not just vis­i­ble but felt in every cor­ner of the world where our na­tion­al teams com­pet­ed. His last two en­coun­ters were in Texas for the Co­pa Amer­i­ca play­off with Cana­da and the most re­cent 7-1 win over the Ba­hamas in a World Cup qual­i­fi­er in June in St. Kitts.

Let me just share a lit­tle on the vibes Joey brought. The game in Cana­da was com­plet­ed, and as the T&T con­tin­gent made its way back to the lock­er rooms, there was Joey with a flag in hand po­si­tioned over the tun­nel area shout­ing every play­er’s name as they walked past, and there he was shout­ing “Shaun Shaun Shaun!” Such was the love he had for every­one.

Whether at home or abroad, in the blis­ter­ing sun or tor­ren­tial rain, Posh was there, flag in hand, em­body­ing the hope, pas­sion, and re­silience of every Trin­bag­on­ian. The sight of Posh in the stands was a source of in­spi­ra­tion not on­ly for the fans but for the play­ers them­selves. To the team, he rep­re­sent­ed the un­wa­ver­ing sup­port of an en­tire na­tion, a re­minder that they were nev­er alone on the field. His pres­ence was a morale boost­er, a tes­ta­ment to the fact that win or lose, Trinidad and To­ba­go’s pride was non-ne­go­tiable and ever-present.

The flag he car­ried was not just a piece of fab­ric; it was a sym­bol of our iden­ti­ty, our uni­ty, and our col­lec­tive dreams. Be­yond the sta­di­um, Richard­son’s life and ac­tions ex­em­pli­fied what it means to be a pa­tri­ot. He was a man who un­der­stood that foot­ball, like all sports, is a pow­er­ful force for uni­ty.

In a world of­ten frag­ment­ed by dif­fer­ences, Posh re­mind­ed us of the strength found in uni­ty, in ral­ly­ing be­hind a cause greater than one­self. His pass­ing is a solemn re­minder that the true icons of sport are not al­ways the ones on the field, but of­ten those who give of them­selves self­less­ly and who de­vote their lives to some­thing larg­er.

As we mourn his loss, we al­so cel­e­brate the life of a man who showed us all what it means to love and sup­port one’s coun­try with un­wa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion. The next time our na­tion­al teams take to the field in Hon­duras on Sep­tem­ber 6th and Sep­tem­ber 10th in To­ba­go, there will un­doubt­ed­ly be a sense of some­thing miss­ing, but Posh’s spir­it will be there, wav­ing that flag in our hearts. His life re­minds us all to car­ry our flag high, with pride, no mat­ter where life takes us. Rest in peace, Joey “Posh” Richard­son, our beloved flag­man. Your lega­cy will con­tin­ue to wave as high as the flags you so proud­ly car­ried.

Ed­i­tor’s Note

Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Me­dia. He was a FI­FA Me­dia Of­fi­cer at the 2010 FI­FA World Cup in South Africa and the 2013 FI­FA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. He has trav­elled to 88 coun­tries dur­ing his jour­ney in sport. The views ex­pressed are sole­ly his and not a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of any or­gan­i­sa­tion. shaunfuentes@ya­hoo.com