Allan Cole signing a contract to play for the Brazilian Club Nautico, with the club's envoy and team doctor Omar DiSilva at the Flamingo Hotel, Kingston, in 1972. - File

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

ALLAN 'SKILL' Cole has had his share of national attention since he was 16 years old when he became the youngest person to play for Jamaica's senior football team.

Forty-one years later, the man many regard as Jamaica's greatest footballer was in the news again, this time on criminal charges. Cole was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his part in a February 2002 ganja bust when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on July 2.

Marijuana charge

He was fined just over $1 million for possession of, dealing in and taking steps to export marijuana. His lawyer, Patrick Atkinson, immediately filed an appeal and Cole was released on a $2 million bail.

The five men who were arrested and charged with Cole when police discovered more than 130kg of ganja at his east Kingston home were released. Resident Magistrate Desiree Alleyne cited lack of evidence.

Cole's prodigious talent earned him a senior cap while he was still playing in the daCosta Cup for Vere Technical. In 1968, he played semi-professionally in the United States for the Atlanta Chiefs and turned out for Nautico in Brazil four years later.

In Jamaica, the dreadlocked Cole excelled at Santos and Boys' Town in the Major League. At the time, his rivals for most popular sportsman in Jamaica were sprinter Donald Quarrie and cricketer Lawrence Rowe.

Atkinson, a former manager at Santos, said Cole was "an unusual talent".

"One year Pele and Santos (of Brazil) came here and played an all-star team, I remember Alan and Dennis Ziadie having outstanding games," Atkinson recalled. "Allan's ball control was amazing. It was like he had Velcro all over his body."

Cole's admirers included reggae star Bob Marley. The two met at a football match in Trench Town in the early 1970s and became quick friends and Cole fitted into the singer's inner circle.

Toured with Marley

Cole toured the world with Marley as his road manager and is even given writing credit for the song War, from Marley's 1976 album, Rastaman Vibration.

Judy Mowatt was a member of the I-Three, Marley's backup group. She said Cole had an influential role in the Marley camp.

"Bob believed in exercise and physical fitness. In the morning he and Allan Cole would go running," Mowatt told the Reggae Report magazine in 1994. "A lot of the unusual moves you saw Bob doing onstage, it was some of the football moves he learned from Skill."

At the time of Marley's death in May 1981, Cole was his road manager and confidante. Some, including his former Santos teammate Clive 'Busy' Campbell, believe off-field distractions hurt Cole's career.

"He definitely underachieved. If Allan had the heart of a professional back then, he would have gone further," said Campbell.

Despite coaching two high-profile National Premier League teams (Port Morant United and Arnett Gardens), Cole has never been considered for a permanent place on the national coaching staff.

A 1998 scuffle with then national director René Simoes at the National Stadium did not help his chances.

Allan Cole's cult status has never dimmed. Atkinson said a crowd of fans turned up at his Vineyard Town home shortly after his return from court last week.

He said given the backlog of cases at the Court of Appeal, it may well be one year before his case is called up again.