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The Arima North Secondary football programme is in mourning after the murder of former standout defender and 2023 East Intercol winner Ezekiel Ramdialsingh.
Ramdialsingh, a Manuel Congo resident who graduated from Arima North in June 2024, was gunned down in La Horquetta last night. He was 17 years old.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Ramdialsingh was not the preferred target of the gunman but had previously been seen in the company of the person wanted by the shooter.
Ramdialsingh came from a poor household and, from the age of 14, would wash cars and do other menial chores to raise money to help his mother, Kathy-Ann Charles, and provide for his own education.
His talent on the football field briefly promised a brighter future.
In the 2022 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) season—the first schoolboy competition in three years, due to the Covid-19 pandemic—Ramdialsingh won a place with the Dial Dynamos and helped steer them to a second successive East Zone Championship Division title and promotion to the Premier Division, via the Big Five competition.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
He was 16 years old when he played from the start in Arima North’s return to the SSFL top flight, as they fought to a goalless draw with Presentation College (San Fernando) at the Arima Velodrome in September 2023.
Ramdialsingh was also the first recipient of a book grant by former Arima Senior Comprehensive star Dr Carlos Lee.
In an outstanding 2023 season for the Dial Dynamos, Ramdialsingh won the East Zone Intercol as well as the zonal Under-16 League and KO and the Senior Division KO trophies. But it would be his last spell with Arima North.
Arima North supporters would remember Ramdialsingh for not only his tenacious tackling and workrate, but his clean technique as he struck the ball or pinged passes into his teammates.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Arima Araucans.
A PUFA graduate, Ramdialsingh represented Beatnix Sports Club in the Republic Bank National Youth Football League in 2023 and 2024 while he also wore SMS colours in the NLCL Under-19 Community Cup.
He is a former RBNYFL National Under-17 quarterfinalist.
However, he never got to take his skills to the adult arena. Police are investigating his murder.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Arima Araucans.
Editor’s Note: Click HERE to see Ezekiel Ramdialsingh’s surprise 15th birthday gift.
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