Hundreds bid farewell to Elliot ‘Morey’ Millington, ex-SVG national soccer captain, coach

Hundreds of Vincentians and members of the sports and soccer fraternities on Saturday converged in and outside Faith Deliverance Church of God on Flatlands Avenue in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn to pay their last respects to Elliot “Morey” Millington, who skippered and coached the St. Vincent and the Grenadines national football (soccer) team and led the nation to second place in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) championship in 1979.

Millington died in New York on Jul. 17, 2023. He was 68. 

Millington’s older of two sons, Reinaldo Millington, 40, named after the Brazilian soccer star, told Caribbean Life that his father died at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. 

He said Millington was on dialysis for kidney disease and that he had a kidney transplantation last September. 

Mourners – including St. Vincent and the Grenadines Consul General to the United States Rondy “Luta” McIntosh, and the President and General Secretary of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) Carl Dickson and Devron Poyer, respectively – jammed the pews of the evangelical church that served as Millington’s church home, and mingled outside.  

Millington’s mother, Janet Millington, who lives in Mississauga, outside Toronto, Canada, with eldest daughter Silma, sat in a wheelchair, often sobbing, before the casket. The matriarch of the Millington family will be 99 on Oct. 27, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Independence Day,

Other family members – including Millington’s wife, Felicia, and their children and Millington’s other siblings – sat nearby. 

Tributes after tributes during the three-hour-long funeral service – in words, songs and poems – described Millington, among other superlatives, as a national hero, treasure, stalwart, icon and general. 

“Whenever the history of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football is written or rewritten, an entire volume has to be dedicated to the Elliot Millington, whom we have come to know as Morey, Skip or the General,” said Dickson, who and Poyer trekked to New York specifically to bid their final farewell, in his tribute. “It is no gainsaying that Millington’s input – first as a player and captain, then as coach, both in his beloved community of Sion Hill and St Vincent and the Grenadines, as a whole – is immeasurable. 

“Indeed, Millington was one of the brick layers, who would have helped lay the foundation, hence paved the way for us as current administrators to build, support and enhance,” he added. “This, as he was integral among the much-revered grouping of the late 1970s that made the Caribbean stop and look at St Vincent and the Grenadines as a potent force in football. 

“An exemplary leader of men, Millington as captain of the St Vincent and the Grenadines team, helped engender national pride, hope and aspiration, that we can achieve a lot, through hard work, commitment and dedication,” Dickson continued. “Undoubtedly, Millington was a pioneer in his own right, showing what a little can do, as he molded players’ skills and their character. 

“As if it were yesterday, I still see the many headers and free kicks that he would have scored, either for Combined Stars, Sion Hill or Over 35’s, to go along with his command on the field; a true general,” he said. “Millington’s tenacity, human touch, love for the sport and love for human beings are well documented, and are modules that provide life-long lessons. “Therefore, he has left us a blueprint that we, who are in football presently, can follow and, most importantly, narratives, experiences, as well as achievements, worthy of emulation. I know it was always his dream and aspiration to give back some of the expertise he had stored.”

Dickson said, however, that that dream and aspiration did not materialize, but added that Millington’s name will be remembered for years to come, “as he will go down in the annals of St Vincent and the Grenadines Football history as one of the finest the country has produced.” 

He said that the SVGFF will ensure that Millington’s legacy is “noted and highlighted for generations to know of his exploits,” stating that while SVGFF mourns Millington’s demise, the federation is “comforted by the fact that he has left behind a lasting impression, shoes that may be too big to be filled but cognizant that he did what he did from the heart, not for plaudits and accolades, but for his unwavering love for Sion Hill and for St Vincent and the Grenadines.”

Speaking between tears, Collin Bramble, a member of the Brooklyn-based Friends of Sion Hill, a group that had bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on Millington in 2016, said that the former soccer captain and coach molded, inspired and encouraged him. 

“He was a husband, an icon, my mentor and my hero,” he said. “He had a commanding presence. He was very articulate. He was a colossal of a man. He changed perceptions for the betterment of Sion Hill.” 

In 1974, Millington became the vice-captain of the first Under 20 team selected to participate in the inaugural Cable & Wireless Caribbean Football Youth tournament in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  

His captain then was Alexander “Pete” Morris, who became a national soccer star, along with his brothers Stanley “Luxie” Morris [former national soccer captain and extant sports ambassador] and Desmond “Des” Morris. 

After making his senior national football team debut in 1976, Millington was elevated to captain in 1977 until 1988. 

Then, after his playing days, he was appointed National Senior Team Coach in 1989 until 1992.

Subsequently, Millington’s family settled in the Corona section of Queens, New York.

Stanley Morris – with his wife Dr. Roxie Morris, a former national netball star in St. Vincent and the Grenadines standing beside him – told mourners that the sobriquet “Skip” was coined by former national striker Raltie Lowe. 

He said Millington, who was “very competitive” on the soccer field, took St. Vincent and the Grenadines to great “heights” in 1979. 

“It’s very hard,” said the sports ambassador about Millington’s death. “Morey, you served St. Vincent and the Grenadines very well. You were a very good friend to me. The angels rejoice with me.”

Millington was one of three brothers who also represented St. Vincent and the Grenadines as national soccer players. The others were Kenwyn “Targie” and Oswald “Sheen” Millington.

In eulogizing his brother, Oswald, between sobs, said it was “hard for me to talk about my brother’s death,” stating that Millington was “generous, loving, dedicated to his family.”

“Morey’s contribution to St. Vincent and the Grenadines…but on and off the field, he did an excellent job,” said Oswald before pausing, then adding: “I promised him not to choke up.

“Morey – the same love he gave to his brothers and sisters is the same love he gave to everyone,” he continued. “Every time I called him, he’ll say, ‘Come on, talk to me’. It’s painful.”

Rohan Thomas, of the Sion Hill Sports Club, said Millington “epitomized excellence in what he did. 

“Sion Hill has been richer because of the contribution of Morey,” he said, disclosing that Millington had introduced him to coaching. “He never held anyone back. To the Sion Hill Club, he was the chief architect; the embodiment of Sion Hill. 

“He encouraged me,” Thomas added. “Therefore, Skip has left an indelible impression on us. Indeed, Morey has earned legendary status.”

He urged the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to rename the Sion Hill Playing Field with two names – ‘Morey and Manager’”. 

Mark Smith, Millington’s brother-in-law, even went further.

“Not only we need the field name; we want back control of that field,” he said in his tribute. 

Smith said Millington was a “natural-born reader” of the soccer game. 

“In my mind, there’s no accident that St. Vincent and the Grenadines rose [in 1979] to the pinnacle of soccer,” he said. “There were always debates, bat there can be no debate that there was the leader. He brought a level of discipline. 

“He was an ultimate renaissance man when it comes to the success in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Smith added. “His influence extended beyond the realm of sports. He commended the respect of civil servants. Excellence and leadership were natural to him.”

In her hour-long sermon, the church’s pastor and owner, Vincentian-born the Rev. Dr. Neithe Soleyn, said she never took Millington “lightly”. 

“He was a man of peace; a man of uprightness”, she preached. “Thank God for the legacy of football, but the had another legacy. I know, without a shadow of doubt, that he’s gone to be with the Lord. 

“He did not speak much about football,” Rev. Soleyn added. “He was with God.”

McIntosh – originally from the town of Calliaqua, but lived in Sion Hill with his wife, Semone, who was born and raised in Sion Hill – said: “Today, we laid a national treasure.

“Sion Hill Community, you came out to represent your national here,” he said, adding: “We’re losing too many stalwarts.

“I see all the musical icons – Scorcher, Winston Soso,” the consul general continued. “Sion Hill, as a community, rise to the occasion and do not let Morey’s legacy go to waste. Morey Millington, we owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Besides his mother, Janet; sister, Silma and three other sisters; brother, Oswald and Kenwyn; wife, Felicia; sons, Reinaldo and Shorne; daughters, Nichola and Tenisha, Millington is survived by siblings, in order of seniority: Irvin, Bonny “Knights”, Edgerton “Edge”, Bernard “Nardie”, Marva and Garfield “Gary”. 

Millington’s body will interred on Sunday at the Cypress Hill Cemetery at the Brooklyn-Queens corridor.