Vurlon Mills reminisces after retirement from National Team

A tremendous loss for the Golden Jaguars…

By Jemima Holmes

In any consideration of influential national footballers who are based in Guyana, one of the first names that come to mind is Vurlon Mills. Regrettably, after years of sterling performances in the national outfit, Mills has opted to hang up his playing shoes.

This outstanding footballer spoke with this publication about his achievements, and about lessons learnt over his years of yeoman service to his country.
Vurlon Mills made his debut in the Senior National Team back in 2010, and has become a household name in Guyanese football, having played a handful of World Cup Qualifiers and several monumental international games. He recently made the decision to step away from the Golden Jaguars’ national outfit, and will focus on local club football and coaching.

Speaking exclusively with Guyana Times Sport, the 32-year-old striker reflected on his first National call-up and his most memorable games.
“Of course I was excited on my first call up for the Golden Jaguars!” Mills enthused. “I’ve had a lot of memorable moments representing Guyana: leading Guyana to victory against St. Lucia; scoring a double; helping us to finish at the top of the group and qualifying into the third round. Of course, the historical win at Providence; 11/11; against Trinidad in the World Cup Qualifier; and scoring a double against Bermuda, also in the Qualifiers, helping us to move on to the next rounds,” he revealed.

As expected, after ten years of playing football in Guyana at the highest level, many lessons about life and the game would be learnt. Mills shared that the best one he has learnt is that “consistency is most important”.
“The main lesson that I’ve learnt from being a part of the Golden Jaguars, and even playing professionally, is that: your best performance has to be every day! Not just one day; your best has to be every day! Because you’re playing amongst the best players,” the striker shared.
While he was still an active player, Mills had been (and still is) an active member in youth development programmes in the sport, and he even spearheaded the Vurlon Mills Academy, which caters to the development of young players.
In this regard, the Fruta Conquerors player declared himself proud of his contributions to the game thus far, and revealed that he has much more to offer.
“So far, I’m proud of the contribution that I’ve given to our youth programme, but I still think that I have a lot more to offer to Guyana’s youth development and Guyana’s national football,” Mills explained.
Given his success in the field of youth development, Mills shared that he would continue to work assiduously in this area. “I’m very passionate about youth development, so my contribution to Guyana Football will always be to develop potential youth footballers to represent Guyana, with the aim of transitioning to the senior national team,” he said.
Mills has a long list of teams in his repertoire, including Slingerz, Western Tigers, Fruta Conquerors, United Petrotrin, T&TEC, Caledonia AIA, FC Santa Rosa and San Juan Jabloteh. This testifies to his vast experience in the game. Based on this experience, he shared a bit of advice that up-and-coming players may find valuable in the future.
“For the youths who aspire to play national football and are very passionate about their development: I just want to say, ‘Be patient, but be prepared; because you never know when you will be called upon to represent the country,” he advised.