| Nibblet Jones D: O: B 18/5/76 Kingston Height: 210cm Weight: 130kg Clubs: Chelsea 1996- International: Jamaica 1996- Nibblet Jones has sport (and size) in his blood. His sister Marion is the worlds fastest women, oldest brother Yul Brenner a failed sprinter who represented Jamaica in the bobsled team which inspired the movie “ Cool Runnings”, older brother Sam is the star of the USA soccer team and cousin Ricardo his Jamaican teammate. Nibblet is quite possibly more famous and well loved than any of his illustrious family. The 6’11’’ giant always stood out, not just for his size, but his freakish speed and skill for someone so big. Jones is a rarity, a big man who would be (almost) equally effective if he was normal size. The Jones family (except Yul Brenner who stayed to fulfill his sprinting ambition) moved to America in 1980. By 1992 a bidding war had started for the then 2m, 120 kg man-child who had not yet played top-level soccer. The same year the 16 year old received a scholarship to return home and play soccer at the university of Kingston. Jones further enhanced his reputation and in late 1992 was signed by Chelsea and went to live in England. Nibblet spent 1992-93 in the under 17’s and 1993-94 in the under 19’s, so he was not rushed to the top. In 1994-95 he played for the reserves and his break finally came midway through the 1995-96 season. In 125 lower grade matches he scored 108 goals. On January 12 1996 he came off the bench against Aston Villa in the Premier League and wowed fans with 2 goals in the second half. The next week he started against Everton and the rest is history. Jones debuted for Jamaica in May 1996 against Trinidad and Tobago. In June 1999 he relieved Aaron Boo and joined goalkeeper Warren Barret as co-captain. Built like Jonah Lomu on a quadruple dose of steroids, Jones is a role model with his cool demeanour, but by no means is he “soft” on the field. He prefers to let his skills, not his size do all the talking. Jones was the FIFA 2000 World Player Of The Year. |