JFF needs a remake

The fact that the Reggae Boyz will not be going to Qatar gives the Jamiaca Football Federation (JFF) ample time to fix all that needs fixing. Recent happenings show that the body is unable to manage and efficiently carry out its role and functions.

JFF grossly incompetent

Jamaica Gleaner

10 Feb 2022

IF, INDEED, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) filed a complaint with world football’s governing body, FIFA, over its allegation that Costa Rica wrongfully used COVID-19-positive players in their February 2 World Cup qualifying match in Kingston, it is hoped that the JFF acted with greater competence than it managed in its protest over last November’s match between Jamaica and the United States.

In fact, neither the JFF’s president, Michael Ricketts, nor its general secretary, Dalton Wint, should wait to find out FIFA’s take on the latest matter. Their failure as the key overseers of Jamaica’s football, culminating in the island’s elimination for a place at this year’s World Cup in Qatar, should have long caused their resignations as chiefs of the domestic governing body.The mishandling of the complaint over the US match was only a shameful last straw. We would have understood if Messrs Ricketts and Wint had slunk off in embarrassment.

When Jamaica and the United States met in Kingston on November 16 last year for a CONCACAF regional World Cup qualifier, the island’s chances of making it to Qatar were already marginal. However, taking three points from the match would infuse new possibilities into Jamaica’s campaign.

In the game’s 84th minute, with the score at 1-1, Damion Lowe jumped high above America’s Walker Zimmerman to powerfully head Leon Bailey’s corner into the back of the net, apparently giving Jamaica a 2-1 lead. But there was the shrill sound of referee Juan Gabriel Calderon’s whistle. He ruled that Lowe fouled Zimmerman.The goal was disallowed. There was much post-match controversy over the call by the Costa Rican referee.

Jamaica took its disagreement with the decision to FIFA. The JFF also claimed that the US player, Chris Richards, should have been penalised for a first-half hand ball in the penalty area. Filing such complaints, you would expect, should be the easiest thing for seasoned football administrators. But apparently not those at the JFF, where Messrs Ricketts and Wint are the key people.

According to FIFA, the JFF protest, and request for review, should have been accompanied by a payment of 1,000 Swiss francs. The Jamaica Football Federation did not lodge the fee. The JFF should have notified the match commissioner of the protest.The JFF failed at that, too.“JFF failed to provide a copy of its original protest to the match commissioner, ... (or) evidence that said protest had been submitted in writing to the latter within two hours of the match,” said a widely reported finding by FIFA’s disciplinary committee.

Added to that, the FIFA report, which, according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, is dated November 23, a week after the match, states: “Two out of the three conditions for a protest to be admissible from a procedural perspective had not been met. As such, the committee stressed that it had no other option but to consider the protest to be inadmissible.”

In other words, the substance of Jamaica’s complaints were not addressed. The evidence suggests that this report has been in the hands of the JFF bosses for more than two months. It was perhaps buried deep among the mishaps, missteps and incompetencies that characterise the management of Jamaica’s football.

In other words, that failure to follow simple procedures to properly lodge a complaint with FIFA is a metaphor of Jamaica’s football and symptomatic of a federation that lurches from crisis to crisis, mostly of its own making.

So, the federation has contract disputes with the players of the male team, and compounds the problem by not properly communicating to the team. Before that, it was called out by the benefactor of the women’s team for a reported lack of transparency and competence in how it handles the resources provided by the benefactor. Money was, therefore, doled out on the basis of it being accounted for. The JFF tells a player that he cannot travel with a personal trainer, then says that was a mistake. Obviously, the JFF lacks cogency in its operations.

NO CLEAR PLAN FOR JA’S FOOTBALL

But the most egregious aspect of Michael Ricketts’ leadership of Jamaica’s football since 2019 has been his failure to articulate, and put in place, a clear development structure for Jamaica’s football – then work at it. There is not the sense that the JFF seriously thought about the building blocks of Jamaica’s football. Or Mr Ricketts has not shared it. Things, it appears from the outside, are made up as they go along.

Look this way. Mr Ricketts lacks the charisma and the persuasive powers of his predecessor, the late Captain Horace Burrell. But he leaves this impression that he believes that, like Captain Burrell in the years leading up to the 1998 World Cup, he can, by force of will and broad strokes pandering to the hopes of Jamaicans, command resources to drive the island’s soccer to high places, without the need for underlying structures.

These, however, are different times. Mr Ricketts clearly is not Captain Burrell. And a competitive national team is not sustainable without systems and a strong domestic structure. If that is the case, the process starts from scratch each World Cup campaign. If the JFF cannot properly file an appeal with FIFA, it will hardly be competent at these other necessary things.

The federation needs new ideas, new thinking – something beyond retinues and baubles.The JFF should think about how it can remake itself. Now that Mr Ricketts will not take us to Qatar, it is a good time to start.

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