Bailey, Butler decline national team invitation

The management of Phoenix All Stars Football Academy has turned down the invitation extended by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to players Leon Bailey and Kyle Butler to be a part of the national senior men's football team for its upcoming friendly international match against Antigua and Barbuda at Sabina Park on March 25.

In an email to national team manager Roy Simpson, Phoenix said that both players have a prior commitment with Gregory Shervington, a Jamaica Tourist Board regional director in Berlin, Germany, which take place on the same weekend of the match.

Phoenix added that Bailey, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, and Butler, of St. Andrews FC, are both focusing on their club careers and not yet ready to make a national team commitment. The email added that Phoenix is "concerned" that both players were being used to promote the match, without their or their management's confirmation. It continued that there has been no terms agreed to implement a national football culture, which Phoenix founder Craig Butler had previously offered himself to the JFF to put in place.