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Mending fences - JFF boss says incentive payments made to Girlz, expects contracts to be signed soon

Published:Thursday | April 4, 2019 | 12:18 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica’s Marlo Sweatman scores from a corner kick, giving the Reggae Girlz an early lead in their international friendly match against Chile at the National Stadium on Thursday, February 28.
Gladstone Taylor
Jamaica’s Marlo Sweatman scores from a corner kick, giving the Reggae Girlz an early lead in their international friendly match against Chile at the National Stadium on Thursday, February 28.

President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Michael Ricketts stated that members of the country’s national senior women’s team, the Reggae Girlz, were scheduled to receive outstanding incentive payments yesterday for their historic FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification.

Ricketts, who was en route to South Africa, where the team is engaged in a one-week training camp ahead of a friendly international with the hosts on Sunday, also told The Gleaner that he is expecting a resolution to the long-standing contract dispute with the girls.

“The contracts have not yet been signed, but we have managed to identify the funds that we promised them for qualifying, so they have received the incentive for qualifying,” said Ricketts, who shared that the monies were expected to be transferred to the players’ accounts yesterday.

“We had discussions with the coaches, and we will have further discussions just to ensure that we speak on issues that fall under our portfolio because that has happened too many times in the recent past, and we have tried our best not to have that again,” Ricketts continued.

Nevertheless, he is hoping that the issues relating to the contracts for the players can finally be put to bed before they depart South Africa.

“I do hope that by the time we go to South Africa, it will all be finalised ... we will definitely be engaging them in some discussions so that as soon as possible, we can settle any issue we have,” he said.

The JFF boss added that he is expecting a good performance from the team against the South Africans on Sunday.

“I have no idea how strong South Africa is, but I have all the faith in the girls. I have said from day one that we might not win the World Cup, but we will be competitive, and that’s what I’m looking for,” said Ricketts.

Jamaica qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will take place in France from June 7-July 7, becoming the first Caribbean team to achieve the feat.