PFAJ chopped! - JFF announces changes to local Premier League ­administration

After months of deliberation and consultation, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) have decided to dissolve the Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ), which will be replaced by an interim board that will come on stream in the near future.

According to JFF general secretary Dalton Wint, the decision has been long in coming, and they thought the time was fitting to implement some of the suggestions that came out of the meetings between the JFF and members of the PLCA.

“We have deliberated and have, consultation on the matter, and recommendations were made, and we think it is fitting to start putting these recommendations into action. The decision was well supported, unanimously supported, to dissolve this entity, and so the process has started,” Wint said.

He said they will look to form a new organisation to administer the operations of the Red Stripe Premier League, adding that they will also look at developing and improving the new structure over time.

“We are looking to see how the construction of this new entity will be. We will look at it, and we have some recommendations in mind that we want to implement, so the responsibility will lie with a new entity to determine how we go forward.

“But we will put an interim body in first because you don’t want to put something permanent until we put a body in place that we can tweak, then maybe in a year or so, we will say, ‘this is the way we want to go,” he said.

The development was made public through a release from the JFF yesterday.

The release underlined that the two bodies (JFF and PLCA) had come to a conclusion that the original objective for the PFAJ could now best be achieved without a third body and that both entities will continue to meet to finalise the roles of the two entities going forward.

However, Wint noted that they will make more information ­available after the excitement ­surrounding Jamaica’s participation in next month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“Right now, we are being ­pressured with the World Cup, but soon after, you will hear an announcement,” he added.

The PLCA is responsible for ­marketing and raising funds for the nation’s top football ­competition, while the PFAJ had been ­responsible for the ­administration of the league.

Don Anderson served as ­chairman for the PFAJ.