High expectations for Premier League interim committee – Samuda

Chairman of the Premier League of Jamaica Interim Committee (PLJIC), Christopher Samuda, expressed full confidence in the team that surrounds him and their ability to formulate a sustainable and viable business plan for Jamaica’s football within the next three years.

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), in its continued efforts to professionalise the sport and to build a sound governance, financial and commercial framework, established the committee to review the current structure under which the National Premier League operates.

The primary functions of the committee is to review the existing commercial, operational and governance structures of the Premier League, recommend proposals for improving these structures and policies, and arrange a three year business plan with a view to generating greater financial flows to support the viability of the league, while improving all aspects of the product.

Samuda, the Jamaica Olympic Association president, believes that the highly experienced football and sports personnel that make up the group should be able to create a solid framework for the sport that will inspire stakeholders’ confidence and a self-sustaining league.

BUILD CONFIDENCE

“The overall objective is to professionalise the sport in Jamaica and have a sustainable basis for it. That is the objective we hope to achieve. We will have consultations with resource persons to build stakeholders’ confidence. But we are hoping in the very near future that we will hammer out a business plan that will give birth to a professional league,” Samuda said.

The committee comprises Samuda, independent representatives Dave Cameron and Denzil Wilks; Premier League Clubs Association representatives Carvel Stewart, Mark Golding and Rudolph Speid, and JFF representatives Bruce Gaynor, Wayne Thompson and Orville Powell.

“I am confident we will be able to achieve the objectives. The stakeholders want to see a very viable framework for football and in that context, I am very confident. I know the nuances of local football, but the overall objective is very inspiring and we must achieve it. We will work through the difference, if there are any, to ensure we have a consensus of a framework and model on which we can create a sport industry for Jamaica,” he continued.

“I am confident in regard to the competence we have at the table. The fact of the matter is that any system created must be the creation of collective wisdom. You have to build on the competences we have around the table, share ideas so we will come up with a model that we can say to our stakeholders, this is something we can rely on and that it will serve our interest well into the future,” he added.