JFF to submit restart proposal this week
Published:Sunday | July 19, 2020 | 12:08 AMAkino Ming - Staff Reporter
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) will this week submit a proposal to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, outlining its plans to restart football competition locally in a safe manner, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
President of the federation, Michael Ricketts, told The Sunday Gleaner that the document will outline general sanitisation and off-the-field social-distancing measures that will be employed to reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus.
He said that document is now being examined by the medical committee of the JFF and will be submitted to the health authorities by the end of the week.
“There is a document right now that is being prepared by a committee that was set up specially for this purpose. They have drafted a proposal in detail on how we can start the new football season in a safe manner. We have handed it over to our medical team for their approval and after that, then it will be to over to the Ministry [of Health],” Ricketts explained.
Necessary Changes
The JFF boss said that he was also looking to make the necessary changes, including a reduction in the number of players a squad must contain, to ensure that football clubs remain viable, considering that they are set to lose a stream of income, with fans being barred from watching matches from the stands due to Government’s restrictions on public gathering.
“Having been a part of club management, I understand what these clubs are facing right now, and we as the JFF must as best as possible make it feasible for these clubs to remain viable. We are in uncharted waters and the JFF must make adjustments to facilitate and ensure that we make life easier for the clubs,” Ricketts explained.
Last month, Arnett Gardens announced that they were planning to reduce their squad for the upcoming season to offset the impact of reduced gate receipts.
Clyde Jureidini, the general manager of Harbour View Football Club, said that his club is looking to take another route as they have given their staff and players a commitment to not lay off anyone during the economic downturn.
“I don’t think cutting the squad is the way we want to go about it. We will definitely be affected by the lack of gate receipts, but I think we are looking to find other streams of income,” Jureidini said.