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KSAFA demands ‘Speidy’ resignation - ... Points to conflict of interest, threatens FIFA/Concacaf intervention

Published:Wednesday | September 23, 2020 | 12:13 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
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President of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA), Wayne Shaw, said his association is prepared to take their demand for the resignation of Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) technical committee chairman, Rudolph Speid, to Concacaf and FIFA, if JFF President Michael Ricketts fails to meet their request.

KSAFA, in a letter yesterday, demanded that Speid step down as technical committee chairman with immediate effect, pointing to a conflict of interest, given his attachment to top-flight club, Cavalier.

The document outlined that Speid, who is the majority shareholder of Cavalier, also currently holds numerous positions within the JFF. The positions listed including being a board director, technical committee chairman, head of the JFF’s coaching school, chairman of the Jamaica Coaches Association and a member of the National Premier League leadership.

“I don’t have a problem with the work he (Speid) is doing, but he cannot wear so many hats. You are privy to all that is happening in the JFF and you are the main shareholder of a club. That cannot work,” Shaw argued. “If the president (Ricketts) is not willing to do anything about it, we will take it further and we will write FIFA and Concacaf about it.”

TOO CONFLICTING

“It is too conflicting. You deal with everything that comes in (federation), so who will you look out for first, your club. We are all human and that is human nature. No matter how much integrity you have, you will always look out for your own first. So it’s conflicting,” Shaw insisted.

However, Ricketts commended Speid for the work he has done since taking up the role in February and said he has no intention of accepting a resignation from the veteran football administrator.

Meanwhile, Speid, in response, said Shaw was misinformed about his role as technical chairman and the operations of the JFF. He also argued that he was not involved with some of the roles attributed to him in the KSAFA letter.

“What they are saying about me being the head of these things is not true. I am not head of the coaching school. With Cavalier, I am the major shareholder and major sponsor, but I am not the chairman or the president and we have the general manager and general secretary. I am a Cavalier member, [being a member of a club] is a prerequisite in Jamaica’s statues for you to be in the FIFA system,” Speid pointed out.

“As technical committee chairman, all I do is make recommendations, then it goes to the board before it comes into effect. Wayne Shaw sits in the [board] meeting as does a representative from every parish. So I can’t make any rules. I help my committee make recommendations and there are seven of us on the committee,” Speid added.

He believes that KSAFA’s contention stems from the fact that he has been working with the JFF to modernise the sport locally, and that KSAFA has some issues with some of the recommendations presented, particularly that of a new second-tier national league.

“We are trying to modernise Jamaica’s football to keep in line with modern trends. The JFF is on a progressive path and I am a part of it. But what KSAFA is doing is a low blow against what the JFF is doing,” Speid rebutted.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com