No place like home

Professional Football Jamaica Chairman Christopher Williams said they will be proposing changes to its protocols for the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) next season to the Government in an effort to have supporters back at games.

Majority of the matches last season were played at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, while some were played at the Stadium East Field.

Williams said he will be strongly lobbying the Government to have next season’s games played on a home and away basis, meaning a return to each team’s community.

“Obviously the Astroturf (at UWI) had some challenges in the heat and that’s something that unfortunately may result in us having to adjust our strategies,” he said. “The adjustment also regards where to play the games, whether all the games are played at one venue, the surface, whether it is all turf or turf and grass, and whether or not we are able to gain some spectators support.

“We want some spectator support to provide some entertainment for the viewers because you know that crowd and noise is really critical to viewership.

BENEFIT TO DEVELOPMENT

Harbour View FC Chairman Carvel Stewart sees benefit for football development in these proposed changes.

“I have been an advocate for the playing of matches at the home grounds because that is the only way we are going to get the broader development,” Stewart said. “It doesn’t matter what people are trying to do, playing at centralised venues, you won’t get the development, you won’t encourage people to do better.”

Stewart said that playing on an artificial surface last season injured a number of Harbour View players.

“Playing in the middle day is kind of rough with the heat because a number of our youngsters had to miss games as a result of blisters on their feet, which is not something that we encounter on regular pitches,” said Stewart.

Molynes United co-owner and General Manager Eurado Cornwall agrees with Stewart and said his club could profit from gate receipts once matches return to their home base.

“Having games back at our home ground will definitely help our club because we played this truncated season away, and clubs did not gain any revenue from gate receipts and this will be a win-win situation for us,” Cornwall said.

However, Cornwall says that Molynes would have saved $1.4 million this season from playing all their 10 games at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence.

Including the cost of security fees, and paying backroom staff on match days, it would have cost Molynes just over $2 million to stage their games at home.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com