‘Not our fault!’
Ricketts dismisses claims JFF culpable for flight delay
Published:Sunday | October 10, 2021 | 12:07 AM
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Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts says that the members of the executive that travelled with the Reggae Boyz to Austin, Texas, were not responsible for the delay in the delegation’s return to the island yesterday. The...
Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts says that the members of the executive that travelled with the Reggae Boyz to Austin, Texas, were not responsible for the delay in the delegation’s return to the island yesterday.
The Reggae Boyz returned home yesterday after a 2-0 defeat by the United States of America in Austin, Texas, rooting them to the bottom of the eight-team table with one point from four games.
The charter flight, which was to arrive from Houston, Texas, at 4 p.m. on Friday, was delayed for an hour.
“It is not true,” Ricketts told The Gleaner. “We were supposed to have gotten three buses from Caribbean Airlines. They sent two. So the bus left and we stayed behind. So we made separate arrangements to get to the airport.”
Ricketts also dismissed claims that the bus had to return to the hotel where the players were waiting for two hours before they could board.
“We took our own transport to the airport,” he said. “The organisers turned the bus back. So we actually got to the airport before the bus. So we made separate arrangements because they did not send the third bus. And they, because of panic, turned the bus back for us while we had separate arrangements to get to the airport. So it was the fault of the organisers and not us. We would never turn the bus back for one hour because of us not having a ride.”
In addition to those logistical problems, the team’s charter plane, which was to land in Austin, had to divert to Houston, with a bus to transport the team for the nearly three-hour drive to Austin for the game.
Ricketts says that the mishap was because their charter plane did not get clearance to land in Austin, leading to other arrangements being made.
“They had difficulties getting permission to land in Austin,” he said. “We had to disembark in Houston and then we took a bus down to Austin. That was logistics relating to airport authorities in the US, in Houston, and in Austin.”
With only one point from the campaign so far, Ricketts says that he is far from pleased with where the team is given the investment in the campaign. Jamaica play Canada at the National Stadium tomorrow.