PFJL, ISSA see pluses of new JFF structure

GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY and engagement with local football stakeholders are what Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) CEO Owen Hill and Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) president Keith Wellington are looking forward to the most as the voting structure of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) expanded to 56.

The measure was ratified by the executives on Tuesday at the JFF’s annual general meeting, replacing the 13-member bloc that was in place after Captain Horace Burrell retook office in 2007. That structure saw only the parish presidents getting a vote, including Kingston and St Andrew which counted as one. The expansion of the voting bloc includes the tier one clubs for both men and women and interest groups which include the PFJL and ISSA.

With the new structure in place, Wellington welcomed the expansion, noting that the eyes of the executive will be locked on them, with various stakeholders wanting to ensure that Jamaica’s football moves forward.

“I think what it does is it creates a greater level of accountability because, obviously, you have a wider spread of stakeholders who will now want to ensure that their objectives are met and they are aligned with the overall development of the product,” Wellington told The Sunday Gleaner.

Hill said that while he believes that the pressure will be more or less the same on the board in their responsibilities, the expansion of the bloc will demand that the board perform at a higher standard in its relationship to the various arms of local football.

“I don’t know if it is more pressure, because the pressure has always been there. What it will require now is stakeholder engagement and management at the highest level,” Hill said.

BROADER FOOTBALL SPECTRUM

“No longer are you thinking about 13 parish associations but you are now thinking about the broader football spectrum that contributes to the overall growth of the country’s football.”

The PFJL and ISSA will have two votes each.

While ISSA has always operated independently of the JFF for the most part, Wellington does have a going concern regarding how student-athletes will be facilitated with schoolboy and schoolgirl football as their priority.

“We have an opinion as to how we would like to see our youngsters develop and, if we have a say in determining who is at the head, then obviously that means that we will get an opportunity to work closely with somebody who shares our vision,” Wellington said.

While Hill did not give explicit details as to what the PFJL deemed vital in its choice for leadership, he said that clear communication from the body will be important.

“As long as there is a clear pathway and there is a direction for the entity, then any decision to be made will be guided by that. The mandate for the JFF is clear. So, once that is articulated and that is distilled at the PFJL level, I think that any decision that will come thereafter will come by those things,” Hill said.

“Legislatively, it gives greater access to contributions from different sectors. So I can’t see that as being a bad thing.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com