War of words begins

ST CATHERINE Football Association (SCFA) presidential candidates Jason McKay and incumbent Elaine Walker-Brown have been embroiled in a public war of words as the organisation’s election looms.

McKay, president of the McKay Security Raiders FC, has made his opposition to the Walker-Brown-led administration abundantly clear when he accused the governing body of being “autocratic” and “high-handed”.

According to McKay, the SCFA has deteriorated under the leadership of Walker-Brown. He alleged the SCFA are at risk of losing its best talents to other parish associations due to the condition of football in St Catherine.

“I see the Walker-Brown administration as one that is symbolised by autocracy and bullying and that type of high-handed management,” he said.

“Really and truly, the conditions of football in the parish have deteriorated significantly since the governance of president Elaine Walker-Brown and I think at this point, I need to rescue it because if not, we are risking losing talent and losing clubs if this continues.”

He pointed to the condition of the Spanish Town Prison Oval as a symbol of the competency of Walker-Brown’s leadership.

He said the Prison Oval has fallen into a state of disrepair due to the negligence of the Walker-Brown administration. He claims the governing body is seen as a failure in comparison to the previous administrations led by former presidents Lincoln ‘Happy’ Sutherland and Peter Reid.

“I think the state of the Prison Oval is a living symbolisation of the type of management that has been in the parish for the last four years. The Prison Oval is our crowning jewel. We’ve had it since 1938 and if you take a picture of how Peter Reid handed it over to her to how it is now, it’s just terrible.”

However, Walker-Brown said McKay’s public criticisms are personal attacks against her administration because of a decision to expel McKay Raiders from the current SCFA Major League season.

The SCFA ruled McKay Raiders to have been in breach of competition rules for failing to register on the FIFA Connect platform in time to meet the competition’s deadlines.

According to Walker-Brown, several attempts were made to resolve the infraction with McKay Raiders however no resolution was found between both parties.

“Nobody is above the rules and the laws of the competition,” she said.

“They are saying ‘I am so this and I am so that’ and talking all sorts of things and telling lies about me, but St Catherine is getting it right. It is evident because of the one-man band that they have, this is what happened to Raiders.

“They apparently trusted this man so much that they felt they didn’t need to listen to us or anybody else and this is what happened,” she added.

Walker-Brown said she has no concerns regarding an election challenge from McKay as she believes she has the trust of the clubs in St Catherine.

However, she believes McKay has garnered support from previous administrations for his campaign due his work as a sponsorship partner in the past.

“Some of them will not talk but I want them to say how many persons turned up when he called a meeting the other day because I get to understand that persons from the last administration were there.

“If you can’t administrate one club, how can you administrate football in a parish? Money is important, sponsorship is very important, but that alone is not going to move the football forward and that is what he is trying to do.”