‘We support football ultimately’

PRESIDENT OF Old Harbour Bay United Jason Fuller has sought to clarify his club’s stance regarding the upcoming St Catherine Football Association (SCFA) elections following their decision to sign a document requesting an extraordinary meeting with the body.

On Friday, The Gleaner reported 15 clubs in the SCFA had signed a document requesting an extraordinary meeting with their parish association. Old Harbour Bay United were among those signatories.

A credible source close to situation had stated one of the reasons behind the document was to ensure clubs were in good financial standings so they would be able to vote in the parish’s presidential elections.

However, Fuller sought to make it clear that his decision to sign the document was not an indication of where the club’s loyalties lie.

Fuller said at this point in time, Old Harbour Bay United had not thrown their lot in with any candidate yet and will only do so following discussions with both parties.

To date, only incumbent Elaine Walker-Brown and New Raiders FC Jason McKay have shown interest in competing for the post.

“We’re not interested in a divided parish or anything that might see our parish as divided,” said Fuller.

“Our position as a club, we want to make it categorically clear, is that we support football ultimately. Once we speak with both factions of the elections and they can clearly identify their plans for the parish association, then we’ll make our position clear on who we will be supporting. But for now, we only support football.”

According to Fuller, he felt it was necessary to ensure his intentions were not being mistaken as support for either faction in the elections.

“We don’t want persons to misconstrue our position. We are a community-based team and as such we have a responsibility to stay clear of the nay-say and our sponsors also share that view, so it is important that we make that clear.”

For Fuller, his focus is solely on the development of football in the parish. He pointed to the recent success of St Catherine outfit Racing United, who have earned promotion to the Wray & Nephew-sponsored Jamaica Premier League (JPL).

He believes Racing’s promotion could prove an inspiration for other St Catherine clubs to make the climb to the JPL.

“As I’ve said, ultimately our goal is to raise football in the parish as you’ve seen, we have another St Catherine team in the premiership. I personally think we should have about five based on the quality in the parish, so our sole purpose is for football to grow in St Catherine.”