KSAFA boss says gov’t grant for football development insufficient
Published:Monday | December 30, 2024 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
President of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Mark Bennett said the $500,000 grant recently allocated to parish associations by the Government is well received but is still insufficient.
At the launch of the Argentine-Caribbean Youth Football: Training of Trainers Programme at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel recently, Minister of Sports Olivia Grange pointed out that the financial commitment to the parish football associations, which amounts to $7 million, is aimed at strengthening grass-roots football, with a particular focus on coaching programmes for under-13 and under-15 age groups.
She acknowledged the budgetary constraints faced by her ministry but said the decision was a necessary one given the current state of the associations.
“The associations are underfunded, and while they do receive some support, I felt that the Government must play its part. So this initial $500,000 allocation to each association will focus on youth-coaching programmes and grass-roots initiatives,” Grange declared.
However, Bennett believes that more can be done by the Government to assist the financially strapped associations.
“Sponsorship and gate receipts are our main revenue sources right now. We are virtually without government support, and we understand because the policy is for them to support national bodies.
“But I would argue that Government ought to look into supporting the parish associations in a more tangible way.
“We welcome it ($500,000 grant), but it is insufficient for an association like KSAFA. We have our administrative cost, which is about $4-6 million per year,” Bennett told The Gleaner.
He explained also that most of their sponsorship money goes into staging competitions and sponsorship does not even fully cover competition costs.
“Most times the sponsorship is just to ensure that the competitions take place. You go to a sponsor and say the value of sponsorship is $6 million and on most occasions you do not get there. You have to compromise along the way, and there is always a shortfall
“But certainly, any support from Government is welcome, but we would want to see something more substantial right across the board,” he stated.
Funding from the local governing body, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), has not been very encouraging either he said.
“Support from the national (governing) body has been dwindling over the last six years. The association got $1.4 million from the JFF, and that is a drop in the bucket. So just imagine the other associations that do not have the support that we (KSAFA) have and how they are managing.”
Nevertheless, he is pleased with the amount of private sponsorship they were able to garner this year, noting that all their competitions, including junior competitions, were all sponsored for the first time in five years.
“It (sponsorship) has seen an improvement on previous years, but it is not at the level that we believe that a brand like KSAFA should be.
“We recognise that in Jamaica most businesses are not really utilising sports as a medium to market their products
“You look at all the sports and it is pretty much the same companies (sponsoring). We were fortunate that we were able to bring on a new sponsor within KSAFA in H&L (Hardware and Lumber).
“They are a new entity to football, and that is what we want to see, a greater spread of sponsors in football.
“So we do have title sponsors for our competitions, but we are looking for associate sponsors as that will help a great deal more,” Bennett said.