| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Karl |
Posted - Jul 09 2002 : 08:31:58 AM
The Games we play With Football
By Maurice 'Ranger' Walker
(Email: brinxranger@hotmail.com)
Sometime ago, when the Sports Development Foundation had to cut back on their monthly subsidy it paid to all sporting bodies, I made mention in this column of the fact that most sporting bodies understood and accepted the decision. Some, namely the Cricket board, began making plans to deal with the shortfall. Not football! The bold Captain Burrell immediately began lobbying the government to instruct the SDF to return the JFF subvention to normal.
What started out as lobbying has now turned into an outright stick up. No longer is the JFF asking government for increased assistance, but is now using the media to corner and embarrass the government.
In a recent newspaper article, Burrell said, "... they (government) had indicated that they would have to go to the Parliament. We said 'okay let's allow the budget to be read'. In the meantime, I continued quietly to write again to advise and remind them of the seriousness. At all times they would respond to say that it is being looked at and soon," said a distraught Burrell.
"I'm disappointed because whatever they are doing should be done by this. If they were not dragging their feet then we would have had money to pay the staff," Burrell said. He was referring to the expected re-instalment of the government subsidy.
"...We're being affected in a very serious way because of the tardiness I would say ... (they) act far too slowly; they have had months, we are now in the seventh month of the year and this happened from January and to date they have not fixed the problem," he said.
My question is, why should the government, with all the cash burden it has, pump more money into the JFF? What has the JFF done to merit special treatment? In fact, with the money making potential of football they should be among the last to have their 65% subvention returned. Not only are they unable to hold onto sponsors (for unknown reasons), but have in the past refused to accept sponsorship that was offered below a certain monetary value.
Perhaps the Captain would like to share with the nation the number of overseas games that the Reggae Boyz lost out on because 'negotiations broke down'. How does a federation the qualified a team for the World Cup in 1998, received millions of dollars of funding from FIFA and have one of the most popular team in the world, literally declare bankruptcy? Is this the same federation that wanted to buy, rent or lease two floors of office space in the expensive Towers in new Kingston?
What has the JFF done to help themselves?
Captain Burrell advised his staff of the reduction in funding from the SDF and begged them to take salary cuts. "Reluctantly, they all did," he said. Some office staff were also laid off.
"I had to take those actions because I don't want to run the Federation into bankruptcy. So now I have to stop, look and see where we can go from here," he said.
So with all the managerial skills and flair in the JFF, that's the best they could do?
Let me go one step further. Just recently, big plans were announced for the national program. Village United out of Trelawny had their UK tour cancelled because the JFF had a 'mystery' tour planned for the UK too. The Captain said that prior to, and while in Japan, he had been approached by a number of countries that wanted to play games with Jamaica. A number of countries were mentioned. It was also decided that there would be a return to the Rene Simoes blue print for success and a local based senior team was called up to be in constant training, fully paid and all. The female team was also preparing for World Cup qualifiers later this month and a junior men's team preparing for Olympic Qualifying.
So big plans are now in place after the JFF sat idly on its laurel for a long time doing nothing to get money into the federation. All these plans were made knowing fully well, I suppose, that there is a cash problem. Then out of the blue, BOOM, all team preparations are suspended. So shocking and quick was the announcement, that a training session was still in progress and Technical Director Carl Brown did not have a clue about what was happening. So obviously there was no meeting to inform all parties involved, only a press release made. Sound to me like someone is playing games with Jamaicas football and I'm not laughing. I am sick of it and enough is enough. To add insult to injury, when asked about all the plans being made, he said, "I was listening to the political directorate".
The government has no clout in the JFF as they, the JFF are only obligated to FIFA, so no one should stick them (the government) up in this way. This is a federation shrouded in constant controversy and secrecy. I'll end this issue by saying that, everyone except the Captain seems to be aware of the unavailability of the National Stadium. He needs to find another excuse. His federation is not the only one with three, four or five teams to support. It happens elsewhere, so that's no excuse either.
The development of our football needs to be the main objective of the federation. Nothing, since the departure of Simoes, has indicated that this is so, nothing. I'll stop there for now.
Karl |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Karl |
Posted - Jul 10 2002 : 11:29:53 PM
Ranger: As usual you have your pulse on the issue.
Let me add Nodley's article as it states some members of the managing group are disgruntled with some of the Captain's policies.
As stated before expect the JFF to come with a "feel good" paper over of the problems by pointing to "all we have done in the past" and achievements past.
It appears these executive members are going to demand answers - accountability and transparency.
More power to them! Our football will be the better for their stance as long as they stay the course by following up on their demands.
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Mutiny on JFF ship?
By Nodley Wright, Staff Reporter
Burrell and Reid - File
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Captain Horace Burrell, could face mutiny from the crew today when he calls them together for an executive meeting designed to chart a course out of financial insolvency.
Last week, just over a day after his return from the World Cup in Korea and Japan, Burrell announced the immediate suspension of the entire national football programme.
This, he said, was because of lack of finances caused by a 65 per cent cut in government subvention.
Included in the teams sent home were the senior women's team which was preparing for a World Cup qualifier this weekend and the Under-17s and Under-20s who were also preparing for qualifiers. The senior men's team was also getting ready for friendlies in the United Kingdom.
But while Burrell took the government to task for failing to provide adequate support for the national programme, a number of his executives have not stayed on board with his position. They accuse him of unfairly trying to embarrass the government.
"Contrary to popular belief, there are a number of us who are not in agreement with the Captain's outburst which I think is trying to embarrass the government in to action," said one executive.
Outbursts such as these, without the support of the executive, are not the only problem these executives find with Burrell.
"The current setup has a number of problems. To begin with there is a lack of transparency and accountability. Take for example when it comes to the matter of tickets for games, the general secretary (Horace Reid) is the one who collects the tickets for the games. Between him and the president they deal with all these matters while the treasurer who was elected to handle such matters is not involved," continued the executive.
His position was supported by another who said that all issues relating to tickets were handled from Burrell's office in the Towers in New Kingston.
Another executive, who like the others said did not want to be named for fear of being marginalised, accused Burrell and Reid of operating an organisation in which only they knew the goings on.
"We discovered recently that FIFA gives US$250,000 to each national association for development of football and the executive was never advised. We do not even know how this money is spent.
"The Cable and Wireless endorsement deal, the Grace Kennedy, Joe Bloggs (clothing), Kappa and Uhlsport (the current outfitters of the national team) - we have never been advised about terms and conditions," the executive bemoaned.
All the executives spoken to say they have difficulty understanding how the JFF could be out of funds. This situation, they theorise, could only come about because of financial mismanagement.
"In the last campaign, the JFF was in a position to make some money from televised games after the National Stadium was sold out but the president insisted that if it was not $5 million per match then it would not happen. That was not a decision which was made by the executive.
"Instead of earning some money, we made nothing and now we are bawling. It is things like these which have come to haunt.
"I also do not understand how they could say now that they are in dire straits when the general secretary just spent two trips back and forth between Korea and Japan. One would have thought that prudence and frugality would have been the order of the day, especially at a time when they say they have no money and players are going into camp and leaving without even as much as bus fare."
The above article was taken from the Daily Gleaner of July 10, 2002.
Edited by - Karl on Jul 10 2002 23:32:41 |
| Tillamawnin |
Posted - Jul 09 2002 : 12:32:56 PM
Good article Ranger. You have thrown all the right punches.
I wonder if the Captain et al have an opportunity to read articles like these?
Tilla
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Live simply so that others may simply live.
Mohandas K. Gandhi |
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