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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 20 2002 : 12:42:30 AM
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St. Bess
No money, No honey says Burrell.
Tue Feb 19 21:36:55 2002
209.214.5.126
JFF faces cash crunch
SDF cuts football grant 64%
IAN BURNETT, Staff reporter
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
BURRELL ... intends to seek audience with the PM
THE Sports Development Foundation (SDF) has slashed by 64 per cent its annual grant to the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), threatening a collapse of the JFF's football programme, its president, Captain Horace Burrell confirmed.
The SDF, which gets its cash mainly through a 7.5 per cent government levy on the gross sales of the Jamaica Lottery Company, used to give the JFF a subvention of US$576,000 (J$27.1 million) a year.
But yesterday the Foundation, pleading decreased inflows from the lottery company, told the JFF that its grant would now be US$207,360 (J$9.7 million) a year.
The SDF is the football federation's largest, and most consistent, source of funding.
Last night Burrell said he was seeking urgent audience with Prime Minister P J Patterson in an effort to avert a crisis. He was optimistic of government intervention to shore-up the programme.
"When you look at the effects of this reduction, it could be devastating," the JFF boss told the Observer. "But I am an optimist. I remember when I took over this programme... we had nothing and I met with Prime Minister Patterson and he gave his full support.
"The optimist that I am, I am not daunted because I intend to seek audience with the PM almost immediately and put a very strong case to him to have them (the SDF) reconsider."
The SDF was launched by the government in 1995 as a vehicle to channelling taxes from the lottery company mainly to the island's sporting programmes.
Initially, the Jamaica Lottery, at the time a monopoly, was required to steer 10 per cent of its sales to the SDF, but in 1999, in renegotiating the company's licences, the government reconfigured the tax by lowering the levy in exchange for a greater take downstream from profits and other fees.
It also removed the 25 per cent withholding tax on profits, on the assumption that it would drive sales.
At the time the lottery company argued that the changes would increase its costs and lead to lower inflows into the SDF.
It was not clear last night what impact, if any, those changes did in fact have on the flows to the SDF, but the advent of competition last year, with the emergence of a new lottery firm, Supreme Ventures, has hurt sales by the Jamaica Lottery Company.
The effect of this on the SDF's coffers is clear.
In 1997 for instance, the SDF received J$168 million from the lottery company and this moved to $177 million in the following year and $183 million in 1999.
But in 2000 there was 7.6 per cent drop to $169 million and this slumped nearly 24 per cent last year, to $129 million.
"We had a decrease of $40 million last year and we are looking at another decrease of about $20 - $30 million this year," said the SDF's general manager, Allan Beckford, yesterday.
The foundation is having to cut back on its expenditure and the JFF is just one of the organisations feeling the pinch. Supreme Ventures has a similar levy scheme to the Lottery Company but it is required to contribute to programmes outside sports.
Burrell warned last night that without sufficient funding from the SDF, the JFF would find it difficult to sustain its programmes and technical director designate, Carl Brown, might have to be recalled from his current stint with the English club, Bolton, where he was sent to gain experience.
He was expected to be away for a year.
"Without the funding, it would be difficult to sustain these programmes, to say the least," Burrell declared.
Paying Brown, for instance, would be a problem.
"... We told him that we would give him the same level of support that we gave the Brazilians (he has replaced)," Burrell said. "With this cut, that would not be possible and could lead to his recall, because we would not be able to sustain him."
He pointed out, too, that gate receipts, a major source of funding for the JFF, was non-existent so far this year because of repairs at the National Stadium.
"We can't use the stadium until after August so that could actually lead to the demise of the whole programme," Burrell said.
"This year we are preparing our Under-17s and Under-20s for world tournaments for which they have done so well and have made Jamaica so proud in recent times. In addition, the women have started to play some good football and they are about to make their mark on the world stage...," Burell said.
Karl |
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