The New Game Plan

THE NEW GAME PLAN

Internationally, football is a profitable business, locally it is a failing enterprise. Against this background, our team led by Crenston Boxhill is seeking to gain operational responsibility for what we dub Jamaica Football Incorporated, managed for the people of Jamaica by the Jamaica Football Federation.

As a business, the national football programme should provide tangible returns to its major stakeholders - the people of Jamaica. So often we hear the lament of “not enough support for Jamaican football” from the top leadership of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). The question we are asking is, since 1998 what have the Jamaican people been getting for their investment? The answer, history lessons (constant reminders of our World Cup qualification in 1998.)

While reaching the finals of the World Cup in France was a signal triumph for Jamaican football, we have skillfully managed to fritter away the goodwill and potential made possible by this remarkable feat. Five years after our historic journey to France and Jamaican football is on life support.

The challenge now is to bring Jamaican football to renewed vitality. What is now needed is a radical shift in strategy. It requires a new team. Can the current administration effect the changes necessary for the future success of Jamaican football? The answer is a resounding, no. This current administration does not enjoy the confidence of the key stakeholders in Jamaican football. Bringing about the necessary changes will require the participation of all Jamaicans. This can only be secured in an atmosphere of trust. The low level of public trust invested in the present administration makes it ill equipped to fulfill this mandate.

The JFF has placed far more emphasis on administration than on development. The record of the present administration is a litany of misplaced priorities. The secretariat of the JFF occupies luxuriant New Kingston surroundings, while the players toil in a largely inhospitable environment.

We have to create the conditions which allow individual associations to make money. Associations should be magnets of economic activities, helping to foster goodwill while generating revenue.

Will the Boxhill team rely on contributions from such bodies as CHASE and the Sports Development Foundation (SDF)? Of course we will. What is different is that our administration will bring about the necessary levels of accountability and transparency to prevent potential benefactors from referring derisively to the JFF as “The Black Hole of New Kingston.”

Investment is a function of confidence currently in short supply at the JFF. No one is accusing the current administration of any wrongdoing. Yet in the absence of transparency people are likely to reach strange conclusions. Trust, once lost is hardly ever recovered. It is futile putting new wine into old wineskin. We need a fresh start.

The development of a comprehensive national programme must be our number one priority creating the kind of infrastructure which will promote the nurturing and transition of players from the junior level to the national senior teams. This programme will cater to Jamaican players regardless of age, gender or origin.  The current administration has committed our resources and its existence to winning matches; hence the blind reliance on overseas based players. With our impressive string of losses, the question to the administration must now be “On what do you base your existence?”

We should hasten to say that we are thankful for the contribution our overseas-based players have made to the heightened exposure of Jamaican football. Yet we must admit that their services were not optimally utilized. Foreign-based players should be a source of inspiration and experience. They should complement local talent, not supplant it. That said we must move vigorously to develop home grown talent in order to capture the economical benefits which flow from transfer fees, endorsements and the creation of a well-supported professional league.

This should be done with the judicious use of overseas players. Without the introduction of these measures, Jamaican football will remain comatose.

We will have to look beyond gate receipts and grants to finance our national programmes. Major sporting entities such as the NBA or the West Indies Cricket Board are also reliant on media to supply a significant part of their revenues. Having the appropriate media alliances will be contingent on our producing players of the necessary star quality to attract viewers. We welcome the belated efforts of the administration to establish a football academy. Yet this we concede will not be achieved immediately. In the interim we should create a programme which provides the opportunities for the various clubs to improve on the coaching practices. This can only be done through a deliberate policy of providing coaches with access to the latest techniques and approaches to the game.

The area of refereeing is also one of concern to us. For too long Jamaican referees have been seen as an afterthought despite their central role in the game.   The standard of refereeing is a big determinant in the attractiveness of the game. Good refereeing prevents matches from degenerating into brawls. The image of the game demands that we address this issue.

We intend to fund these activities through a number of initiatives including a joint venture with an agency such as the Creative Production and Training Center (CPTC) to produce coaching videos and DVD’s under the name “Know the Game.” These could be sold worldwide as gifts to persons who have an interest in the techniques and rules of the game. We believe this would generate considerable revenues to fund the football programme. We believe the running of a national football pool would be a significant source of income. Funds generated from this exercise could not only be used for operating the academy but also in providing funds to the various associations.

Such revenue enhancement efforts coupled with serious cost cutting will go a long way in achieving these objectives.

We will appoint a team of high-powered business executives with experience in fund-raising to assist the JFF in improving its financial position.

We will draw on the services of marketing professionals to assist the clubs in making their franchises lucrative. The JFF should be a source or professional advice for the players and a repository of information for the association.

We will be utilizing a number of approaches for staying in touch including hyperlinking club sites to the JFF websites, publishing a magazine, and hosting radio and television   programmes. These activities will not only improve the flow of information among the various areas of the Jamaican football community but will also provide a source of revenue to the JFF and by extension the clubs and players.

We are confident that with the support of the Jamaican people, which we should not take for granted, we will prevail.

Our mandate is clear: generate funds; establish a proper coaching system; assist in the development of playing facilities; improve the standard of coaching in Jamaica while raising the level of refereeing nationally. This is an ambitious undertaking but not an insurmountable task. Together we can do it. Jamaica deserves no less.

Let us kick the vice of complacency and tackle the issue of development.

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