Jamaicans switch allegance to Bahrain

[Hortical]

So, China should be free to send all their table tennis players around the world to play for other countries.

Actually they do play for countries other that China around the world.

Jun Gao (previously competing for China) is playing for the US here against Xue Wu, another native Chinese who represents the Dominican Republic.

20% of all table tennis players at the Olympics are from China.
91 Chinese competitors represented 24 different nations.
more

[Comment]

What kills me is the lack of sponsorship or marketing the Jaaa has, if nike can value USTAF at 500 million ,how much are we worth as their main T *F competitors branded with Bolt ?

WE should have a sports marketing arm in europe ,selling our wares ,The JFF can find a merchandising deal , the JAAA cant ?how far that would go from stopping that talent flight,instead of cussing these youths (MO) , wi need fi look inna di mirrior ,mi a dead fi mi JAAA jersey.Is it because we corporate wi self as amatuer and not JAA , so wi programmed ?

We need fi brand wi self...Jamaica run fi di worlllll.

well lets do the maths...our GDP is about 14 billion their's is about 14 trillion so their track and field worth 500 million suh ours worth bout 500 thousand.... nuh suh!?

stop live in la la land. the people that put up the money have already valued us. what we FEEL we are worth is irrelevant.

[Sir X]

You have factored the European ,Asian and Latin American market,you think USATAF exclusively sells merchandise in the USA. I put it to you the same global market they source, is one that we should also source.

Nuh true?...your myopic thinking is what kills us,you think the JFF$ 100 plus us jersey is for the local market.

Lala land you say,or some of us Juss nuh rate di brand or can't see off the island?We have an international product called Jamaican track and field that is a global brand and is worth more than what you espouse, maybe not 500 million but even 10% of that is crazy money.

[Peter R]

"Eat a food" (preferably (camel?) steak and not yam and banana) trumps loyalty to country of birth!

[Don1]

You have factored the European ,Asian and Latin American market,you think USATAF exclusively sells merchandise in the USA. I put it to you the same global market they source, is one that we should also source.

Nuh true?...your myopic thinking is what kills us,you think the JFF$ 100 plus us jersey is for the local market.

Lala land you say,or some of us Juss nuh rate di brand or can't see off the island?We have an international product called Jamaican track and field that is a global brand and is worth more than what you espouse, maybe not 500 million but even 10% of that is crazy money.

Absolutely correct.

The JFF needs to hand off the marketing function to professionals...100% of it

[Willi]

JAA changed name over 10 years ago.
In line with the IAAF , now =
Intl association of athletic federations.

JAAA= Jamaica athletic admin assoc.
http://www.trackandfieldja.com/frontpage.php

[Willi]

LoL

Dat bare faced and COLD.

[Sir X]

The store is closed do you know when its going to be open ,they say its coming soon.

[Islandman]

"Eat a food" (preferably (camel?) steak and not yam and banana) trumps loyalty to country of birth!

Mosiah does have a point though. If what Bahrian is doing is replicated by a few dozen countries who have cash and no athletes, the concept of running for your national team breaks down, that may well be the future . Nuff of us who are ok with losing these three would be fuming if they take Hyde and Taylor next. I expect they will be back for more.

I don't blame the athletes for doing what they think they need to do, but there should be some restrictions I think.

Btw I heard someone say that MVP was approached some time ago to move their operation to Bahrain. Anybody knows if there is any truth to that?

[Gamma]

not sure if it was BAHRAIN and I cannot confirm the veracity of what I heard but I did hear that dallaz were dangled at them to move their base elsewhere.

look if an athlete including bolt, decides to switch allegiance, ultimately it is a decision to be made by him and the 2 associations will have to co-operate. I would imagine that at some point, the association could refuse but I do not think that they would succeed if challenged.

at the end of the day, what can we do other than boo the athlete?

[Willi]

If JAAA says no, then the IAAF will enforce the 3 year sit out!

[Islandman]

I don't think Jamaica should deny any such requests, can't see much good coming out of that.

What I meant is that if this becomes commonplace the IAAF may have to address it in some way. Doesn't have to be a ban, but maybe some kind of way to not make it so easy to do.

[Comment]

yawn...

You have factored the European ,Asian and Latin American market,you think USATAF exclusively sells merchandise in the USA. I put it to you the same global market they source, is one that we should also source.

Nuh true?...your myopic thinking is what kills us,you think the JFF$ 100 plus us jersey is for the local market.

Lala land you say,or some of us Juss nuh rate di brand or can't see off the island?We have an international product called Jamaican track and field that is a global brand and is worth more than what you espouse, maybe not 500 million but even 10% of that is crazy money.

Heard it all before. You just pick numbers out your head. There is nothing stopping us from earning 50M or even 100M except what the market values us at despite your fanciful imaginings.

I would agree that we didn't maximize our brand exposure...particularly immediately after 2012. After the 100M race the Telegraph and the Times both had Usain on the front cover and Yohan on the back cover. Cover to cover stuff!. That was unprecedented. I was talking to the head of adidas marketing for the U.K. and he estimated that to get the coverage in print and on T.V. and radio for the month of the summer games that brand Jamaica got would have cost about 30M pounds and even then just paying for the space and time in media would have come without the bonus of being associated with a wining brand. In other words if a company like Toyota wanted to replicate the presence we got in media for that month in England that is what it would have cost them. That is pretty much double our entire tourism budget for a year! We got it for free...


But the reality is that we are getting paid just about what we are valued and Usain is getting paid just about what he is valued... because brand Usain is worth much more than brand Jamaica.

If you disagree then I suggest you establish a shoe brand, build it up to about a US 4 billion dollar company (with online sales!! LOL!!) and put your money where your mouth is instead of your mouth where your imagination is.

[Sir X]

So with that danady shandy response , how much are we worth , you mentioned something about our population numbers in your 1st reference,can you put an estimated number on it this time and how you calculate the value in your paradigm .

[Sir X]

So is it 500,000 or 30 million ? you say we are getting paid what we are valued, which is what ? the GDP projection or the Adidas rep projection ?

What am I to disagree with , you quoted a figure that I could live with 30 million , so your initial GDP projection was coming out of your ass ?

My question is simple , how much are we worth and why arent we seeing it translate to the program be it the JAA conduit to T&F institutions.

It seems the 10 % i threw out there is close to the 30 million the adidas rep ,spoke of.Lets say we put it at 10 % of that amout - 3 to 5 million, thats quite a chunk of money to be living in lala land for the JAA.


If yuh caan ansa brethren mi understand, to sit on your ass admit defeat ,and criticize is cultural, so is not asking probing questions and seeking answers.