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St Bess FA boss blasts Boxhill admin - archives
St Bess FA boss blasts Boxhill administration
GARFIELD MYERS, Editor-at-Large South-Central Bureau
Friday, October 12, 2007
St Elizabeth FA president Courtney Brown (standing) speaking at the Luana Sports Club on Tuesday night.
Black River, St Elizabeth - The outgoing Crenston Boxhill-led Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has been accused of ineptitude and wastefulness in their approach to the building of a football academy close to Munro College in Malvern and in the hiring of coach Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic.
Speaking at the 43rd Annual Awards Ceremony of the St Elizabeth Football Association on Tuesday night, association president Courtney Brown claimed Boxhill and his team had made a "wreck" of Jamaica's football and urged a re-examination of Milutinovic's contract which was signed last year.
Captain Horace Burrell, who takes over as president of the JFF on November 5, replacing Boxhill, has already said he will review the contract as a matter of priority.
A forceful Brown told members of the St Elizabeth football fraternity at the Luana Sports Club outside Black River that "the lack of vision and foresight by this present administration has led Jamaica's football to a wreck".
Brown, whose association was among the 12 parish bodies which supported Burrell's nomination for a return to the JFF presidency which he shockingly lost to Boxhill in 2003, identified a series of foul-ups which led to the failure of the national Under-15s to defend their 2005 CFU title as an example of the outgoing administration's inefficiency.
He then turned to the Academy, which is being part-funded by FIFA, the world governing body for football through its Goal Project. Claiming that the work being done at Munro "is a waste of the GOAL Project money", Brown urged those present to go and "have a look" for themselves.
He claimed that he visited the site recently where a new building is under construction to supplement a renovated complex and found facilities that were unsuitable.
"I was introduced to the dining room; the little space cannot hold 20 footballers seated comfortably; the kitchen cannot and will not hold two (30-inch, four-burner) gas stoves," he claimed.
He questioned, "how can you have a football academy without not even a six-a-side field to train on?" and claimed that in buying the property initially, the JFF paid $23 million, though it was worth no more than $14-15 million.
"It's a waste of FIFA money.," Brown charged, noting also that the project had gone well beyond its scheduled completion date.
Brown's criticism of the academy project followed that by Burrell last Saturday at the Portmore Football League's annual awards ceremony. Then, Burrell criticised the Boxhill administration for moving the project from Portmore where he had broken ground in November 2003.
Turning to Milutinovic, Brown said while the JFF was paying $70 million per year to the world-rated Serbian, word was circulating that the coach had made it known that he was not the technical director of Jamaica's football but was merely here to get the Reggae Boyz to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
He pointed to Milutinovic's absence from recent training programmes and qualifiers involving the Under-23s and women's teams as evidence that the Serbian's contract may be too limited.
"The girls have just completed a qualifying round and there was no Bora. The Under-23s preparing for qualifiers and there is no Bora." he said.
"I want to call on the JFF to re-examine this $70 million man because I think it's a waste," said Brown.
GARFIELD MYERS, Editor-at-Large South-Central Bureau
Friday, October 12, 2007
St Elizabeth FA president Courtney Brown (standing) speaking at the Luana Sports Club on Tuesday night.
Black River, St Elizabeth - The outgoing Crenston Boxhill-led Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has been accused of ineptitude and wastefulness in their approach to the building of a football academy close to Munro College in Malvern and in the hiring of coach Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic.
Speaking at the 43rd Annual Awards Ceremony of the St Elizabeth Football Association on Tuesday night, association president Courtney Brown claimed Boxhill and his team had made a "wreck" of Jamaica's football and urged a re-examination of Milutinovic's contract which was signed last year.
Captain Horace Burrell, who takes over as president of the JFF on November 5, replacing Boxhill, has already said he will review the contract as a matter of priority.
A forceful Brown told members of the St Elizabeth football fraternity at the Luana Sports Club outside Black River that "the lack of vision and foresight by this present administration has led Jamaica's football to a wreck".
Brown, whose association was among the 12 parish bodies which supported Burrell's nomination for a return to the JFF presidency which he shockingly lost to Boxhill in 2003, identified a series of foul-ups which led to the failure of the national Under-15s to defend their 2005 CFU title as an example of the outgoing administration's inefficiency.
He then turned to the Academy, which is being part-funded by FIFA, the world governing body for football through its Goal Project. Claiming that the work being done at Munro "is a waste of the GOAL Project money", Brown urged those present to go and "have a look" for themselves.
He claimed that he visited the site recently where a new building is under construction to supplement a renovated complex and found facilities that were unsuitable.
"I was introduced to the dining room; the little space cannot hold 20 footballers seated comfortably; the kitchen cannot and will not hold two (30-inch, four-burner) gas stoves," he claimed.
He questioned, "how can you have a football academy without not even a six-a-side field to train on?" and claimed that in buying the property initially, the JFF paid $23 million, though it was worth no more than $14-15 million.
"It's a waste of FIFA money.," Brown charged, noting also that the project had gone well beyond its scheduled completion date.
Brown's criticism of the academy project followed that by Burrell last Saturday at the Portmore Football League's annual awards ceremony. Then, Burrell criticised the Boxhill administration for moving the project from Portmore where he had broken ground in November 2003.
Turning to Milutinovic, Brown said while the JFF was paying $70 million per year to the world-rated Serbian, word was circulating that the coach had made it known that he was not the technical director of Jamaica's football but was merely here to get the Reggae Boyz to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
He pointed to Milutinovic's absence from recent training programmes and qualifiers involving the Under-23s and women's teams as evidence that the Serbian's contract may be too limited.
"The girls have just completed a qualifying round and there was no Bora. The Under-23s preparing for qualifiers and there is no Bora." he said.
"I want to call on the JFF to re-examine this $70 million man because I think it's a waste," said Brown.
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