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A paucity of thought and planningSaturday, December 15, 2007
The situation surrounding the unfinished Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) academy and training centre at Munro in Malvern, St Elizabeth being funded by world football's governing body, FIFA, is puzzling and a cause for worry.
To begin with, it would appear that there is a fair amount of football politics being played out. How else to explain the reported assertion by a former president of the JFF, Mr Lincoln 'Happy' Sutherland, following a recent visit, that the facility was more suited for a "boot camp".
And no, it doesn't take four hours from Kingston to Munro. Any decent, road-worthy, passenger-carrying motor vehicle will get the job done in two-and-a-half hours or less - even on a bad day.
Not that distance from Kingston need be a negative. In fact, this newspaper is strongly of the view that isolation such as can be had at Munro is ideal for a pure and dedicated training facility.
Also, Munro College's position as one of Jamaica's leading high schools, and its proximity to other outstanding educational institutions such as Hampton (high school for girls) and Bethlehem Teachers' College, mean there should be plentiful academic support for young footballers.
It would appear that this consideration was much in the thoughts of the Crenston Boxhill-led football administration when they opted to switch the academy to Munro from Portmore.
But even as we recognise the value of isolation and a strong academic environment, there are aspects of the relocation to Munro that are nothing short of bewildering.
For example, on what basis did the JFF - in a situation where state-owned lands were available elsewhere free of cost - decide to spend millions of dollars to firstly buy land across the road from Munro College, then remodel existing buildings and also erect new buildings without first having legal and contractual guarantees as to the availability of football fields?
We are now being told that the JFF has already spent $35 million of FIFA's money on the Munro project, but while there is verbal understanding that land for four training fields will be made available by Munro College, the JFF actually has nothing in writing.
This situation, we submit, is entirely reprehensible.
Also, as we have pointed out before in this space, there is the question of where a cheap, consistent and plentiful supply of water is to be sourced to irrigate the football fields and keep them at a standard necessary for a football academy.
Located at 2,500 feet above sea level in one of the drier areas of Jamaica, irrigation water is not easily had at Munro. It seems the Boxhill administration went ahead without giving due thought to this aspect.
We have been told by Mr Carvel Stewart, who has played a monitoring and supervisory role on behalf of the JFF, that a catchment area could be developed to store "grey" and rain water to fill the irrigation needs.
But again, it appears there is no contract with the Munro and Dickenson Trust which controls Munro lands. Nor, it seems, has there been any study to determine the required scope of such a "catchment" or, for that matter, the feasibility of such a project which will inevitably require considerable additional money.
From this distance it seems to us that the JFF must now concentrate all its efforts on salvaging a situation that could have been avoided with proper thought and planning.
In all of this we must wonder at the role of FIFA and its development officer, Mr Harold Taylor. For let's not forget that at every stage FIFA should have seen the plans, made their assessments and 'nodded' in approval before handing out cheques.
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