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JFF upbeat
after positive dialogue with English FA
BY Ian Burnett Sport Editor burnetti@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
London, England - Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) boss, Captain Horace Burrell, and its general secretary, Horace Reid, left a meeting with representatives of the English Football Association (the FA) at Wembley Stadium here yesterday in an upbeat mood, believing they are close to writing off a near J$22-million debt.
BURRELL... the FA has been receptive to all our requests
Following a near half-hour meeting with the FA's Simon Johnson, director of corporate affairs, and Jane Bateman, head of international relations, after a brief tour of the new Wembley Stadium, the JFF proposed that the FA uses the debt of £153,431.94 to aid the development of Jamaican football, which would ultimately benefit English football.
Johnson and Bateman threw their support behind the JFF. "We have been discussing today how the English FA could help in the development of Jamaican football, and there have been three main areas that we have discussed," Johnson told the Observer at meeting's end.
He added: "We discussed the debt and a proposal was made to us about how we could use that money for the development of Jamaican football and for the benefit of English football.
"We have discussed a few more details of that... and we have said that we would come back to them (JFF) with a final answer on that in as short a period of time as we can."
Neither Johnson nor Bateman elaborated on what was meant by the "development of Jamaican football", preferring to get the approval of the FA's board before commenting further.
The JFF has also requested that the FA lends support with administrative seminars for parish heads in Jamaica, as well as to allow Jamaican teams to play international games in the UK .
Burrell was ecstatic with the assurances given at yesterday's meeting.
"I am very satisfied, to say the least. The English FA has been very receptive to all our requests and it is for us now to arrange convenient dates which would be satisfactory to both sides."
He added: "The general secretary will be working with the FA to establishing these dates because in essence we're going to be seeing the FA delegation arrive in Jamaica to have seminars with our administrators at the parish level, and we're not confining these seminars to Kingston, but we are looking at the west. Montego Bay, where we would be hosting some of these seminars.
"They are going to be coming back to us early, because the whole thing has got to be a board decision, but I have been assured that the group that came to Jamaica to discuss that matter is supportive and will recommend these proposals to the board for approval. From all accounts it would appear that we are certainly on the right track in getting their support for recommendation to the board."
The JFF has been indebted to the English FA following the game between Jamaica and England at Old Trafford on June 3, 2006 , after it was presented with 9,118 tickets to sell to Jamaican fans for the game England won 6-0.
The tickets were sold for £25 each, which would total £227,950, but the JFF failed to hand over the agreed portion of sales to the FA.
Of that sum, according to JFF documents, 204 tickets were unsold, which would total £5,100. There was a match fee of £48,648.65 and airfare and accommodation fee of £20,769.41, resulting in the current debt of £153,431.94.
Yesterday, Johnson said the meeting "continued in the same spirit" as the previous one held in Kingston a few weeks ago.
"We are very keen to help," he said, noting that "it has been a very constructive conversation today and we really appreciate the way the leadership of the JFF is building up Jamaican football to take it to the next level, and if we can use the excellent relationship that we have to help then it is something that we would do."
Pressed further about the likelihood of the FA's 12-member board approving the recommendation, Johnson would only say: "I said it in Kingston that I always believed that we would find a solution to the benefit of both organisations."
Captain Burrell and Reid arrived in London yesterday morning and are scheduled to travel to Turin, Italy today for final discussions with an equipment sponsor. After that meeting they will move on to The FIFA in Zurich, ,Switzerland, for a meeting with president Sepp Blatter tomorrow.
The meeting with senior executives of Virgin Atlantic Airlines was postponed to Friday.
after positive dialogue with English FA
BY Ian Burnett Sport Editor burnetti@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
London, England - Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) boss, Captain Horace Burrell, and its general secretary, Horace Reid, left a meeting with representatives of the English Football Association (the FA) at Wembley Stadium here yesterday in an upbeat mood, believing they are close to writing off a near J$22-million debt.
BURRELL... the FA has been receptive to all our requests
Following a near half-hour meeting with the FA's Simon Johnson, director of corporate affairs, and Jane Bateman, head of international relations, after a brief tour of the new Wembley Stadium, the JFF proposed that the FA uses the debt of £153,431.94 to aid the development of Jamaican football, which would ultimately benefit English football.
Johnson and Bateman threw their support behind the JFF. "We have been discussing today how the English FA could help in the development of Jamaican football, and there have been three main areas that we have discussed," Johnson told the Observer at meeting's end.
He added: "We discussed the debt and a proposal was made to us about how we could use that money for the development of Jamaican football and for the benefit of English football.
"We have discussed a few more details of that... and we have said that we would come back to them (JFF) with a final answer on that in as short a period of time as we can."
Neither Johnson nor Bateman elaborated on what was meant by the "development of Jamaican football", preferring to get the approval of the FA's board before commenting further.
The JFF has also requested that the FA lends support with administrative seminars for parish heads in Jamaica, as well as to allow Jamaican teams to play international games in the UK .
Burrell was ecstatic with the assurances given at yesterday's meeting.
"I am very satisfied, to say the least. The English FA has been very receptive to all our requests and it is for us now to arrange convenient dates which would be satisfactory to both sides."
He added: "The general secretary will be working with the FA to establishing these dates because in essence we're going to be seeing the FA delegation arrive in Jamaica to have seminars with our administrators at the parish level, and we're not confining these seminars to Kingston, but we are looking at the west. Montego Bay, where we would be hosting some of these seminars.
"They are going to be coming back to us early, because the whole thing has got to be a board decision, but I have been assured that the group that came to Jamaica to discuss that matter is supportive and will recommend these proposals to the board for approval. From all accounts it would appear that we are certainly on the right track in getting their support for recommendation to the board."
The JFF has been indebted to the English FA following the game between Jamaica and England at Old Trafford on June 3, 2006 , after it was presented with 9,118 tickets to sell to Jamaican fans for the game England won 6-0.
The tickets were sold for £25 each, which would total £227,950, but the JFF failed to hand over the agreed portion of sales to the FA.
Of that sum, according to JFF documents, 204 tickets were unsold, which would total £5,100. There was a match fee of £48,648.65 and airfare and accommodation fee of £20,769.41, resulting in the current debt of £153,431.94.
Yesterday, Johnson said the meeting "continued in the same spirit" as the previous one held in Kingston a few weeks ago.
"We are very keen to help," he said, noting that "it has been a very constructive conversation today and we really appreciate the way the leadership of the JFF is building up Jamaican football to take it to the next level, and if we can use the excellent relationship that we have to help then it is something that we would do."
Pressed further about the likelihood of the FA's 12-member board approving the recommendation, Johnson would only say: "I said it in Kingston that I always believed that we would find a solution to the benefit of both organisations."
Captain Burrell and Reid arrived in London yesterday morning and are scheduled to travel to Turin, Italy today for final discussions with an equipment sponsor. After that meeting they will move on to The FIFA in Zurich, ,Switzerland, for a meeting with president Sepp Blatter tomorrow.
The meeting with senior executives of Virgin Atlantic Airlines was postponed to Friday.
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