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Boxhill defends his old regime
FORMER PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Crenston Boxhill has defended his administration in light of recent scathing attacks following the denial of a work permit to Stoke City for Reggae Boy Rudolph Austin, based on the nation's lowly FIFA rankings.
In a report carried in this newspaper yesterday, the current president of the JFF, Captain Horace Burrell accused the former administration of being 'selfish' and guilty of a general 'lack of understanding'.
"First off, I have no idea what he means by selfish, the fact is that I was really sad and we sympathise with the youngster (Austin)," Boxhill told The Gleaner. "It was under our administration that his talent was recognised. He has a bright footballing future and we hope something can be done in the near future," he said.
Austin seemed headed to the English top flight as a transfer fee estimated to be somewhere in the region of £1 million (J$140 million) had been agreed to between Stoke and local outfit Portmore United. The completion of the deal hinged on the granting of a work permit to the 22-year-old and that was turned down last week.
Under current British Home Office regulations, the player would not have automatically been granted a permit based on the fact that Jamaica's Reggae Boyz, currently ranked at 108, are outside of the world's top 70 teams, based on a two-year average.
According to Home Office rules, "a player must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of its competitive 'A' team matches; and the player's country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application".
Lowest-ever ranking
Ironically, with Jamaica's current ranking at its lowest ever, the Boxhill administration has taken a lot of heat for the situation as, in 2006 under then technical director Velibor Milutinovic, the team fell a shocking 32 places from June to July.
The period, which was labelled as an experiment geared towards fostering the development of local talent, led to the national team not playing overseas-based players. A tour of Asia saw the Reggae Boyz suffer losses to teams several places below them in the rankings.
While sympathising with the situation, Boxhill does not believe all the blame can be laid at the feet of his administration.
"As for the current situation with the rankings, maybe it's simply a case of the chickens coming home to roost," Boxhill said.
"While we were in charge, everything possible was done to undermine our administration and frustrate our efforts," he said.
He also did not believe the tour of Asia to be a huge mistake.
"It wasn't a mistake, 'Bora' explained exactly what he was doing at the time and we got a couple of talented local players out of it. We never got a chance to continue with our plans," he said.
"The way he (Burrell) talked coming into office you would have thought we would have had a friendly international every month and that would have fixed the problem," he said.
"Under our plan that problem would definitely have been fixed by now."
In a report carried in this newspaper yesterday, the current president of the JFF, Captain Horace Burrell accused the former administration of being 'selfish' and guilty of a general 'lack of understanding'.
"First off, I have no idea what he means by selfish, the fact is that I was really sad and we sympathise with the youngster (Austin)," Boxhill told The Gleaner. "It was under our administration that his talent was recognised. He has a bright footballing future and we hope something can be done in the near future," he said.
Austin seemed headed to the English top flight as a transfer fee estimated to be somewhere in the region of £1 million (J$140 million) had been agreed to between Stoke and local outfit Portmore United. The completion of the deal hinged on the granting of a work permit to the 22-year-old and that was turned down last week.
Under current British Home Office regulations, the player would not have automatically been granted a permit based on the fact that Jamaica's Reggae Boyz, currently ranked at 108, are outside of the world's top 70 teams, based on a two-year average.
According to Home Office rules, "a player must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of its competitive 'A' team matches; and the player's country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application".
Lowest-ever ranking
Ironically, with Jamaica's current ranking at its lowest ever, the Boxhill administration has taken a lot of heat for the situation as, in 2006 under then technical director Velibor Milutinovic, the team fell a shocking 32 places from June to July.
The period, which was labelled as an experiment geared towards fostering the development of local talent, led to the national team not playing overseas-based players. A tour of Asia saw the Reggae Boyz suffer losses to teams several places below them in the rankings.
While sympathising with the situation, Boxhill does not believe all the blame can be laid at the feet of his administration.
"As for the current situation with the rankings, maybe it's simply a case of the chickens coming home to roost," Boxhill said.
"While we were in charge, everything possible was done to undermine our administration and frustrate our efforts," he said.
He also did not believe the tour of Asia to be a huge mistake.
"It wasn't a mistake, 'Bora' explained exactly what he was doing at the time and we got a couple of talented local players out of it. We never got a chance to continue with our plans," he said.
"The way he (Burrell) talked coming into office you would have thought we would have had a friendly international every month and that would have fixed the problem," he said.
"Under our plan that problem would definitely have been fixed by now."
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