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JAMAICA FOOTBALL FEDERATION LTD.
Founded 1962, Affiliated to FIFA and CONCACAF C.F.U. CABLE: Football Jamaica
20 St. Lucia Crescent, Kingston 5, Jamaica, West Indies
Telephone: (876) 929-0484/929-8036/926-1182
Fax: (876) 929-0483
Email: jamff@hotmail.com
August 19,2008
Dear Jamaicans:
I went to Brazil to see my family, specifically my daughter, she was not very well. I think I am very good medicine, she is better now.
I had the opportunity to see a television program where a 23 year old man delivered a speech about his previous life. He was on drugs and was involved in all the bad things that persons with addictions are. Today he is clean, sharp, married and a father of a three year old boy. He said something that impressed me: “Fighting always, failure maybe, give up never”.
When I heard this it put me in deep thought about the upcoming Reggae Boyz World Cup qualifying games starting with the match against Canada on August 20... Are we prepared to fight the adversities, fight our opponents and our weaknesses? Did we learn from the temporary losses that we had against Mexico, Costa Rica in the 1998 final six round? Will we be strong enough to stand up until the final whistle?
I urge you, don’t wait until the team performs well to be there, do not be afraid to take the risk in saying that we will qualify. Because dreams with out risk are conquests without merit. I learnt from the 1998 games that Jamaicans are hesitant to cheer on the team because deep down they lack confidence and it is as if they are afraid of the team failing. I’m not afraid to try and fail, I am afraid to fail with out trying………….. As Martin Luther King said. At the same time I do everything in my judgement to make the team succeed. And we did.
The fans look always for brave players, warriors, but how I can ask my son to go in a dark room if I am scared of darkness? So let us be faithful and confident in our capacity to do it, let our spirit of hope and togetherness fill up this nation and create an atmosphere that can run extra miles. Let us encourage our players to perform with excellence and show that we are one people, one love, and one nation
I am not looking for the best players anymore; I am looking for the right ones. I have to stand up firmly for players who do not focus on their reputation and ego, I have to go after those who are prepared to die for the cause, those who are filled with the spirit that Jamaicans are waiting for. Love, passion, dedication and nationalism. The player who is the team’s player, one for all, all for one. I have no doubt that is the way to face the enemy (only on the field). The players who are both dreamers and achievers.
In 1998 we had a slogan that said YES WE CAN DO IT, TOGETHER.
Let us keep repeating this over and over in the next few months.
I would like to leave with you for your own reflection a text from Theodore Roosevelt, the 28th president of the United States.
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even tough ones, checkered by failure… than to rank with those with poor spirit who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat”.
May God bless us as we travel the road together.
Founded 1962, Affiliated to FIFA and CONCACAF C.F.U. CABLE: Football Jamaica
20 St. Lucia Crescent, Kingston 5, Jamaica, West Indies
Telephone: (876) 929-0484/929-8036/926-1182
Fax: (876) 929-0483
Email: jamff@hotmail.com
August 19,2008
Dear Jamaicans:
I went to Brazil to see my family, specifically my daughter, she was not very well. I think I am very good medicine, she is better now.
I had the opportunity to see a television program where a 23 year old man delivered a speech about his previous life. He was on drugs and was involved in all the bad things that persons with addictions are. Today he is clean, sharp, married and a father of a three year old boy. He said something that impressed me: “Fighting always, failure maybe, give up never”.
When I heard this it put me in deep thought about the upcoming Reggae Boyz World Cup qualifying games starting with the match against Canada on August 20... Are we prepared to fight the adversities, fight our opponents and our weaknesses? Did we learn from the temporary losses that we had against Mexico, Costa Rica in the 1998 final six round? Will we be strong enough to stand up until the final whistle?
I urge you, don’t wait until the team performs well to be there, do not be afraid to take the risk in saying that we will qualify. Because dreams with out risk are conquests without merit. I learnt from the 1998 games that Jamaicans are hesitant to cheer on the team because deep down they lack confidence and it is as if they are afraid of the team failing. I’m not afraid to try and fail, I am afraid to fail with out trying………….. As Martin Luther King said. At the same time I do everything in my judgement to make the team succeed. And we did.
The fans look always for brave players, warriors, but how I can ask my son to go in a dark room if I am scared of darkness? So let us be faithful and confident in our capacity to do it, let our spirit of hope and togetherness fill up this nation and create an atmosphere that can run extra miles. Let us encourage our players to perform with excellence and show that we are one people, one love, and one nation
I am not looking for the best players anymore; I am looking for the right ones. I have to stand up firmly for players who do not focus on their reputation and ego, I have to go after those who are prepared to die for the cause, those who are filled with the spirit that Jamaicans are waiting for. Love, passion, dedication and nationalism. The player who is the team’s player, one for all, all for one. I have no doubt that is the way to face the enemy (only on the field). The players who are both dreamers and achievers.
In 1998 we had a slogan that said YES WE CAN DO IT, TOGETHER.
Let us keep repeating this over and over in the next few months.
I would like to leave with you for your own reflection a text from Theodore Roosevelt, the 28th president of the United States.
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even tough ones, checkered by failure… than to rank with those with poor spirit who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat”.
May God bless us as we travel the road together.
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