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What's the plan for football?
Saturday, April 04, 2009
As is the case for so many in the current hostile economic climate, the Captain Horace Burrell-led administration of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) finds itself on a very sticky wicket.
So sticky, that it has had to impose an across-the-board, office-staff salary cut ranging between five per cent at the bottom and 20 per cent at the top, in order to save jobs.
Jamaica's ouster from the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign at the semi-final stage means revenue that the JFF would have counted on from hosting high-profile games against the powerhouses of CONCACAF have gone down the drain.
An ongoing qualifying campaign for the region's and the world's leading football-playing countries means Captain Burrell and his management staff are having a hard time finding "marketable" opposition for the Reggae Boyz, further reducing opportunities to replete the coffers.
Also, we are told that the State-run Sports Development Foundation (SDF) - which has numerous sporting bodies dependent on it for funding - has reduced its regular subvention to the JFF.
To compound its problems, the JFF has had to deal with what is being generally treated as an extreme under-achievement by the national Under-20 team.
Following the demise of the seniors, the Under-20s were being seen as the 'big hope' for the Burrell administration in terms of on-the-field performance.
Their disappointing falling away at the final stage of qualifiers in Trinidad and Tobago last month means that Jamaica have failed to qualify a national team to a FIFA World Cup since 2001 when that Under-20 bunch made it to the finals in Argentina.
Not surprisingly, the JFF has acted swiftly in axing the coaching staff. That's par for the course in football.
We are concerned, though, that the dismissal of coaches Donovan Duckie and Lenworth Hyde should not be an end in itself but should be a precursor to a plan going forward.
It seems to us that the JFF missed an opportunity to outline to the nation its programme for continuity, particularly in the absence of a technical director.
Readers should recall that under the current arrangement, Mr John Barnes has responsibility for the senior team only. As we understand it, the programme under previous technical directors - in theory at least - allowed for a particular method and style of play that was common to all national teams and was in line with the philosophy of the particular technical director. For one thing, that approach was meant to facilitate the seamless graduation from one age-group level to the next.
Notwithstanding the presence of a technical committee headed by Mr Howard McIntosh, we are not now convinced that there is currently a structure in place that will facilitate that seamless progression in style and method with everyone marching in step. Captain Burrell will probably tell us otherwise.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
As is the case for so many in the current hostile economic climate, the Captain Horace Burrell-led administration of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) finds itself on a very sticky wicket.
So sticky, that it has had to impose an across-the-board, office-staff salary cut ranging between five per cent at the bottom and 20 per cent at the top, in order to save jobs.
Jamaica's ouster from the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign at the semi-final stage means revenue that the JFF would have counted on from hosting high-profile games against the powerhouses of CONCACAF have gone down the drain.
An ongoing qualifying campaign for the region's and the world's leading football-playing countries means Captain Burrell and his management staff are having a hard time finding "marketable" opposition for the Reggae Boyz, further reducing opportunities to replete the coffers.
Also, we are told that the State-run Sports Development Foundation (SDF) - which has numerous sporting bodies dependent on it for funding - has reduced its regular subvention to the JFF.
To compound its problems, the JFF has had to deal with what is being generally treated as an extreme under-achievement by the national Under-20 team.
Following the demise of the seniors, the Under-20s were being seen as the 'big hope' for the Burrell administration in terms of on-the-field performance.
Their disappointing falling away at the final stage of qualifiers in Trinidad and Tobago last month means that Jamaica have failed to qualify a national team to a FIFA World Cup since 2001 when that Under-20 bunch made it to the finals in Argentina.
Not surprisingly, the JFF has acted swiftly in axing the coaching staff. That's par for the course in football.
We are concerned, though, that the dismissal of coaches Donovan Duckie and Lenworth Hyde should not be an end in itself but should be a precursor to a plan going forward.
It seems to us that the JFF missed an opportunity to outline to the nation its programme for continuity, particularly in the absence of a technical director.
Readers should recall that under the current arrangement, Mr John Barnes has responsibility for the senior team only. As we understand it, the programme under previous technical directors - in theory at least - allowed for a particular method and style of play that was common to all national teams and was in line with the philosophy of the particular technical director. For one thing, that approach was meant to facilitate the seamless graduation from one age-group level to the next.
Notwithstanding the presence of a technical committee headed by Mr Howard McIntosh, we are not now convinced that there is currently a structure in place that will facilitate that seamless progression in style and method with everyone marching in step. Captain Burrell will probably tell us otherwise.