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Warner Must Go - Seaga
Warner Must Go - Seaga
Published: Sunday | June 12, 20110 Comments
Warner
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André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
President of the Professional Football Association of Jamaica, Edward Seaga, came out swinging in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner, calling for the head of suspended Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Austin 'Jack' Warner.
Seaga, labelled Warner, who is presently caught in the middle of bribery allegations as a tyrant, and waved a finger at his credibility.
It is alleged that CFU members were given gifts of US$40,000 to influence support for Mohamed bin Hammam, who is also suspended and who at the time was challenging recently re-elected FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the top job at football's global headquarters.
get rid of him
"We cannot continue this thing with Jack Warner, we simply cannot," Seaga asserted. "The man has already committed himself and will most likely do more harm if he is left out there alone, it's time for us to get rid of him."
"We need new leadership in the region, we definitely need new leadership if we are to move forward," added Seaga, a former prime minister of Jamaica, who currently serves as the president of the Premier League Clubs Association.
FIFA has launched an investigation into the allegations and has appointed ex-FBI director Louis Freeh to lead the process.
However, Seaga is already convinced that Warner, who is also a Trinidadian government minister, is toxic to the region's football development and also raised questions about his supporters.
"He has some chief supporters who are not very much different from him and are doing the same things ... ," said the hard-hitting Seaga.
"While there is a path to lead us out of this mess, I am not certain that the guts are there to take this path. People right across the region have their issues but are afraid to come public because of fear for this man," he added, while pointing to an incident where St Kitts and Nevis' Peter Jenkins was barred from both CONCACAF and CFU in 2009, after he opposed well-known Warner ally, Captain Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation as the regional representative of the CONCACAF executive committee.
bad for football
"What kind of democracy is this? The whole money handling, the way in which he (Warner) operates is just bad for the region and bad for football. Here we are at the bottom trying to build football into something that is socially meaningful and doing well with that, and at the top, they are creating something that is managed under tyranny," Seaga stated.
In spite of his determination to see the back of Warner from the CFU top spot, Seaga admitted that he does not know who would be a more suitable option for the role.
"Quite frankly, I do not know the Caribbean football representatives as well as I know the local ones and so, I cannot suggest alternatives, but there are others who can do that," Seaga said.
Tomorrow:Jamaica's football at risk
Published: Sunday | June 12, 20110 Comments
Warner
1 2 >
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
President of the Professional Football Association of Jamaica, Edward Seaga, came out swinging in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner, calling for the head of suspended Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Austin 'Jack' Warner.
Seaga, labelled Warner, who is presently caught in the middle of bribery allegations as a tyrant, and waved a finger at his credibility.
It is alleged that CFU members were given gifts of US$40,000 to influence support for Mohamed bin Hammam, who is also suspended and who at the time was challenging recently re-elected FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the top job at football's global headquarters.
get rid of him
"We cannot continue this thing with Jack Warner, we simply cannot," Seaga asserted. "The man has already committed himself and will most likely do more harm if he is left out there alone, it's time for us to get rid of him."
"We need new leadership in the region, we definitely need new leadership if we are to move forward," added Seaga, a former prime minister of Jamaica, who currently serves as the president of the Premier League Clubs Association.
FIFA has launched an investigation into the allegations and has appointed ex-FBI director Louis Freeh to lead the process.
However, Seaga is already convinced that Warner, who is also a Trinidadian government minister, is toxic to the region's football development and also raised questions about his supporters.
"He has some chief supporters who are not very much different from him and are doing the same things ... ," said the hard-hitting Seaga.
"While there is a path to lead us out of this mess, I am not certain that the guts are there to take this path. People right across the region have their issues but are afraid to come public because of fear for this man," he added, while pointing to an incident where St Kitts and Nevis' Peter Jenkins was barred from both CONCACAF and CFU in 2009, after he opposed well-known Warner ally, Captain Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation as the regional representative of the CONCACAF executive committee.
bad for football
"What kind of democracy is this? The whole money handling, the way in which he (Warner) operates is just bad for the region and bad for football. Here we are at the bottom trying to build football into something that is socially meaningful and doing well with that, and at the top, they are creating something that is managed under tyranny," Seaga stated.
In spite of his determination to see the back of Warner from the CFU top spot, Seaga admitted that he does not know who would be a more suitable option for the role.
"Quite frankly, I do not know the Caribbean football representatives as well as I know the local ones and so, I cannot suggest alternatives, but there are others who can do that," Seaga said.
Tomorrow:Jamaica's football at risk
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