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Independence, Mr Whitmore and the business of sports
Saturday, August 06, 2011
TODAY we celebrate our 49th birthday as an independent nation, somewhat comforted by the fact that we have developed a very strong international sporting pedigree and tradition..
Nonetheless, it is our humble view that successive governments have been tardy in displaying the requisite foresight and respect sport deserves, resulting in us not maximising on our sporting potential.
Still, we take solace in the fact that at 49, we are still a relatively young country. Hopefully our leaders will eventually come to the realisation that sport is big business which has the potential to greatly impact the economy.
No sport can boast of greater economic potential than football and a week ago the world governing body of football, FIFA, held its draw in a glitzy ceremony in Rio de Janeiro for the qualification rounds of the 2014 Brazil World Cup Finals. Jamaica emerged as one of the seeded teams, which will see us bowing into action at the semi-final phase of the CONCACAF fixture in June next year.
The Jamaica Football Federation’s general secretary, Mr Horace Reid, who along with president, Captain Horace Burrell, was in South America for the draw, was upbeat about the possibilities for the Boyz..
“We can top the group with good preparation, solid application and the fervent support of a unified and motivated country, as was the experience in the France '98 campaign,” he told the Sunday Observer.
We agree with Mr Reid that success requires the nation’s collective support.
However, we wish to charge the JFF leadership that like in the 1998 campaign, it must guide from the front with wisdom and foresight.
We submit that the JFF leadership erred in appointing coaches, Mr Sebastiao Lazaroni and Mr Rene Simoes at the ‘11th hour’ in the last two World Cup campaigns in 2006 and 2010, which played a role in our failure to qualify.
We hold both gentlemen in the highest esteem, but their last minute appointments disrupted the programmes and we were never able to recover.
Who can forget Mr Lazaroni’s famous explanation: “I don’t know the players,” when he failed to make the obvious substitutions against the USA, who rallied to pull off an 88th minute equaliser against some tired Reggae Boyz in a World Cup qualifier at the National Stadium in 2004.
Then after Mr Simoes was hired in late 2007, merely a few months before the start of qualifiers, he went about scouting for players even after the campaign started, forcing the JFF boss to fire him after his refusal to change his policy with a handful of games remaining in the semi-final phase.
It should be remembered that Serbian coach Mr Bora Milutinovic had already spent the better part of a year under the previous JFF administration scouting players, with the ultimate aim of creating a pool of players good enough to contest the qualifiers.
Now present head coach Mr Theodore Whitmore has been given a full four-year cycle to prepare a team for Brazil, and after a shaky start, he has managed to win the Caribbean Cup and followed up with an impressive performance at the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup.
He now needs the full support of the JFF leadership as he continues to mould a solid squad over the next 10 months. The JFF should give him the freedom to lead the technical area. He deserves it.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...#ixzz1UGAUDrTm
Saturday, August 06, 2011
TODAY we celebrate our 49th birthday as an independent nation, somewhat comforted by the fact that we have developed a very strong international sporting pedigree and tradition..
Nonetheless, it is our humble view that successive governments have been tardy in displaying the requisite foresight and respect sport deserves, resulting in us not maximising on our sporting potential.
Still, we take solace in the fact that at 49, we are still a relatively young country. Hopefully our leaders will eventually come to the realisation that sport is big business which has the potential to greatly impact the economy.
No sport can boast of greater economic potential than football and a week ago the world governing body of football, FIFA, held its draw in a glitzy ceremony in Rio de Janeiro for the qualification rounds of the 2014 Brazil World Cup Finals. Jamaica emerged as one of the seeded teams, which will see us bowing into action at the semi-final phase of the CONCACAF fixture in June next year.
The Jamaica Football Federation’s general secretary, Mr Horace Reid, who along with president, Captain Horace Burrell, was in South America for the draw, was upbeat about the possibilities for the Boyz..
“We can top the group with good preparation, solid application and the fervent support of a unified and motivated country, as was the experience in the France '98 campaign,” he told the Sunday Observer.
We agree with Mr Reid that success requires the nation’s collective support.
However, we wish to charge the JFF leadership that like in the 1998 campaign, it must guide from the front with wisdom and foresight.
We submit that the JFF leadership erred in appointing coaches, Mr Sebastiao Lazaroni and Mr Rene Simoes at the ‘11th hour’ in the last two World Cup campaigns in 2006 and 2010, which played a role in our failure to qualify.
We hold both gentlemen in the highest esteem, but their last minute appointments disrupted the programmes and we were never able to recover.
Who can forget Mr Lazaroni’s famous explanation: “I don’t know the players,” when he failed to make the obvious substitutions against the USA, who rallied to pull off an 88th minute equaliser against some tired Reggae Boyz in a World Cup qualifier at the National Stadium in 2004.
Then after Mr Simoes was hired in late 2007, merely a few months before the start of qualifiers, he went about scouting for players even after the campaign started, forcing the JFF boss to fire him after his refusal to change his policy with a handful of games remaining in the semi-final phase.
It should be remembered that Serbian coach Mr Bora Milutinovic had already spent the better part of a year under the previous JFF administration scouting players, with the ultimate aim of creating a pool of players good enough to contest the qualifiers.
Now present head coach Mr Theodore Whitmore has been given a full four-year cycle to prepare a team for Brazil, and after a shaky start, he has managed to win the Caribbean Cup and followed up with an impressive performance at the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup.
He now needs the full support of the JFF leadership as he continues to mould a solid squad over the next 10 months. The JFF should give him the freedom to lead the technical area. He deserves it.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...#ixzz1UGAUDrTm
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