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</TD><TD><DIV class=bigheadline>Not a bark in regional football
</DIV><DIV class=byline>Fazeer Mohammed</DIV>
<DIV class=dateline>Friday, August 25th 2006</DIV>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Action in the Trinidad and Tobago/Aruba CFU Youth Cup showdown at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima last week.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><DIV class=texte>
Forget about aspiring to be Prime Minister, or even Executive President. If you want to know what real power feels like, try for a top position in football.
Whether on the international, regional or local scene, the sheer popularity of the game affords prominent administrators a degree of authority that makes them the envy of politicians anywhere in the world.
Supporters follow them loyally awaiting any scraps tossed in their direction, and critics-especially those directly involved in the sport at some level--are always fearful of jeopardising their own slice of the coconut bake if their observations are deemed to be too harsh.
Take for example the attempt by the Jamaican Football Federation to distance itself from the many adverse comments in the media in that island following the last-minute decision to change the format of the current Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Cup halfway through the tournament.
Even if the rationale for the adjustment makes a bit of sense, only a blind loyalist will not see the very obvious problem of choosing to take such action when the event is already underway. Its very integrity is significantly compromised, and with few dissenting voices being heard, establishes a precedent which suggests that similar acts of convenience may be taken at future competitions. </DIV><DIV class=texte>
To respond that the change makes it more competitive for teams still involved in qualifying for the regional finals, while the Jamaicans, as hosts and automatic qualifiers for that tournament, are now getting an opportunity to sharpen their game against tougher North and Central American opponents, completely misses the point. Would the tennis players preparing for the start of the US Open next Monday accept a provisional draw, allowing organisers to make adjustments later on so that there can be more competitive encounters and fewer one-sided affairs heading into the second week of the year's final Grand Slam event?
Or is this confirmation that the Youth Cup is really a vaille-que-vaille event, subject to the whims and fancies of organisers? Not for the first time, we are witnessing a classic case of the end justifying the means with an assortment of lemmings happy to go along with it for fear of incurring the wrath of their superiors.
Wednesday's news release from the CFU stated that JFF president Crenston Boxhill, having been notified of the intended change before it was made public, endorsed the amendment. It went even further to quote Boxhill as advising CFU and CONCACAF president Jack Warner that Jamaican coach David Hunte insists that he was misquoted in comments attributed to him criticising the decision to put his team in a second round grouping with Mexico, Canada and Panama.
I suppose it's useful for anyone involved in football in the region to keep a lot of space behind them. You never know when you will have to backtrack.
Yet another side to this issue concerns a lot of the criticism via the Jamaican media after the decision was made last Saturday to alter the
</TD><TD><DIV class=bigheadline>Not a bark in regional football</DIV><DIV class=byline>Fazeer Mohammed</DIV>
<DIV class=dateline>Friday, August 25th 2006</DIV>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Action in the Trinidad and Tobago/Aruba CFU Youth Cup showdown at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Arima last week.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><DIV class=texte>Forget about aspiring to be Prime Minister, or even Executive President. If you want to know what real power feels like, try for a top position in football.
Whether on the international, regional or local scene, the sheer popularity of the game affords prominent administrators a degree of authority that makes them the envy of politicians anywhere in the world.
Supporters follow them loyally awaiting any scraps tossed in their direction, and critics-especially those directly involved in the sport at some level--are always fearful of jeopardising their own slice of the coconut bake if their observations are deemed to be too harsh.
Take for example the attempt by the Jamaican Football Federation to distance itself from the many adverse comments in the media in that island following the last-minute decision to change the format of the current Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Cup halfway through the tournament.
Even if the rationale for the adjustment makes a bit of sense, only a blind loyalist will not see the very obvious problem of choosing to take such action when the event is already underway. Its very integrity is significantly compromised, and with few dissenting voices being heard, establishes a precedent which suggests that similar acts of convenience may be taken at future competitions. </DIV><DIV class=texte>
To respond that the change makes it more competitive for teams still involved in qualifying for the regional finals, while the Jamaicans, as hosts and automatic qualifiers for that tournament, are now getting an opportunity to sharpen their game against tougher North and Central American opponents, completely misses the point. Would the tennis players preparing for the start of the US Open next Monday accept a provisional draw, allowing organisers to make adjustments later on so that there can be more competitive encounters and fewer one-sided affairs heading into the second week of the year's final Grand Slam event?
Or is this confirmation that the Youth Cup is really a vaille-que-vaille event, subject to the whims and fancies of organisers? Not for the first time, we are witnessing a classic case of the end justifying the means with an assortment of lemmings happy to go along with it for fear of incurring the wrath of their superiors.
Wednesday's news release from the CFU stated that JFF president Crenston Boxhill, having been notified of the intended change before it was made public, endorsed the amendment. It went even further to quote Boxhill as advising CFU and CONCACAF president Jack Warner that Jamaican coach David Hunte insists that he was misquoted in comments attributed to him criticising the decision to put his team in a second round grouping with Mexico, Canada and Panama.
I suppose it's useful for anyone involved in football in the region to keep a lot of space behind them. You never know when you will have to backtrack.
Yet another side to this issue concerns a lot of the criticism via the Jamaican media after the decision was made last Saturday to alter the
</DIV><DIV></DIV><DIV>I notice he even yanked a bit of my idea when I responded to our poor misguided HL, regarding the idea of seeding and ranking in tournaments. </DIV><DIV></DIV><DIV>Fazeer, job well done. But don't look to write on too much football these days. Stick to cricket. Football is not for the faint of heart. Well, in a real sense, it is!
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