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Football's uncertain ride
Saturday, August 11, 2007
THERE is much about life that is like a roller coaster ride or perhaps more aptly, a surfer riding a swell.
Four years ago when Mr Crenston Boxhill defeated Captain Horace Burrell to take over presidency of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and by virtue of that, leadership of Jamaica's football, he had crested the wave.
Four years on he has indicated he will not seek reelection at the Voting Congress set for the Sandals Negril Beach Resort on November 4.
For those with an understanding of politics, Mr Boxhill's decision makes perfect sense. The truth is that he has been caught on the downside of the wave for some time now with no clear path back to the crest. This, notwithstanding the extraordinary and entirely unexpected silver medal performance of the Under-20s at the Pan Am Games in Brazil recently.
From the beginning, Mr Boxhill had a hard time. He lacked the financial and business clout, not to mention the marketing savvy, of his badly stung predecessor. Soon, Mr Boxhill found that some of those who had helped to elect him were in regret mode and eager to see the back of him.
The failure of the senior Reggae Boyz to qualify for the 2006 senior FIFA World Cup in Germany despite the expenditure of huge amounts and the assembling of a squad described by the experts as perhaps the most talented ever to represent Jamaica, would have been like a hammer blow for Mr Boxhill and his administration.
And when highly fancied Under-20 and Under-17 squads failed to qualify for age group FIFA World Cups because of what many considered to be inadequate preparation in the case of the Under-20s and in both cases inadequacy of the coaching staff, the die was cast.
Mr Boxhill can perhaps point to solid achievements in the widening and popularising of women's football and to strengthening of the youth programme. But these were never going to be enough to save his administration. As it was, the success of the Pan Am team was a case of too little too late.
So now the door is left wide open for the return of Captain Burrell whose vision guided Jamaica to its historic qualification for the World Cup in France in 1998. Mr Burrell could also boast the qualification of Under-17 and Under-20 teams to FIFA World Cups during his tenure as president from 1994 to 2003.
Indeed, from this distance it would appear that Captain Burrell's loss to Mr Boxhill four years ago had nothing to do with any perception that he had failed in his service to Jamaica's football, though he undoubtedly made mistakes.
Rather, the feeling four years ago was that many in the football fraternity felt Captain Burrell had grown arrogant, disrespectful and forgetful of whom his real constituents were.
The feeling back then was that many with the right to vote felt it was time to teach Captain Burrell a lesson.
Hopefully, four years on, Captain Burrell, who this newspaper believes has much more to offer Jamaica's football, will have learnt his lesson.
Except for the views expressed in the column above, the articles published on this page do not necessarily represent the views of the Jamaica Observer.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
THERE is much about life that is like a roller coaster ride or perhaps more aptly, a surfer riding a swell.
Four years ago when Mr Crenston Boxhill defeated Captain Horace Burrell to take over presidency of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and by virtue of that, leadership of Jamaica's football, he had crested the wave.
Four years on he has indicated he will not seek reelection at the Voting Congress set for the Sandals Negril Beach Resort on November 4.
For those with an understanding of politics, Mr Boxhill's decision makes perfect sense. The truth is that he has been caught on the downside of the wave for some time now with no clear path back to the crest. This, notwithstanding the extraordinary and entirely unexpected silver medal performance of the Under-20s at the Pan Am Games in Brazil recently.
From the beginning, Mr Boxhill had a hard time. He lacked the financial and business clout, not to mention the marketing savvy, of his badly stung predecessor. Soon, Mr Boxhill found that some of those who had helped to elect him were in regret mode and eager to see the back of him.
The failure of the senior Reggae Boyz to qualify for the 2006 senior FIFA World Cup in Germany despite the expenditure of huge amounts and the assembling of a squad described by the experts as perhaps the most talented ever to represent Jamaica, would have been like a hammer blow for Mr Boxhill and his administration.
And when highly fancied Under-20 and Under-17 squads failed to qualify for age group FIFA World Cups because of what many considered to be inadequate preparation in the case of the Under-20s and in both cases inadequacy of the coaching staff, the die was cast.
Mr Boxhill can perhaps point to solid achievements in the widening and popularising of women's football and to strengthening of the youth programme. But these were never going to be enough to save his administration. As it was, the success of the Pan Am team was a case of too little too late.
So now the door is left wide open for the return of Captain Burrell whose vision guided Jamaica to its historic qualification for the World Cup in France in 1998. Mr Burrell could also boast the qualification of Under-17 and Under-20 teams to FIFA World Cups during his tenure as president from 1994 to 2003.
Indeed, from this distance it would appear that Captain Burrell's loss to Mr Boxhill four years ago had nothing to do with any perception that he had failed in his service to Jamaica's football, though he undoubtedly made mistakes.
Rather, the feeling four years ago was that many in the football fraternity felt Captain Burrell had grown arrogant, disrespectful and forgetful of whom his real constituents were.
The feeling back then was that many with the right to vote felt it was time to teach Captain Burrell a lesson.
Hopefully, four years on, Captain Burrell, who this newspaper believes has much more to offer Jamaica's football, will have learnt his lesson.
Except for the views expressed in the column above, the articles published on this page do not necessarily represent the views of the Jamaica Observer.
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