Gleaner, The (Newspaper) - May 5, 1987, Kingston, Kingston GLEANER SPORTS SPECIAL Tuesday PAGE ELEVEN Indecisive leadership football's major problem By H G Helps THE question has always been asked where is our ailing football Many have tried to answer the but have failed miserably in providing the answers and solutions that could heal the wounds of the nation s top sport Jamaica's football has dived dramatically over the last two decades when we had on parade local stars in the likes of Allan Skill Cole Leonard Chicken son Corsel Blair Miguel Blair ward Trevor Harris ard Bell Neville Oxford Herbert Dago Gordon Orville Edwards Lloyd Morgan Arthur Lattimore Devon Lewis and Derrick among others With the exception of Paul gat Davis Peter and An- drew Hmes our present rep bave hardly given us anything of which to be proud Our recent defeat by both Barba dos Olympic qualifying game and Cuba Pan American Games have put our nation at a cross roads m terms of where do we go from here and what can be done to stop and reverse the slide But what has contributed to this dramatic turn around In our Let us look at the level of demonstrated by local ball s ruling body the Jamaica ball Federation JFF A new administration took office In 1983 but what has happened We have seen a body which is not certain of what it is doing or whether it is Iri the right sport This body has gotten more support from the public media sponsors foot bailers and others than all pre- vious administrations put together And what is being Golden opportunities have not been taken there has been scant regard for time the wait and see attitude has taken centre stage and the leaders Just can t make up their minds In time on major decisions and are usually blamed when the truth Is told The body is now in its second term having been re elected at the 1985 Congress The administration does not and has never had a football gramme and the culminating raw effects are now visible The JFF Is headed by an ual whose academic brilliance esty and integrity cannot be Dr Winston Dawes however has allowed the reins of leadership to be pulled from his grasp a power struggle is now on and leadership is in crisis Football needs wise leadership the current administration has failed miserably to improve the country s football and the situation must be as early as ble before we ruin these young men psychologically with perennial em which is hardly any fault of their own If we are to make steady progress we will need the devoted support of people like Marston coln Happy Sutherland Tony James Wesmore Thomas Dr Davidson Tony Burrowes Desmond Henry Dickie Coke tor Hunter Raymond Forrest Frank Bim Williams Russell Bell Neville Oxford Leighton Duncan Mike Fennell Barry Cross Trevor Harris Michael King Carvel art and Dr Michael Witter We should also aim to have four terms Instead of the two-year terms that currently exist No group can effectively plan and implement fundamental DAWES grammes in two years One of the foremost tasks must be the formulation of a five-year development plan as a start Sponsorship has increased over the last two years Local business interests are rently pumping over one million dollars In the sport for the various competitions Cup Costa Cup Major League National League Parish Leagues the al junior squad the national senior squad and others but yet there are still cries for the private sector and government to do more Football has become quite that it can stand on Its own The government for example should not be asked to do much more for this sport consid- ering that other sports are starving for cash and kind Local promoters including phen Hill are leading the way by putting on International matches to raise funds for their own purposes The question will have to be asked why can't the JFF do the same thing? The decline In the standard of play is another sore spot Coaches from near and far have criticised our football with scant regard THOMAS they ever leave the Caribbean and meet other teams the most they can hope for is a draw Canadian coach Tony Taylor also added his cutting remark after maica beat Canada on Thurs day February 26 saying 1 was very surprised at the number of long balls which the Jamaicans played We should not allow ourselves to be ridiculed In such a manner by others and Just sit by taking licks without throwing a punch One of our greatest problems is lack of good coaching Not many of our coaches have been exposed enough at the international level to be placed In charge of teams and the system has become so that a coaching Job is one of the easiest to get at this time one only needs to know the shape of a football and what a goal looks like The proponents of the country getting a foreign coach for Its tional squad are now grinning and probably saying we told you when a look Is taken at the national squad the coaching techniques and the results achieved since the Mexico World Cup The Mexico World Cup fever had hardly left us when people began to DAVIS When Seba United drew with the Trinidad and Tobago Oil Com- pany In the first leg of the Club Championship final at Jarrett Prak on Wednesday September 24 last year coach Mohamed Isa who also coaches Trinidad and youth team lashed out at Seba's style of play Isa said at the time We are certain to beat them on the return leg because they play a hit and run type of football and that type of football Is outdated In the an won the return leg 1 0 Isa's words returned like an echo on Sunday April 5 when Barbados shocked Jamaica with a win In the second leg of an Olympic game at the National um coach Adrian van giving his comments after the game said among other things Jamaica's style of football the big kick and run Is outdated If DUNCAN Chung cut loose from the squad after Jamaica played Barbados in the Olympic Games first leg in Barbados and finally McNab tendered his resignation to the JFF after the Pan-American Games match up at the National Stadium An initial squad of 26 was named with additions being made with alarming regularity and sun tractions shockingly done The team adopted a dull proach that of using the long ball satellite passes as some call It as its main weapon which has been severely criticised by most followers of the sport After victories over of Haiti and Canada's Olympic squad Jamaica went down to Canada's Olympic squad In a return match drew 0-0 with Barba dos In Barbados lost to dos In Jamaica drew 2 2 with Cuba in Cuba and lost to Cuba at home The hard cold fact Is that the current squad officials have proven that they cannot handle the big task ahead especially when we consider that World Cup qualifiers start next year Top level coaching is needed if we are to do well in that tournament CARGILL wonder when Jamaica would make Its historic appearance in that tournament As the ments continued Jamaica began to mobilize its forces for the Pan- American Games and the pics and at the same time J Wray and Nephew Ltd stepped In with a whopping contribution of to fund the national team on a short-term basis A coaching panel of Stewart Carl Brown vor Harris Delroy Scott and Neville was hastily set up with McNab named as manager Then It all started Harris and Brown hopped off the train from the outset was fired by the manager and Stewart resigned In disgust McNab and Scott carried on with McNab assuming the dual role of coach and Winston Chung being named Coaching Consultant Later on McNAB players is our best bet There are numerous Jamaican born lers in England Canada and the United States who have tittle chance of making the teams of their adopted nations These players should be asked to return and train with the local contingent The football administrators will have to look seriously at either re ducing some of the many football leagues which we now have or stretching the season in order to reduce the number of competitions going on at the same time Last year for example the Man Cup daCosta Cup National League Syd Bartlett League Parish Leagues scores of corner leagues were going on simultaneously A return to the Division system may be what the doctor ordered The National League could be re- as the National Division One the Major League and Parish leagues the National Division Two and competitions such as Syd Bart lett League could be the Division Three It Is no secret that Jamaica t football is in the middle of a crisis It is now left to us to what to do with the sport which sc many Jamaicans love and which has been so well supported by the private sector the media and tators nationwide HINES Again if we are going to charge our local coaches with the task of taking us further we MUST at this stage of the game have a panel one which could Include Leighton can Bradley Stewart Geoffrey well Neville technical Lebert Halllman Russell Bell and Steve Bucknor should Bucknor decide to discontinue If the materials are provided and things fall to work then we will be forced to focus our attention where Team selection should be left to the panel with the head coach ing the final say Additionally at least two representatives from each of the 13 parish associations should be asked to scout their re- spective areas for talent and make recommendations to the coaching panel This could be done for the tional Junior programme as well A mixture of foreign and local Subscribe to the People Paper
