Austin weighs in on Wint dilemma

Former national senior men's football team captain Rodolph Austin is unsettled by what he sees as strong distrust between the Reggae Boyz and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

Austin, who represented Jamaica between 2004 and 2016, was commenting on the tension between the players and the JFF which saw the Boyz issue an ultimatum, demanding General Secretary Dalton Wint's resignation. In that ultimatum, the team threatened not to play its Concacaf Nations League game against Suriname on June 7.

Wint promised his resignation, however, the letter fulfilling that promise, with his signature, has remained outstanding two weeks later.

When asked if he believes Wint's promise may have been an empty one, leading to further tension or another ultimatum, Austin explained how he would have handled such a situation.

"The players will always want to represent the country, there's never been a player who wouldn't want to go on the field and play," Austin told STAR Sports. "But sometimes the players have to put down their feet so that these guys will see that they are serious and I think that is what the current crop of players are trying to do."

Austin said that tension is not uncommon between players and the JFF as there were between both parties in his time on the team. "Captain [Horace Burrell] was there at that time, and he had the experience to deal with these things, he dealt with them and put the country first," he said.

Austin spoke on how central figures in the issue have gone quiet about the situation.

"When you have issues, you have to deal with them, face it, and get it over with it," he said.

Football pundit Clyde Jureidini has labelled the situation as confusing, frustrating, and says the JFF is having a leadership crisis that should be fixed quickly.

"If you're resigning, you resign," he said. "We hear Paul Hall (national team interim head coach) say he is resigning, and then he wasn't. We hear Dalton Wint say he's resigning and then he wasn't. We hear Michael Ricketts (JFF president) say that Dalton Wint would resign and then he didn't. I can't tell whether someone is telling the truth or not. Clearly those three instances were not the truth."