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Ricketts looks to congress for JFF structural changes
November 14, 2022
President of the Jamaica Football Federation, Michael Ricketts, wants the FIFA-recommended structural changes to the hierarchy of the organisation to be implemented at the upcoming congress on December 20.
According to Ricketts, the final draft document is currently at FIFA, which the JFF is expected to receive before congress where they will be discussed.
"We are at the very last stage. We are now waiting on FIFA to just reproduce the very final draft to send back to us. That is where we are. That is almost complete and we would have had several meetings with FIFA, several exchanges and I think we are on the verge of getting that final document.
"As it is, there is a congress on December 20. It will be taken to congress for ratification," Ricketts said in an exclusive interview with STAR Sports.
He dismissed claims that the changes were ordered by FIFA but instead argued that he requested the adjustments for the growth of the sport on the island.
"FIFA didn't ask for that. The JFF, I Michael Ricketts asked. We wrote to FIFA and asked that they help us to restructure the statutes," Ricketts said.
Under the current structure of the JFF, the executive body is elected by the presidents of the 13 parochial associations, with Kingston and St Andrew counted as one in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA).
It translates to the 13 presidents being the only individuals able to enact changes in the JFF and this was effected by former president Captain Horace Burrell, who changed the guidelines of the JFF after retaking office in 2007.
Burrell had earlier lost the presidency to Crenston Boxhill in 2003, when the voting comprised more than 100 ballots, with Boxhill winning 54-49 votes. Burrell had managed the operations of the JFF after first becoming president in 1994 until he lost to Boxhill.
According to Ricketts, after his request to FIFA for a change, a delegation from the parent body visited the island in 2020 for a better understanding of the current structure of the JFF. Since, there have been discussions on the proper set-up for the JFF.
Ricketts is currently in the second of his four-year term with the congress in December being non-voting.
