KSAFA, St Ann not pleased with new statutes

Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) and St Ann Football Association are not contented with the new statutes of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and want continued dialogue.

Both organisations, however, are willing to work with the changes as they are now after the FIFA-inspired new statutes were ratified at the JFF Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Belair High School in Mandeville, Manchester, on Tuesday.

KSAFA and St Ann also believe that the changes are an improvement on what was in place before, especially the major shift, which increases the voting-rights members from 13 to 56.

According to KSAFA's representative at the AGM, vice-president Carvel Stewart, in the new statutes, KSAFA will be part of a region instead of being able to make decisions on their own. In the old structure, KSAFA was regarded as one confederation, with the others being South Central, Eastern and Western.

He outlined that during the AGM, he raised several points that KSAFA would object to but the issues were voted on despite his protest. He said he was uneasy about the decision but will now have to seek to have the situation rectified.

"There is a description now of region, and I wanted a more fulsome description and clarity on how the region is supposed to function because for me, it doesn't really set out all of that. So the region was the main one for KSAFA.

"Whether it will be changed or not, I don't know, but I have asked for it to be changed, and the president (Michael Ricketts) had asked that we have continuing dialogue on it," Stewart said.

President of St Ann, Danny Beckford, also wanted more clarity on some issues, with his main contention being the guideline that specifies who from a particular region is eligible to vote.

"It's not perfect, it's not near perfect, but it's better than where we were, where we had 13 persons determining the whole football thing. Now we have 56, and that is better than before. We still have some way to go, but I should think we are moving," Beckford said.

"We had some rules and regulations before, and they were not very clear. One rule might say the general secretary has a vote at congress, and a next one says no, but this one that we have put in place supersedes everything else," Beckford said.

In the meantime, Beckford believes that the new guidelines will reduce the disharmony that existed in the old structure.

"There should be improvement, and the level of discrimination to certain persons, including myself, would be a thing of the past. It might not eliminate it entirely, but at least now we know that persons in the football fraternity have equal standing. Whether they are a big KSAFA or a small Hanover, it's equal standing and we move together as one," he continued.

Both Beckford and Stewart are willing to accept the new statutes and the changes that will be implemented with the ratification. Stewart was, however, upset with the process under which the ratification was done.

"The changes were made, but I thought they needed more clarification, more information, more dialogue, discussions, and so on. I am not completely satisfied about the manner in which the changes were proposed and made, but if you know me, it's already done, so I am not going to bawl over it," Stewart said.

Meanwhile, he was a bit perturbed that General Secretary Dennis Chung ruled the abstentions as no votes. According to Stewart, all 13 executives, who had the right to cast a ballot at the time, voted, with nine voting for the ratification and four abstentions, which included KSAFA.

He was also unhappy that the resolution to amend the articles to accommodate the new statutes was not submitted to voting members before the AGM.