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Chung denies rejecting young Boyz’ camp over Guyana
June 01, 2023
Under-fire Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) General Secretary Dennis Chung insists that Guyana, now on a two-week camp at the JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, were not given preference to the facility over Jamaica's under-15.
The young Reggae Boyz, preparing for their now-cancelled international tournament in Sweden this week, and a regional tournament in August, have been accommodated at a JFF director's house, it has been reported.
Chung would not confirm that allegation but noted that the arrangement with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) was made months ahead of the under-15 being in camp.
"The Guyana Football Federation would have requested for some time now for this (camp), and we have to accommodate that. If we had the under-15 camp planned before, then that would be a different thing, but the arrangement was before, and we have to honour that. Some are saying we should have done otherwise, but there are ethics involved here," he said.
Chung pointed out that it is not the first the centre was in use, and they have had to accommodate players elsewhere and revealed that Jamaica under-15 are currently being accommodated at Mount Pleasant Football Academy, where they have all necessities at their disposal.
"We have camps all the while with more than one thing happening at the centre, and players have always been accommodated elsewhere. The question is, does it affect the training opportunity of the boys? This time the boys have been at Mount Pleasant, where they have playing facilities and everything," he declared.
Chung revealed that there has been an increase in the demand to use the JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence because of improvements they have made to the facility, but he insists it's a good problem to have.
"On recommendation from Trinidad, Guyana wanted to come and stay. That is significant progress in terms of the work that is being done on the facility, which has moved from being a cost centre to now earning money.
"So a part of the problem is that the demand for the facility has gone up significantly, which is a good problem for us."
