MCLEAN... said a CD with the National Anthem was handed to the organisers

A quarrel over who is at fault for the failure to play a recorded version of Jamaica's National Anthem at the start of the Digicel Caribbean Cup football tournament last Sunday took a new turn yesterday with the Barbados Football Association (BFA) placing the blame squarely at the feet of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

Word came Wednesday that the JFF on Tuesday lodged an appeal against the decision of the Disciplinary Committee of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), chaired by former JFF president Captain Horace Burrell, after a fine of US$5,000 (approximately JA $300,000) was imposed on the local federation.

A release from the JFF office in Kingston said Linnel McLean, Jamaica's head of delegation in Barbados, and other members of the Jamaican delegation, had confirmed that a CD with four versions of the National Anthem was handed to the organisers, "who apparently mislaid same".

The JFF release said further that "Jamaica's anthem was not played at the start of the first game against Trinidad & Tobago, but was played on Tuesday night at the start of the game against Barbados, although McLean did not give them a second copy".

But in a letter circulated via e-mail yesterday, the president of the BFA, Ronald Jones, said the original CD received from McLean did not contain the Jamaica National Anthem. He claimed that it was not until Tuesday evening that McLean handed over a CD said to contain four versions of the National Anthem. By then, Jones said, the BFA had already downloaded the Jamaican and Cuban national anthems from an internet website.

Jones' letter said in part: "As President of the BFA, I wish to state emphatically that the jacketed CD entitled National Anthem of Jamaica, given to the Liasion Officer to the Jamaica National Football team, is what was played at the National Stadium on Sunday 20th of February.

"This was found not to contain the national anthem and therefore the Jamaica National Team sang the National Anthem of Jamaica. As host we were dismayed that this happened, as we recognised the symbolic importance of one's national flag and other independence symbols."

On Tuesday, after the Barbados Football Association had responded to the obvious crisis by downloading the National Anthems of Jamaica and Cuba from the Website www.nationalanthems.com, the JFF head of delegation passed to the General Coordinator of the games on Tuesday evening a cd, which he said contained four versions of the Jamaica National Anthem and instructed that the second version, an instrumental version be played, and that was played in the game against Barbados. There was no mix-up by the DJ, The Liaison Officer, the General Coordinator of the Games or any other official of the BFA.

The CD which was presented on Sunday under the jacketed title "National Anthem of Jamaica" is in the possession of the CFU and has not been used since Sunday the 20th. The BFA is therefore dismayed at the insinuation and the connotations, which are contained in the comments of the JFF head of Delegation. The JFF made a mistake in the passing of the CD and should accept full responsibility for its mistake or seeming incompetence. To seek to ascribe blame at this stage is unnecessary and not in keeping with the spirit and tenor of football within the Caribbean region".
On Wednesday, JFF boss Crenston Boxhill lashed the decision to fine his federation. In fact, he claimed that it was the CFU which had blundered and not the JFF.

Boxhill argued that his federation was fined, even though it was never invited to a hearing, and more importantly, the JFF was never invited to a technical meeting, which is mandatory prior to the start of the tournament.

Boxhill claimed that McLean had provided liaison officer Anthony Clarke with a CD comprising different versions of the National Anthem. All this despite not being requested.
Boxhill is contending that he was made aware of the fine when his delegation attended a technical meeting on Monday night.

The JFF's appeal is on the grounds that "No pre-game (technical) meeting where all necessary match protocol should have been done, was held;
"No regulation was given to us regarding the finals currently being played;

"The host association (Barbados Football Association) at no time requested a flag or Anthem. We provided these items based on the customs associated with tournaments".
In advising the four teams of the technical meeting on Monday, the CFU said in parts: "Despite having already started the Digicel Caribbean Cup on Sunday, I would like to notify the above referenced teams that a technical meeting will take place on Monday February 21 at the National Stadium at 8:00 pm.

"This meeting, though late, will attempt to advise the teams on matters pertaining to the competition and to deal with any issues the teams may have."

The Cuban team was also fined US$5,000 for failure to provide their National Anthem.

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