ORANJESTAD, Aruba - There is quite a lot about the Under-23s' tour of Aruba that is best forgotten. But there are few things that will undoubtedly stick.

If nothing else, the Jamaica Observer online version became a hot property here. The nation was following the newspaper to see what this reporter was going to write next about this slice of paradise.

Arubans are edgy and fiercely protective of their bread and butter - tourism. This reporter became Enemy Number One to the people of this Dutch Kingdom when he highlighted the plight of Jamaica's Olympic football team.

One headline in this newspaper screamed: "Under-23s face food crisis in Aruba". This sent the nation into a panic. So much so that a meeting of the ministries of sports and tourism and AVB officials was called. They claim a headline like that was damaging to the image of the tourism-dependent island.
The Jamaican team, participating in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Group B qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics, met hardships in their first couple of days in the week-long tournament.

The young Reggae Boyz initially complained about the quality of the food and refused to eat. And it is easy to imagine the likely consequences if an athlete in training and competition refuses to eat. But this improved by leaps and bounds since the crisis was highlighted on our pages. The Jamaican team was even taken to dinner on Wednesday night by the sports ministry at the top Jamaican restaurant on the island, Jamaica ME Krazy, owned by honorary consul of Jamaica, Daniel Wilson.

There was also concerns regarding the quality of accommodation and ground transportation that fell woefully below what the FIFA regulations stipulate for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games qualifying tournaments.
On the issue of transportation, the teams were shuttled around in old school buses that are without windows or sunroof covering, which painted a contrasting picture of this beautiful Caribbean island that is a paradise getaway for many tourists from across the globe.

But as explained by football and tourism officials here, these buses, said to have been imported from Colombia, are called chivas parandas and were specifically altered to take tourists on sightseeing tours on the tiny southern Caribbean island.
But should it rain their passengers would get an unwelcome bath.

The Jamaicans, in particular, protested the use of these buses and were granted a small air-conditioned unit. That lasted for only one day. It was back to the big, old, green thing. The only thing eye-pleasing about the bus was its driver. A good-looking island girl named Sheneska brightened things up with her good looks and outstanding driving skills, Jamaican style. She knows her corners and expertly navigated them on narrow Aruban streets.

Accommodation was another sore point with teams here. Jamaica's 25-man contingent was holed up at the Coconut Inn - a motel at best. But at least there was warm water, cable television and air conditioning. The team - recognising that the football authority, the Arubaanse Voetball Bond (AVB), was not going to upgrade the living facilities - made do with what they had.

The other visiting teams - Antigua and Barbados - made the dormitory-styled Blue Village their home and they too had complained of the overall hospitality in Aruba.

Barbados, Sporting World was reliably informed, had gone as far as to contact the CFU in Trinidad and Tobago to air their dissatisfaction.

The hosts kept their players at their respective homes - a clear effort to reduce the costs associated with hosting this "major" football tournament.

Much of what went wrong here came as a direct result of sheer ignorance on the part of the AVB, which was putting on its first football tournament.

So striking was their inexperience that just a mere hour before kick-off of the four-team tournament, workers could be seen still preparing the technical areas.

And little things like the provision of ice and bottled water for the teams required last-minute action after frantic urgings by respectiveteam officials.

Even as the AVB has admitted their inexperience, it was said that they did not seek help from the regional governing body of the sport, the CFU.

The AVB president, Rufo J Kelly, was frank in conceding his association's shortcomings. "This is the biggest tournament we have organised here in football and we hope that we can do it good... it is our first time so we hope the delegations will give us the chance to develop," he begged.

"If there are any complaints we want to hear them and see if we can correct them for the good of the game. We have got some complaints about food, but we are doing our best. We are trying to fine-tune everything. We are a small organisation so we would want everyone to give us the space to develop," he said on Sunday.

Although Aruba is a well-off Caribbean island, football here has struggled to woo private companies to lend the kind of support that is needed to lift the sport.

"We are getting some help, but I always say that if we want to get more help we have to develop the product," Kelly noted.

Kelly said that the AVB has started a programme to develop the game by starting from the Under-13, U-15, U-17, U-19, U-23 and the senior team.

The CFU Match Commissioner here, Grenadian Victor Daniel, was instrumental in acting as a go between for the teams and AVB in having some of the wrinkles ironed out.

The tournament which started on Sunday ended on Thursday with Jamaica finishing on top after wins against Antigua (6-1), Barbados (1-0) and Aruba (5-0). Jamaica now advance to the next stage of the qualifying play-offs.
FIFA rules and regulations governing qualifying tournaments for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games:

The section that speaks to this claims that each host association shall pay for expenses incurred by the stay (board and lodging in a first-class hotel, domestic transport) for a maximum of 25 persons for a duration depending on flight connections. The host association shall pay for board and lodging in a first-class hotel and domestic transport in the host country for the referee, assistant referees, fourth official, match commissioner, as well as the security officer and/or any other official who may be designated. If the financial outcome of a match in the preliminary competition is insufficient to cover the expenses mentioned above, the host association shall bear the deficit. Upon the specific request from FIFA, the host member association shall provide the following number of tickets free of charge - 10 VIP and 40 category one tickets.

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