Football clubs in western Jamaica are not ready for the recent ruling by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) that clubs taking part in next season’s National Premier League must have home grounds that can seat at least 1,500 spectators.

This ruling is also likely to affect some clubs in Kingston as well. The only grounds that have the required seating and changing room facilities are Harbour View, Arnett Gardens, Jarrett Park, Frome, and maybe Constant Spring.

“Most clubs either don’t have adequate seating or changing rooms,” said Anthony ‘Follis’ Williams, coach of Montego Bay’s Wadadah. “It depends on how the JFF qualifies seating. Does it mean chairs, or accommodation?”

Wadadah will be using Jarrett Park as their home ground, and it is available to football until December. However, it is uncertain if the Montego Bay complex will again be closed for cricket next year, as it was this year.

“Once Wadadah have Jarrett Park, we will be all right,” said Williams, who is also an avid cricket fan. “If Jarrett Park is closed for cricket, then we’ll have to look at Frome or Falmouth. Clearly, Herbert Morrison Technical will not meet the criteria.”

Trelawny’s Village United, who were recently promoted from the “A” League to the National Premier League, play their home games at the Elletson Wakeland field in Falmouth. The field was recently upgraded by the Sports Development Foundation (SDF), but no seating was put in place.

“If these are the rules, then Falmouth will have to address their problem of a lack of seating,” said George Evans, president of the St James Football Association. “If Jarrett Park is closed for cricket, then the only venue in western Jamaica that can meet the JFF criteria will be Frome in Westmoreland.”

Frome is the home ground of western Jamaica’s other Premier League team, Reno. A lot of hope had been pinned on the development of the Catherine Hall sports complex, which is scheduled to be completed by December.

However, this complex will not have an outside wall when construction is scheduled to be completed by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Dr Wykeham McNeil, the junior minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, admits that the lack of an outside wall and seating at the complex will make it difficult for clubs to properly use the facility.

“The idea of infrastructure is something we have to work on. We have come a long way in the last couple of years, but we still have a long way to go. It’s very important for us to have the fencing and the seating, because that’s the revenue earner.”

McNeil said that they were all aware of the necessity of putting the infrastructure in place, but was unable to say when this phase of the project will take place. According to the UDC project co-ordinator, Trevor Heaven, when this current phase is completed, the field will just have a chain-link fence surrounding the field itself. However, no outside fence or wall for the collection of revenue, or construction of seats and stands, will be built until a subsequent phase takes place.

In a tour of the project recently, Prime Minister P J Patterson promised that the sports complex will be ready by the end of the year, despite the many delays that have plagued the project.

Despite the obvious hurdles to be cleared by the latest ruling by the JFF, McNeil feels that it is a step in the right direction.

“I’m very excited about the direction football is going. The whole idea of raising it professionally is very good. I think it will do a lot more to improving the level of competitiveness.”

Mark Hart of the Hart Group, long-standing St James sponsors of football, cricket and netball competitions in the parish, recently slammed the JFF for not putting money back into the development of the sport in the rural regions. The JFF responded by saying the job of developing football belongs to the government.

“An example worth duplicating is Trinidad and Tobago, where many excellent sporting facilities exist,” said the JFF in a letter to the Observer.

“Four beautiful new stadia were recently built, costing US$15 million each, all by the government, with some assistance from the private sector … No one could realistically expect the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, or the JFF to afford to take on such a task.”

At the same time, no one can realistically expect a Jamaican government with an economy that is struggling under mountains of debt, and doing so much worse than Trinidad, to take on such a responsibility. The problem of raising the standards of these fields is unlikely to be addressed by anyone any time soon.