President of the St James Football Association George Evans has responded to St James’ four members of Parliament who last week claimed not to understand why Evans said they had failed miserably to advance the football fortunes of the parish.

The following constitutes a largely unedited version of Evans’ response in an open letter to the editor:

“…After reading the responses from our members of parliament about their contribution to football in St James, I am still of the belief that not enough has been done by them in assisting sports in the parish.

Edward Seaga was on the TV recently, saying that he was worried that with the IMF agreement, and possible intervention, he may not get access to the $5 million per year Tivoli Gardens gets from their member of parliament, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, from the CDF Constituency Development Fund, which is $40 million per year.

Our four MPS, combined, get $160 million dollars between them, and by their own admission, they have not given anything to the STJFA.

Clive Mullings was in dialogue with myself, Bruce Gaynor and Orville Powell regarding the Seba project, and also some discussions took place with regards to helping the youth programme in the parish, but that is as far as it has gone.

A request was made of all our members of parliament when the start of the football season was delayed after both Sandals and the Hart group pulled their sponsorship, and the CLARO deal fell through, and none of our MPS assisted the STJFA with any funds after submitting a request of assistance.

Again it was only because of the good corporate citizenship of JNBS as to why we were able to start and complete the season.

Minister Ed Bartlett assisted the Kempshot youth club with some gear valued at less than $75,000, a request made by myself, but has not in any way helped the STJFA, so if that is what he is referring to, he is correct.

The STJFA has just run the under-13, under-15, under-17, and under-20 summer youth leagues which was unsponsored. Approximately 800 boys in total participated, and it was totally funded by a cash-strapped STJFA, with no help from those MPs or corporate Jamaica, so I stand by my claims these boys have been badly let down.

Compare this to what Dr Omar Davies in Arnett Gardens and Boys Town, Mike Henry in Clarendon, Edward Seaga in Tivoli, Daryl Vaz and Dr Rhodd in Portland have done, and what they are doing. There is little or no comparison to any assistance in St James.

We are mindful that resources are stretched, with education, roads and other social programmes being under-funded. However, a small allocation of the CDF should be mandatory in assisting sports development.

It has just been announced that the stadium at Catherine Hall will be further delayed due to further financial constraints, and again a stadium that started fifteen years go will not be completed anytime soon.

The silence in the wake of this announcement has been deafening and again highlights the shortcomings of our representatives on both sides when it comes to sports development and assistance.”