THE revelation by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) that some 2,000 tickets made its complimentary list in the wake of Sunday’s friendly match against Canada more than created a stir in my mind.

More poignantly, it unleashed tremors as I attempted to fathom the reasoning behind this “high number”.

For my mind went into a spin when it was simultaneously announced by the JFF hierarchy that the Reggae Boyz’s first game of the year against their CONCACAF counterparts was deemed a financial failure.

With their best efforts to lure fans to the National Stadium against a not so glamorous opponent, preliminary figures show the JFF raked in a paltry $7.2 million from ticket sales in all categories.

The revenue highlights gross inactivity at the gates, where it appeared not more than 5,300 tickets were sold. The Federation would have needed to sell somewhere in the region of an additional 4,800 bleachers tickets at $1,000 each to at least make their proposed break-even target of $12 million.

Failure to achieve this minimal of goals succeeded only in realising a deficit of $4.8 million — a loss that an already debt-burdened JFF can ill-afford at this time.

Assuming every recipient of these complimentary tickets attended the game, it would mean some 7,300 fans were legitimately inside ‘The Office’. So, the 2,000 free entrants would then represent nearly 30 per cent of the total attendance.

Additionally, potential revenue of some $3.5 million was not collected from the 1,000 bleachers and 1,000 grandstand “free tickets”.

Imagine how significantly the gap between the revenue and the break-even target would have been narrowed if these tickets were paid for.

No wonder Captain Horace Burrell, seemingly bemused by the whole business, has promised to look into the policy guiding the distribution of complimentary tickets.

My annoyance, having learnt of the categories of people who have been benefiting from “free tickets” over time, is that many of them are actually in a position to pay.

The list includes large blocks of tickets unloaded to government officials and agencies, the political directorate, private companies and their staff, past players, other sporting bodies, and so on and so forth.

For goodness sake, how is it that some of us can claim that we have football’s best interest at heart when we have contributed to what has become a sustained drain of potential earnings for a sporting organisation clogging up from rising debts and reduced incomes.

Sunday’s match-up — which, thank God, the Boyz won 1-0 — signalled the unofficial start to the Brazil 2014 World Cup campaign, and for us to begin to earn the nearly $1 billion it will take over the next four years to finance the effort, every cent will be crucial and therefore should be collected.

And it is for this reason that those of us who have benefited, and/or still benefiting, from the lump sum of complimentary tickets, should now unveil their charitable side and start paying for some, if not all of the allotment.

The truth is, complimentary tickets are a must… but 2,000? I don’t think so when the aim is to raise funds. I’m sure this list has grown steadily over the years, and if left unchecked, who knows what other ridiculous figure it will move to?

Now that we’ve embarked on the shared dream of getting our Boyz to Brazil, I suggest that companies and government agencies, for example — instead of accepting “handouts” — purchase their tickets in blocks and distribute to their employees in an effort to build momentum going forward.

The programme needs enormous funding, and key in this mix are corporate sponsorships, overall government assistance and fans.

Imagine the vast returns for sponsors and the people of Jamaica on a whole when brand Jamaica takes its place on the global stage of football yet again!

Let’s not fool ourselves. I know that any attempt by the JFF to downsize the complimentary list — or better yet, revolutionise it — will be met by resistance and inevitably, resentment.

That’s the way of us Jamaicans who tend to fiercely oppose change because we’re creatures of habit. Once we have been broken one way, woe unto those who attempt to turn us around.

Therefore any move, to re-engineer the complimentary tickets regime of the JFF should embrace all the above factors, and I can only at this distance wish Burrell and his team all the best on this “ticklish mission”, should they decide to take it on.