LOCAL football boss Captain Horace Burrell says Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie’s order that no further “major sporting event” be staged at the National Stadium for the remainder of 2010 has thrown a wrench in plans to host a number of friendly matches at the venue.

“We have no other option but to respect the view of the KSAC in this matter. We are now in a wait-and-see mode to see how we will proceed. We were in talks with a number of countries for friendly games to be held here since our last game was held overseas,” Burrell said yesterday.

According to him, the cash-strapped JFF can ill-afford at this time to play their international matches elsewhere, as the National Stadium in the nation’s capital of Kingston has long been established as the fortress of the Reggae Boyz and a potential big-money earning venue.

“The National Stadium is the primary venue for staging football international games, but based on what we are hearing now, it’s difficult to plan,” said the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president.

Having successfully staged games in January and February, the JFF’s game-a-month mission appears set to hit a bump and miss March, but the governing body of local football was aggressively hunting matches for the month of April and beyond.

Though Mayor McKenzie did not single out international football matches as one of the events “that are not suitable” to be staged at ‘The Office’, it is reasonable to assume that as the Reggae Boyz have been known to pull massive crowds to the venue.

Speaking at the Observer’s weekly Monday Exchange at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters, Mayor McKenzie said the only reason he has allowed the ongoing ISSA GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Atheltic Championships to go on is “because of the importance” of the event, which is celebrating its centenary year.

The tough-talking mayor had suggested that the National Stadium, built in 1962, was no longer suitable for the events that are held there and said his organisation will be forced to close it until the required work by its managers, Independence Park Limited (IPL), is done to bring the facility in train with city requirements.

“Its (National Stadium) structural competence is seriously in doubt,” McKenzie said as he addressed reporters and editors at Monday’s meeting.

“Some piecemeal approach was made by the authorities at the National Stadium, but we are not satisfied,” he added.

The mayor reminded reporters that in 2008 he had threatened to close the National Stadium due to what was deemed the failure of the IPL “to comply with the safety regulations that were set out, not only by the KSAC, but all the other (relevant) agencies”.

With cracks identified in the slabs and beams of the cantilever, the KSAC fears the worst, especially in the case of of an earthquake.

“We’re going to be monitoring to ensure that the problems that exist be corrected. There are serious infringements in the structure of the National Stadium that leaves much to be desired,” said McKenzie.