HAVING had a few embarrassing quarrels in the recent past, it is indeed sad to see the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) being involved in yet another imbroglio, this time with the state-run Sports Development Foundation (SDF).

It was clear from those earlier JAAA disputes that the absence of an effective communications arm was a contributing factor.

Mistakes are part of being human, but one would hope we would learn from them. Yet, sadly, this latest episode with the SDF, we believe, smacks of another glaring weakness in communicating.

For those who may have missed it, last week Friday the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) announced that it had developed a partnership with the JAAA and that it would be the main (title) sponsor of the JAAA-organised Jamaica International Invitational (JII) Track and Field Meet, set for Saturday, May 1 at the National Stadium. The event will now be known as the JN Jamaica International Invitation Track and Field Meet.

The value of the sponsorship was not made public, but it is believed to be much less than the US$300,000 provided annually by the SDF.

Subsequent to that announcement, the SDF, said to be peeved at its relegation from being the main sponsor, hinted that it would significantly reduce its sponsorship package to the event, but neither party was willing to say how that would affect the meet.

But last evening, a joint statement from all three parties involved noted that the SDF, “after a revision and acceptance of the proposed 2010 budget, will review its level of financial support for the event”.

The JII Meet is now in its eighth year, and it seems to get better with each edition, but now that it has acquired an Area Permit Meet status, failure is not an option, especially due to what we consider to be petty politics.

Sports in Jamaica is huge. And it goes without saying that track and field athletics, in particular, has too great an impact just now — both socially and economically — for us to do anything to jeopardise this most valuable resource.

We suspect that had the JAAA exercised common courtesy and informed the SDF of its intention to solicit much-needed additional sponsorship from corporate Jamaica, this whole unnecessary untidiness would not have surfaced.

But clearly, despite the tremendous successes of our athletes on the track, off it the JAAA has not learnt and appears unwilling to take corrective measures.

Let us repeat, a sporting body of the standing of the JAAA must have a communications department if it is to succeed going forward. A word to the wise should suffice.

It is often said that it takes two to quarrel, and we feel obliged to agree with Opposition Leader Mrs Portia Simpson Miller who, during her presentation to the Parliamentary Budget Debate on Thursday, accused the SDF of overreacting. How else could one explain the SDF’s petulance?

Indeed, the JII Meet was inaugurated under Mrs Simpson Miller’s watch as the minister of sports in 2003, and it was never intended to be used as a political tool.

As we understand it, the SDF’s primary role is to lend support to the development of sports in Jamaica, so it should not appear to be competing with private companies for headlines and title sponsorships.

That, we contend, is the expected behaviour of corporate companies seeking to gain maximum mileage from their sponsorship dollar.

Therefore, the SDF has no remit there.