The sporting sector, we believe, like any other global endeavour, is dynamic and requires constant review.

We say this in the context of the recent failure in Guatemala of our Under-20 national footballers to qualify for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup slated for Colombia in late summer.

Though the junior Reggae Boyz cruised through the Caribbean phase of the qualifying series, from all accounts they appeared doomed to failure long before a ball was kicked in anger in the much more difficult CONCACAF final phase of qualifying.

There the Boyz were up against the traditional powerhouses from North and Central America — teams with superior football pedigree and culture. In fact, according to a report carried in this week’s Sunday Observer, while Jamaica paraded 18 schoolboy players in their 20-man squad, their Central American opponents, Guatemala and Honduras, were mostly or fully professional.

“All of Honduras’s 20 players, for instance, are attached to professional clubs — both inside and outside the country. With the exception of four players, all the Guatemalans are being nurtured in professional environments at home and abroad,” said the report.

It was Brazilian coach, Mr Rene Simoes, who had suggested during Jamaica’s halcyon days, that it would be better for young players who had the talent and the desire for the game to pursue football at the club level rather than at the school level, through the long-standing Manning and daCosta Cup competitions.

For Mr Simoes and those coming out of any country with a serious football

culture, this was the natural pathway to progress. Understandably, at that stage of the nation’s development, Mr Simoes and the Jamaica Football Federation would have had severe difficulty getting the various stakeholders to buy into that notion. Such was the prestige, tradition and importance of the ISSA-organised schoolboy football to Jamaicans.

But even as we embrace the outstanding contribution of the ISSA-organised events to the success of Jamaica’s internationally acclaimed sporting resume, we can’t help but believe that the authorities have no choice but to chart a new pathway, as regards youth football in general and the Under-20s in particular.

We accept that it is a very complicated issue that needs careful study and researched contribution from all stakeholders, as it is never easy to change culture and tradition.

However, we can’t continue to do the same things and at the same time expect different results. The North and Central Americans can’t be introducing their teenage players at an earlier stage to professionalism, while we continue to sit idly by and try to outmanoeuvre them with amateurs. This is clearly a recipe for failure, as we would always be competing on an uneven playing field.

There is hardly any difference in terms of ability at the Under-17 and senior levels, though proper coaching, philosophy and resources can tilt the balance decidedly in one’s favour. However, at the Under-20 level it is a totally different ball game, and oftentimes Jamaica appear to be entering these battles unarmed.

Mr Simoes, with the backing of the JFF and corporate Jamaica, revolutionised our football in the 1990s by simply demonstrating that professionals will always beat amateurs.

There was a plan, all hands came on deck and together success was achieved.

It can be done again, but there needs to be a plan.