DALE Spencer, chairman of the South Central Football Confederation, has quelled speculation that the league was forced to suspend this weekend’s fixture due to an ultimatum issued by the referees’ body.

According to Spencer, the Confederation took the decision to postpone the seventh round of matches in order to bring clubs into compliance for the non-payment of fees to match officials.

“I haven’t been involved in the whole thing fully, but I saw a memo that came out stating that they’re having a difficulty in terms of compliance of collection of referees’ fee,” Spencer told the Observer when contacted yesterday.

“So the league administrator (Mr Nyron Goodhall) pointed out that we had to come in compliance and play will be suspended this weekend to resume next weekend when the clubs comply with the requirements for further payment,” he said.

Late Friday evening, news began to circulate that the South Central Confederation Referees’ Group would not be taking up their whistles as a mark of protest for outstanding payments.

But that is not true, said Clive Wright, who is head of the Referees’ Group of the Confederation.

“The chairman of the Confederation… informed us that no game this weekend,” said Wright in a telephone interview.

“I don’t know what the reason is; referees were in place when they wrote to us to say the competition has been postponed this weekend.”

He added: “We don’t have any outstanding issue (with the Confederation). We have a paper trail system with our customers. If they’re any outstanding issues we know how to deal with it.”

The issue, however, seems to be with a few clubs that are yet to make any commitment on some matches they have hosted so far this season, Spencer explained.

“From the report there are four clubs from one parish… that are not in compliance,” Spencer said. “I don’t know how much is outstanding, but the Confederation has always administered this practice.”

There are 12 teams spread across four parishes — St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth — that participate in the South Central Super League, which is a tier below the Premier League.

Each club is required to pay $8,500 to the organising body to cover fees for officials when they are hosting matches. Sixteen rounds of matches make up the preliminary phase, with each team assigned eight home games.

On the face of it, is might apear to be an insignificant sum, but the league has been operating without a sponsor since the collapse of Super Plus, and the burden of finding these fees forms part of a bigger problem faced by the clubs.

Shawn Thompson, president of Meadows FC, told the Observer clubs are operating on a skeletal budget and even finding referees’ fee is extremely difficult at times.

He admits, though, that his club owes $17,000 in referees’ fee, which he intends to pay this weekend. But he bemoans the strenuous environment in which Meadows and all other clubs are functioning.

The situation is unique, said Spencer, who is the first vicepresident of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), but at the same time, he stressed the importance of avoiding a collision with referees.