The non-voting congress of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) held at the Mannings High School in Westmoreland last Sunday is said to have been held in an air of civility and professionalism.

General secretary Horace Reid told the Jamaica Observer that the annual meeting “was very good” and proceeded in a “cordial and procedural” manner.

Also, he said he was very pleased with the turn-out as some 95 of 105 delegates attended the session.

“It was an excellent turn out for a non-voting congress. I think the turnout was inspired by the delegates’ interest in knowing more on the developments in the sport and they were also keen on hearing from the top of the JFF and to get an insight as to the plans for the coming year,” said Reid.

Apart from the activity report by general secretary Reid and the treasurer’s report by Garry Sinclair, which were delivered from media glare, the public presentation by JFF president Horace Burrell was a hot topic on the day’s agenda.

“The reports tabled by the treasurer and myself were well-received and were unanimously adopted by the membership,” said the veteran administrator.

For his part, Burrell brought delegates up to date of the state of the nation’s football business, with points ranging from the women’s programme to the Reggae Boyz’s ‘Mission to Rio’, which is the tag for the Brazil 2014 World Cup campaign.

But his address to those in attendance also looked at restructuring of the technical infrastructure, which includes grassroots football, the formation of competitions and the development of talent at various levels of the sport.

The restructuring process, he said, must include at a minimum all stakeholders.

“The ultimate goal is to arrive at a blueprint that would revolutionise the sport for the 21st century and see it on a more sustainable path. The road map alluded to earlier should include clear and practical timelines for consultation, decision making and implementation,” said Burrell from a prepared speech, of which the Jamaica Observer obtained a copy.

Ranked among the accomplishments of the programme in 2011 are the qualification of the Under-17 Team to the FIFA World Cup in Mexico, qualification to all CONCACAF Finals in competitions entered, the performance of the Reggae Boyz at the 2011 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the successful staging of four FIFA seminars at national and regional levels

Also, he singled “the excellent collaboration between the UWI, UTech and ISSA which has resulted in the advancement of the sport in key areas”.

Burrell said the successful JFF/JMMB/UTech coaching school which has certified nearly 500 local coaches at various levels is a critical area of the overall development that his administration intends to “intensify”.

In speaking to the thorny subject of women’s football, Burrell gave his administration’s commitment to the further development of women’s football in following on some of what was done last year.

“The JFF Women’s Committee has been tasked to intensify the grassroots programme for women’s football (as) it is unrealistic to sustain talent for the various national teams when we do not have an active and vibrant grassroots programme for the girls,” he said.

In July, he noted, FIFA has committed to assist with the launch of an Under-15 national competition at the parish level to be followed in November by a Grassroots Festival for girls 6-12 years old.

Fully aware that success for the national football programme depends critically on corporate Jamaica, Burrell thanked the JFF’s partners in this regard, and in the same breath, urged others to come on board to support “the nation’s number one sport”.

The federation’s top sponsors Digicel, Kappa, Traffic Sports, Stewart’s Auto, GraceKennedy, JMMB, Wisynco and SDF were singled out for mention in his presentation.