CAPTAIN Horace Burrell, the charismatic leader of Jamaica’s football and the visionary behind the successful senior World Cup qualification, said his belief in the possibility of getting to France in 1998 was inspired by the football talent in the country.

He said for too long Jamaica’s outstanding players could not achieve self-actualisation because there was no framework for developing their skills, or the football at home lacked recognition.

“Throughout the years I have seen the football talent develop and the number of talented players that emerged out of that going all the way back to people like Syd Bartlett, Allan ‘Skills’ Cole, Lenny Hyde, ‘Den Den’ Hutchinson, ‘Dago’ Gordon, so when you look back you see that we have had some outstanding footballers.

“But the availability of all this great talent was never transformed into World Cup qualification, because it doesn’t matter how well you are playing, the recognition will never come until you do so on the world stage, so I was determined that this should happen in my lifetime,” said Burrell, who started to effect his lofty plan when he assumed leadership of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) in 1993.

When he first tried to sell the idea of getting Jamaica to its first World Cup, Burrell said many people laughed at him and thought he had lost his head. But he was steadfast and pitched the idea at every opportunity.

“When I conceptualised this plan, I invited a number of business leaders to the Sheraton Hotel at that time, and when I announced the ambitious plans, there was a hell of a laughter in the room… it was such an ambitious plan that many people thought that my head needed to be examined,” the football executive said, bursting into laughter.

But he kept on his mission, and sought audience with the Prime Minister at the time, PJ Patterson, and the vision started to gain traction.

“Thanks again to PJ Patterson and, of course, Portia Simpson Miller, who was then Minister of Sport. I started talking about this plan on a helicopter ride to Sandals Montego Bay, and PJ promptly said, ‘Come to my office Monday morning,’ and I did that. The rest is history.”

Still, something was missing, and Burrell said he went after another piece of the puzzle that required him to journey to South America.

“I also realised that if we were to be taken seriously about qualifying for the World Cup, there had to be a Brazilian factor. Why Brazilian? Because when it comes to football, they are idolised the world over and their brand of football is loved here… we’ve adopted the Brazilian national team as our own,” Burrell explained.

“We thought that if we were able to incorporate the Brazilian element in our programme, both corporate Jamaica, the fans and the government would buy into it more easily… With the arrival of Rene Simoes, this worked like a charm,” he added.

Burrell said going to Brazil to shop for a coach was part of what he called a “well conceived strategy”.

The late David Haughton was the technical mind who accompanied Burrell to Brazil. “I had him at my side when I travelled to Brazil, so he played a pivotal role,” said the JFF head.

The arrival of Simoes, the inspirational Brazilian, brought a renewed energy and dimension to the campaign as corporate Jamaica softened its stance and began to believe Burrell was not mad after all, but had crafted a master plan that could reap success.

The ‘Road to France’ campaign was no longer a joke.

“Simoes is an individual who was able to inspire people to follow. When he first came to Jamaica, it was virgin territory football-wise and he didn’t complain; instead, he worked with us.

“Because of him, corporate support started to pour in; no doubt he broke down many barriers,” Burrell noted.

When success finally came on November 16, 1997, the man who believed the most and worked perhaps the hardest, was indeed the happiest.

“There were tears of joy and emotions flowed in all kinds of way. It was just a scene that certainly I will never forget,” Burrell remembers.

The next day was declared a public holiday by Patterson.

Looking to the 2014 Brazil campaign, dubbed the ‘Mission to Rio’, which kicks off with qualifying game against Guatemala at ‘The Office’ today, Burrell is optimistic the Boyz will be victorious.

“I’m extremely optimistic… there is no reason based on what we have done why we shouldn’t comfortably spank Guatemala, but there is no way we’re underestimating the opponent,” he said.

Meanwhile, Burrell called for more support from the private sector and urged fans to support the games.

“Without the fans there will be no Reggae Boyz, so I ask you all to come out and support your team,” he said.