INCUMBENT KSAFA president Rudolph Speid is shocked that his opponents have brought in a non-football challenger for their 47th Annual General Meeting set for Saturday, August 4, which will be a Voting Congress.

Speid was referring to Leon Mitchell who is set to contest the presidency on a slate that includes Carvel Stewart, Carlton Dennis, Brian Rose and former president Richard ‘Roots’ Nathan.

“I’m a bit disappointed that those gentlemen that held such high positions in KSAFA never saw it fit to run for the presidency, but had to go for an outsider, which Mr Mitchell basically is,” Speid told the Jamaica Observer.

“For an outsider to come and run the association tells us that our succession planning hasn’t been good in the past,” added Speid, who is the financial controller at the Gleaner Company.

“Some of the members of the team have no experience in running football and a next set have been there in the years when KSAFA didn’t do much.

“One was a past president, one has been vice-president for over 20 years, and the other has been vice-president for over eight years,” he said.

“But they are a formidable bunch; they can get some traction, but at the end of the day they will be hard pressed to win,” said a confident Speid.

Mitchell, an assistant general manager at Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) and president of the Jamaica Hockey Federation, declined to comment when contacted by the Observer.

Speid spoke of his successes as president and thinks that is why people are gravitating towards the top post.

“…I’m not surprised because there are always people that want the power and whenever you have success, you attract people to it,” he stated.

“I’m proud that my success has attracted people to it because if KSAFA wasn’t where it was, nobody would want to be the head of it. It is a proud institution and people want to be associated with it and I can understand,” he added.

Speid, who took over from Stewart Stephenson, is confident of repelling all the challenges brought against him.

“Based on what we have done and the first poll that was done, we got 18 nominations and they got nine. So… we’re clearly in the lead. There are 13 clubs that didn’t nominate anyone and we expect to get some of those, so we’re pretty comfortable,” said Speid.

“Democracy is good and it keeps us all in shape and that is one of the reasons they have it. I think it is OK for any party that thinks they can lead KSAFA better than I have done for the last four years and they deserve to really have a try.

“At the same time, what they will have to go up against is the track record of what I have done.

“For the last four years we have had sponsorship in 2009 of $30 million. In 2010 we did $32m, in 2011 we did $40m and in 2012 we will be doing about $30m.

“This is against the background of the best president before of only $11.3m, so you can see the difference in terms of revenue generation,” he boasted.

“The first year we came we increased the club benefits from $4.3m to $19m. That’s an increase of over 500 per cent. When we inherited office we had a deficit of $259,000 and at this present time we have a profit of about $10m,” he revealed.

“So you’re going to ask me where is the cash. We don’t have any in the bank because we bought premises at 40 Old Hope Road, now valued at $28m. So for the first time the KSAFA has an asset compared to when we only had desks and chairs,” he pointed out.

But that claim was challenged by Dennis who is running for second vice-president on the Mitchell slate. Dennis was quoted as saying that the property cannot hold three vehicles and rubbished the idea that it was shrewd business in acquiring the premises.

Meanwhile, Speid asserted that he had turned KSAFA into a limited liability company and had achieved the process of electronic registration.

He also put on the table his achievement of establishing a sport and social club for members and establishing an educational facility where players can get assistance with their school work.

The Speid slate comprises first vice-president Ricky Chin; second vice-presidents Jacqueline Cowan and Peter Higgins; general secretary Peter Higgins and Jacqueline Cowan; assistant general secretary Herman Cruickshank; treasurer Errol Howlett and assistant treasurer Elvis Jenkins.

Mitchell’s slate has Stewart as first vice-president; Dennis as second vice-president; general secretary Nathan; assistant general secretary Ansel Lee; treasurer Rose and assistant treasurer Winston Isle.

A total of 39 affiliates, comprising 35 clubs and four minor affiliates, are eligible to submit nominations at the Congress.