THE 2011/2012 St James Football Association’s season came to an end last Thursday night with an awards ceremony, one of the better ones in many years.

After a long hard season where the players and even administrators had to overcome many obstacles, the winners received their just rewards.

The St James ceremony came two weeks after the Trelawny ceremony and nearly six months since the last game was played in the FA’s competition.

Also, it was held two weeks after the start of the new season, when many players might have changed teams.

It is my view that it should become mandatory that all awards ceremony for every sporting competition must be held within a month of the final game played.

Dragging out the presentation ceremony for more than five months afterwards, certainly robs the teams, the players and the occasion of some of the spontaneity involved.

I might not be too closely involved in the organisation of a football league, but I can’t find any reason or excuse why the delay between the end of the season and the presentation ceremony should be as long as the season itself.

Oftentimes we hear that sponsors “are not available”, but while we understand the absolute importance of the sponsors in sports, surely there must be more than one person who can represent the sponsors. Surely, the sponsor must understand or must be advised about the importance of a timely awards ceremony.

Many times when the awards ceremonies are delayed, players who played important roles in the success of their teams are not there to savour the success, having moved on by then.

For years I have taken notice of the reactions of those in attendance at the awards ceremonies during the monotonous reciting of the statistics and details of the competition.

Instead of prolonging the proceedings and boring people to death, the organisers should highlight one or two positive aspects from each competition in an overview, rather than going through the drab details of when the competition started, how many games were played etc.

Awards ceremonies should be time for celebrations not for football executives who refuse to think outside the box, to bore people to death by maintaining traditions they inherited.