LOS ANGELES, California — Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace Burrell says that players are deserving of much more than the federation is capable of offering them at this time.

He was speaking against the background of Monday’s stand-off here in California between players and the JFF over the remuneration package of senior Reggae Boyz participating in the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup.

“Of course the players are deserving of a lot more than we can offer… so all of this is a process of negotiations and we have to respect the will and requests of the players, but at the same time it does not mean we will be able to fulfil all requests from players,” he told Jamaican journalists after lengthy meetings with players at the Ayres Hotel on Monday.

The players, up in arms with the terms of a contract offer, plus general remuneration issues involving the ongoing CONCACAF Gold Cup, refused to board the team bus on Monday evening for their first full training session as they pressed home their demands.

“But all is well that ends well, and while it took a longer time than was expected, I am happy to report that all has been settled, so all players will make themselves available for the start of the Gold Cup come Wednesday (today) against Costa Rica,” Burrell noted.

Even with that assurance from the JFF boss, there is still a feeling that the matter remains unresolved. More negotiations, no doubt, between the sides will have to be undertaken to fully bring closure to the matter.

Not having the benefit of the players’ side to the story at press time, the JFF has made claims it offered the players “100 per cent of whatever will be earned” from the Gold Cup.

JFF officials would not say what the specific terms of the players’ demands were.

“I am not going to disclose that (the specific demand), but we are prepared to make available to the players and staff all the proceeds which we will earn at the Gold Cup,” Burrell said.

However, the JFF boss saluted the players, who, he claims, demonstrated a sense of maturity and professionalism in arriving at an agreement, thus laying the foundation for them to retrain their focus on the job at hand of making a meaningful impact at the Gold Cup.

“I don’t expect any fallout from this as these players are professionals, and when you talk about negotiations, that has become a common thing in the football arena when it comes to players. It’s unfortunate, but these things happen,” Burrell added.

But without contracts with the players ahead of a major tournament, the JFF appeared to have left itself open to what eventually played out on Monday evening.

“It has always been our decision to have players contracted on a four-year basis… the contract that was submitted to the players prior to going to the Copa America, and even before at the Caribbean Cup that was held in Jamaica, but this was not satisfactory to the players, and they came back to us with counter proposals.

“And by negotiations, we got by the Copa America tournament…it was then decided that at some stage beyond the Copa America we would have something in place for the Gold Cup and the World Cup qualification.

“By negotiations, we intend to have contracts going forward starting with the two World Cup qualifying games in September. We will put in place contracts that will cover the period of the World Cup qualifiers and up to the World Cup itself in Russia.”

— Sean Williams