FOR the second time since he first took office in 1994, replacing Heron Dale as president of the Jamaica Football Federation, Captain Horace Burrell should face a challenge for the position at next month’s voting congress to be held at the Federation’s offices in Kingston.

If Orville Powell gets the nomination from four parish associations by today’s deadline, the former St James Football Association and Western Confederation boss will hope to do what Crenston Boxhill did in 2003: beat Burrell for the position as president of the national body, one of the most powerful in sports in the country.

Powell’s challenge of Burrell, one of the most powerful men in CONCACAF football not so long ago, must be seen for what it is – a good thing for the game in Jamaica. Hopefully the president of Montego Bay United will get the chance to face the voters in December.

Since Powell announced his challenge last week Tuesday at a press conference, sports circles have been buzzing with the news, and that at least has put some excitement in what was expected to be another routine congress where the JFF would appoint Burrell and his team.

No doubt Powell’s announcement caught Captain Burrell and the JFF by surprise and must have shaken things up a little bit, waking up a few out of their stupor. But again, that is good for football.

It would be naïve for anyone to think that the game in Jamaica is in a state of good health. There are many things wrong with the game and its administration, some of which Powell outlined at his press conference.

Is Powell the man to assume leadership of the JFF at this time? Maybe not, at least not by himself, but that does not mean he should not be ambitious and take on the system, if he is bolstered by capable support.

Powell is absolutely correct when he says that too many people in the sport of football are too afraid to stand up for what they believe in and to speak out when they see things not going the way they should.

Too many people are afraid to speak out and challenge the status quo, as they might lose the favoured status they enjoy currently.

However, the argument that Burrell lacks vision is not only naïve, but smacks of ignorance. It was the former army man’s vision that took Jamaica’s football to its highest level, qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, and subsequent youth qualifications.

Until Burrell came up with his seemingly brash and idealistic ideas of qualifying for the World Cup, we were happy to make it to the finals of the CONCACAF qualifying finals and finish last, then look forward to “next year” while cheering for foreign countries to which we had no links when the global spectacle came around again.

The various Burrell-led administrations with his trusted lieutenant Horace Reid helped to change our football culture and got us to have big dreams.

While many might not agree with the large-scale importation of foreign-born and bred players and a procession of foreign coaches, many of whom have been fired at “100 hours” in some Central American locale after yet another failed campaign, they have taken our football from rank amateur status to more elevated heights.

But there is one criticism of Burrell that I totally endorse. Given the rise in our football profile and the rise of some of our administrators, including the president himself, who was once a senior vice-president of CONCACAF and had the ear of the FIFA president, our local football is still abysmally poor.

Shoddy infrastructure, poor administration at the parish level, not enough qualified coaches, especially at the youth level, have combined to keep the game here sadly lacking. Our Premier League is far from attractive, with players who should really be doing something else to earn a living, but are earning near minimum wage.

There is a lot to be done for football, and the sooner the JFF starts paying more attention to the sport at the grassroots level, the better local football will be.