KINGSTON, Jamaica — Michael Ricketts, the outgoing Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) third vice-president, says he was surprised after losing the post at a JFF Special Congress on Sunday.

It had promised to be a tight election run-off at the JFF headquarters in New Kingston, but some insiders had given Ricketts the nod due to his track record in the South Central Confed and his sheer popularity.

“It was a surprise, but that’s what elections are about — surprises,” Ricketts told OBSERVER ONLINE. 

“The process was fair and democratic, but the major disappointment was the deceit from my colleagues. A number of persons assured me that they would vote for me and obviously they didn’t,” he added.

Ricketts, president of the Clarendon Football Association and chairman of the JFF competitions committee, won eight votes.

Bruce Gaynor and Raymond Anderson, the respective first and second vice-presidents during the previous administration, received 10 votes a-piece.

Garfield Sinclair, managing director of telecommunication firm Flow and treasurer of the JFF during the last term, got nine votes.

Captain Horace Burrell returned unopposed as JFF head after Orville Powell, the club president of Montego Bay United, failed in his nomination bid in November.

There was special interest in the vice-president race once it was announced that FIFA guidelines meant one of the spots had to be held by the local federation’s head of finance.

That left the trio of incumbents plus Sinclair to vie for three positions.

The election process allowed each association to vote for three of the four people running for vice-president. Ultimately, two parishes voted for only two candidates.

Sanjay Myers