Michael Ricketts, the Clarendon Football Association president, says investment in youth and greater focus on the standard of playing fields are key components in enhancing local football’s end product.

Ricketts, vying for the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) top job after the passing of sitting President Captain Horace Burrell in June, recently spoke to the Jamaica Observer ahead of the August 2 nomination deadline for presidential aspirants.

Stressing the need to streamline Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 youth competitions across all parish associations, Ricketts said: “The coaches would relate directly to the technical committee of the JFF so we would have one style of play and hopefully one reggae brand, so to speak.”

He said the inaugural Under-18 Elite League held recently provides an ideal platform.

“Look at the SportsMax Elite Under-18 competition. I advocated for that kind of competition and we just need to expound on it a little bit to ensure that, at the end of the season, coaches would have gone around and extracted a number of these players… and got them into a training programme so they can matriculate into [National] Under-20s and Olympic [Under-23] squads,” he explained.

Ricketts, a former JFF vice-president, said partnerships with the government and investors headquartered overseas can bring about improvement in implementing and sustaining proper football fields.

“As it relates to pitches, which has been a sour point, I would want to lobby with the government to have international companies, like CHEC (China Harbour Engineering Company), for example, and the Spanish contractors who come here with skill and equipment and machinery to help us develop at least one field in each parish. I want to work closely with the government agencies and make the most of whatever support we can get.

“The important thing is to improve the final product which is football and I want to address every single component from coaching to refereeing, administration to ensure the end product is of the highest quality,” the Clarendon FA boss told the Observer.

The Burrell-led JFF administration had proposed to scrap the current top-flight premier league structure and replace it with a professional franchise system.

The planned change has been met with staunch objection by some stakeholders. Among the concerns is fear in certain quarters that some clubs would become defunct.

Ricketts, while noting the discord and accepting the potential challenges in getting investors on board, said adopting a franchise system is the right step.

“I support it, but it is going to be a challenge and it’s going to take a lot of work. It’s an investment where private entities are going to invest their money and they would want to ensure they don’t lose their money. We need to improve venues and also quality of play so we can attract an audience. Franchise is the way to go, but it is going to take proper marketing.

“Clubs have issues because it (franchise system) means joining with other clubs and possibly losing home ground and fan base. It is not going to be easy, but you have to convince the clubs that this will be fully professional and players will be properly remunerated, venues will get attention. It will be a hard sell but it is the way to go,” he insisted.

The 13 parish presidents are set to elect a new JFF head on Saturday, September 16, to complete the two years left on Burrell’s four-year mandate.

St James FA executive Bruce Gaynor is serving as interim JFF boss for 60 days.