Garfield Sinclair, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) vice-president with responsibility for finance, says measures are being implemented to reduce the sporting body’s crippling $265-million debt.

“I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction, [and] we’re ensuring that our financial administration is as pristine as we can make it, so that we can avail ourselves of all of the governing bodies’ subventions,” the JFF treasurer said at last Saturday’s press conference at the federation’s headquarters in New Kingston.

“I’m extremely confident and, in fact, enthusiastic about the fortunes of the JFF going forward. We have to continue to improve technically, [and] we have huge liabilities we are going to have to retire.

“As I said in my report, the JFF is not going to continue to just be in a position of recurring negative net worth and negative cash flow. We have to improve that situation, and I’m certainly encouraged by what I’ve seen,” Sinclair explained.

He was, however, unable to put a timeline on the possible turnaround for the federation, led by newly elected President Michael Ricketts.

“When you have negative net equity you really need to get out of that position like yesterday. The new president is going to feel especially under pressure to turn this around in the shortest possible time, and that will be his mandate to us,” Sinclair said.

Outgoing JFF General Secretary Raymond Grant had told journalists on Saturday that the total debt “as at the end of June 2017 is $265,170,101”.

Sinclair, head of the Caribbean arm of telecommunications entity FLOW, said a broad-based approach to maximising revenue is in the pipeline.

World governing football body, FIFA, and regional ruling association, CONCACAF, both have grant programmes which benefit members that adhere to specific financial and administrative regulations.

A revamped marketing thrust is also being explored.

“We continue to do our best to raise money, not just from sponsors, but from our governing bodies — both from CONCACAF and FIFA — and I think we’ve done a good job of that over the last three years.

“It has required fairly strict financial administration — the presenting of audited financials, the enduring of FIFA audits which we’ve just gone through; suffice [it] to say, we passed with flying colours. We are therefore able to avail ourselves of FIFA Forward Programme, [and] the One CONCACAF Programme.

“I think we’ve got now the marketing resources in place that will help us and help the new president to forge a new direction with respect to raising money. From a marketing and promotional, and just an overall commercial standpoint, we’re going to have to improve there as well,” he explained.

Three audited reports — covering 2014, 2015 and 2016 — were tabled during the JFF’s annual general meeting on Saturday, and they were said to be approved by members of the congress.

The JFF said its website is currently under construction, but the financial reports will be published there by latest January 2018, as per FIFA’s stipulations. It added that details of the various grants received will be listed therein.

Sinclair, while underlining the massive fiscal challenge, argued that running football programmes across various age groups for both genders is even more difficult than in other sports.

“The financial obligations of the Jamaica Football Federation are huge. We have huge expenditure requirements; our revenues often do not match that expenditure, and we’ve had to rely on the forbearance of our creditors and we’ve had to access financing from financial institutions, certainly more expensively than we’d like.

“It is a struggle to fund a dozen age-group national teams, both men’s and women’s. The financial fortunes of the JFF live or die by the fortunes of the senior national men’s team. If we are not embarked on matriculating towards World Cup qualification it gets tougher and tougher to raise money and to earn money,” he stressed.

The telecoms honcho was, however, strident in defence of the JFF’s stewardship and drive to remain afloat.

“We have ensured that the financial administration of the federation has been above repute, and we will continue to run as clean a financial administration as we absolutely can,” Sinclair said.