BIRMINGHAM, England — With relations between two of Jamaica’s most powerful sporting organisations — the Jamaica Olympic Association (JAAA) and Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) — continuing to sour, officials from both bodies agree that there is an urgent need for dialogue and resolution.

The JOA and JAAA top brass have been at odds for the better part of the last two years with a number of well-documented issues involving team allocation, accreditation, financing, and a range of other differences, driving a wedge between the two sets of administrators.

JOA President Christopher Samuda believes it is necessary for each organisation to understand the principles of the other and while he warned that the JOA will prioritise the athletes’ interest, he agreed that the ‘Friendly Games’ present the tone and opportunity for an attempt at reconciliation.

“There was a headline [suggesting] like it’s a contention. As a sports governor, I do not view any of my associations in that vein at all. There has to be continued dialogue for each person to understand the other and that is what we practise in the Jamaica Olympic Association but what I will tell associations is that the athlete comes first,” Samuda said. “If the athletes’ interest is not being served, then the Jamaica Olympic Association will step in and ensure that it is being served.”

“There will always be challenges, but a mature sport administrator rises above those challenges and ensure that at the end of the day, there is consensus in the interest of athletes and we have always practised that. We have an open house, you come and sit at the table and tell us your challenges.

“If you can’t find the solutions, we will find the solution as the apex body but what has to be done in sports, there has to be an understanding that there are certain fundamental values that are non-negotiable. Others can be put on the table, and we can negotiate them, but at the same time, we can’t compromise principles,” Samuda added.

JAAA treasurer and team manager at Birmingham 2022, Ludlow Watts, agrees that the relationship is not at an ideal place and that both parties should make an effort to discuss the issues with the aim of arriving at a resolution.

“I would like to say the relationship is not what it ought to be in any circumstance, in any country or any team and I hope going forward, things will improve, and as a matter of fact, at the end of the day, by the end of the competition and going forward the relationship would be as cordial as ever,” Watts told the Jamaica Observer.

Jamaica’s track and field athletes have dominated the island’s medal output at the Commonwealth Games and won 25 of the 27 medals won four years ago in Gold Coast, Australia.

However, Samuda warned that the JAAA must respect the JOA’s policies, particularly where how funds and support is spread across the various sporting bodies is concerned.

“In this new dispensation we treat each association equally, there is no association that is bigger than another. Because if you use the model of a family, and we are the father, then we treat our children equally. There is no apple in the eye and therefore we tell all associations to come to us on that basis, in that context,” said Samuda.

“Equity has always been our governing factor. We feel that legality is also a governing factor and that concept and principle say that you treat everybody equally. Nobody should get an unfair share of the wallet and there are some of course who are dispossessed and therefore you have to help them more than others and our policy for doing so has been very successful.

“You see it in the Games that we have participated in thus far since this administration has come into being. Historic, each has been historic and we make no apology for that. We have been investing in what people termed to be the non-traditional sports. We don’t consider them as that and they certainly have risen to the occasion and Paris 2024 would be a demonstration of the success of that policy,” he added