JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) President Michael Ricketts says that the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence must become more self-sustaining in the near future.

The facility, based at the Mona Ccmpus of The University of the West Indies in St Andrew, operates as the main training base for all JFF’s national teams, and has dormitories on site to house its players.

The JFF has recently gone on a drive for more sponsorship and funding as it prepares for a busy football schedule during which a number of the national teams have competitions over the next few years. This means more frequent use of the facility, which then raises its maintenance costs.

To address these costs the JFF has already begun renting out the complex for other uses during periods whenit would be otherwise inactive. This includes using the synthetic surface for various football games.

It was the primary venue for Jamaica Premier League games in the 2021 season, when the tournament returned after the forced hiatus by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has also been used as a training base for teams visiting the island. The most recent occupants were Guyana’s senior men’s football team, who have been playing local teams to prepare for their Concacaf Gold Cup qualifier against Grenada this Saturday.

“The Guyanese senior men’s team expressed high levels of comfort and happiness there,” Ricketts said. “We have tried to make the facility conducive to relaxation, fun and laughter; this is what we want to use to market the facility. We must use the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence as an entity that ought to be able to maintain itself. The JFF ought not to be taking funds to put into the maintenance of the centre, so we want to market the property so that it becomes self-sustainable.”

Returning national programme sponsor Unicomer, through its Courts and Lucky Dollar brands, recently donated a number of household items — valued at $1 million — to the JFF to furnish the facility, as well as $1 million in cash. But Ricketts says there are still more upgrades needed for the centre to reach its full potential.

“Not much more would be needed except a little more space,” he said. “As it is now we want to put in a gym, because when teams actually stay there, they have to go elsewhere for gym work.

“We have offices, we have an IT centre, we have proper cooking and dining areas. Of course we have two fields — one synthetic, the other grass — so we just need to get the grass field in a little better shape. Although it is now better than it was some months ago there’s still some work to do on that, and we’re probably good to go.”