WITH the presidency of Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to be decided today, incumbent Michael Ricketts and challenger Raymond Anderson are urging the voting delegates to make the right choice in shaping the sport’s future.

The highly anticipated voting congress, which was postponed from its initial January date due to an injunction granted to Beach Soccer Jamaica by the Supreme Court, will finally get underway this morning at Royalton Negril hotel in Westmoreland.

Ricketts, who has been president since 2017, is seeking his second full term at the helm, with his team comprising St Catherine FA President Elaine Walker-Brown, St James FA President Gregory Daley, Portland FA President Raymond Grant, and Manchester FA President Barry Watson. JFF Vice-President Bruce Gaynor and JFF Technical Committee Chairman Rudolph Speid are also part of Ricketts’s slate as ordinary directors.

Ricketts told the Jamaica Observer that his confidence level is high due to his team’s track record in football.

“Elections are elections so you can’t be sure who’s going to win,” he said. “So, we are going in with an open mind but I do believe we have far more support than my opponents. We’ve been in football, we have served football, in fact all of us are winners — we know how to win elections. Every single person on my slate would have won elections repeatedly so we know what to do and our work will campaign for us. We’re not in the media too much and we’re not having press conferences; we’re trying to connect with our people — and that’s where the votes are.”

However, JFF Vice-President Anderson says he has the upper hand.

Jamaica Football Federation presidential candidate Raymond Anderson (second right) shares a light moment with members of his campaign team, (from left) former Cricket West Indies President Dave Cameron, marketing strategist Dr Cecile Dennis (second left), and Kingston and St Andrew Football Association President Mark Bennett at Jamaica Observer headquarters in Kingston. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

“My confidence level is up,” he said. “I can’t be more confident than this because when I speak with the delegates, the numbers look good for us. My confidence level is very high and I’m looking to take office on the 18th of March.”

Anderson’s Real Solid Action (RSA) team consists of former Cricket West Indies President Dave Cameron, ISSA President Keith Wellington, KSAFA President Mark Bennett, and former Sports Development Foundation (SDF) General Manager Denzil Wilks. Attorney Jacqueline Cummings, and sports marketer Carole Beckford are also part of Anderson’s slate.

But Anderson says they haven’t been happy with the process leading up to today’s elections.

“From get set [and] go we’ve been having problems with most of the committees, the secretariat — nobody following the constitution,” he said. “I’ll even go further: You have some directors, because of their greed or preference they went out on a limb to corrupt the system.

“Even up to [Friday] the electoral eommittee said to us that we will get the delegates list on the 14th and you know what? They gave us a membership list. We’re still waiting for the delegates list. It’s a distraction but we chart the way forward still. We’re focused on the election and nothing will stop us. We’re mindful of the trials and hurdles we’re crossing; as we pull one, the people who’re supposed to keep the way clear are helping to put [up] others — that is my disappointment.”

However Ricketts defended the electoral process, including the most recent judgment from the Supreme Court that rejected Beach Soccer Jamaica’s appeal to extend the injunction. He says members of Anderson’s team have not operated in good faith.

“A lot of things were unfair to me and my team,” Ricketts said. “In fact, these people were orchestrating a smear campaign against my slate members and myself but the courts and my God above know that we didn’t do anything that was untoward or wrong. And what we did was vindicated in the courts not once, not twice, but at least three times — and the court of law supported what the JFF has done.

“These people were just on a smear campaign; they tried to put us down, make us unhappy, they hurt our integrity, and we just decided we’d stay easy and be humble, let the court of law take its course, and that’s exactly what was done. They had absolutely no case.”

Anderson, though, believes Ricketts should be disqualified from the race, citing the defamation suit in 2022 involving Ricketts and Sporting Central CEO Ainsley Lowe.

“It’s not a smear campaign, it’s a facts campaign,” he said. “We know that… Fifa and our statutes spoke about people dealing with discriminative things, that’s the only thing he can say we spoke about. He’s the person who made the discriminatory remarks, he’s the person who went to court and lost, so that’s no secret. For me, I’m running against somebody that I think shouldn’t be in the race. I’m not saying I shouldn’t have a contender but it shouldn’t be him because the rules speak about that. I’m not the one who created the rules, the rules were there before I was born.”

Regardless, Anderson is hoping that the voting delegates will give him the opportunity to lead the federation.

“The sponsors we have on board now, the pledges we have now [are] $350 million to help local football,” he said. “Growth is on the way, and if growth is on the way [then] the vibe of the sport will be different. Football is the driving force to help Jamaica so fellow delegates, let’s use football. Don’t make anybody tell you [about] six years ago [or] they’re telling you now what they should [have done] six years ago. Give us a chance to show you what we can do. So I’m appealing to the delegates: ‘Help us to help you.’ ”

However Ricketts is encouraging the delegates to endorse his team for their work over the seven-year period.

“Do the right thing: Be transparent, vote from your heart, look at the facts, be objective, and vote based on what has happened in football in the last few years,” he said. “Don’t vote because of your friend, or because JFF did you some injustice, or you didn’t get what you wanted from the JFF. Vote objectively when you pick.”