JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) has refuted claims made by national player Leon Bailey regarding travel arrangements and money he alleges it owes him.

Bailey claimed in an interview with social media influencer JaiiFrais, on his YouTube vodcast Let’s Be Honest, that he has had to book his own flights when travelling from England for national matches. He also said JFF does not send him his travel itinerary on time and that it usually contains an economy class plane ticket with multiple connections.

Bailey also claimed that he has not received monies from the JFF. He also questioned the team’s selection policies.

In response the JFF issued a press release on Friday saying that some of Bailey’s comments are not entirely true.

“It is unfortunate that some things were said as they expectedly have raised questions from our sponsors,” the release said.

The JFF says Bailey’s comments about his travel arrangements are inaccurate and contradictory.

“If he says he books his own ticket but then says that he is always booked in economy, with multiple stops, and always receives the tickets late, then it would suggest that he is the reason why he has those issues as he is the one, he asserts, who books the tickets,” the JFF said. “The fact, though, is that these statements are untrue.”

The release then details what it says are Bailey’s last three bookings. The first flight it mentions was for September 4, 2023, which would have been ahead of Jamaica’s two Concacaf Nations League matches against Honduras and Haiti on September 8 and 12, respectively. It says Bailey was booked on a flight leaving London Heathrow (LH) Airport at 10:24 am, then connected in Miami, Florida on a flight to Jamaica at 5:57 pm. The JFF says this is typical for one-stop flights to Jamaica and that both flights on this trip were business class.

The JFF says that ahead of Bailey’s trip to Jamaica on November 13, for the Nations League game against Canada on November 18, he was booked on a flight that left LH at 10:50 am, with a stop in Atlanta, Georgia, then connected to a flight to Jamaica which departed at 6:10 pm. It says these seats were business and economy class, respectively.

The JFF says that ahead of the return leg against Canada in Toronto on November 21 a flight was booked for Bailey for November 19 which left Montego Bay at 1:45 pm. He then departed Toronto after the game on November 22 for LH at 6:20 pm. The JFF says the seats for both flights were business class.

“We are at a loss about the statements that he books his own tickets, that they were sent to him late (when all itineraries are sent days before to the players for confirmation), and that the bookings were primarily economy,” the JFF said. “The JFF does have a policy that all players are booked on premium economy, which is similar to what is done in other sporting organisations, as the cost of booking all players on business would make the programme unaffordable.

“This is communicated to all players, and they advise in many cases (including Leon) that we should use any monies owed to them to purchase business class tickets on occasions when they advise. The option is available to all players to upgrade their tickets themselves or by setting off against funds owed to them.”

The federation says that although players are owed money from 2022, it has made progress in repaying and players were told they would be fully paid by the second quarter of 2024 (around June).

“We can confidently say, though, that we have been paying per diem consistently, and we also cover all costs relating to the camps or games,” it said. “So, saying that no funds have been received from JFF is misleading and unfortunate.

“We would like to add that the JFF, like many national federations, is not able to match what is paid by the professional clubs. We would think, though, that the honour of playing for your country is something that all patriotic Jamaicans would want to do as we realise that we will never be able to match the financial rewards of the professional clubs. We never realised that playing for Jamaica was primarily about financial rewards and that this would be a main consideration.”

Regarding Bailey’s issue with player selection, the JFF says that comments on that matter should be left to the relevant authority, the coach.

“One thing we will not encourage is for any player to be treated differently from any other,” the federation says regarding Bailey’s comment that he needs his own room while on national duty. “However, what happens within the team is a matter for the coaching staff.

“The JFF secretariat would also like to say that the decision about team dynamics, and who is selected or not, remains the sole decision of the coach and his staff. The secretariat merely receives the requirements from the team technical staff, and determines if we have the funding support or not.

“So, the implication that it is the JFF secretariat that determines who is selected to the team is false. The accountability of the coach to the JFF secretariat is whether he is a success or not — and our job is merely to hire or terminate the coach but not interfere in the coaching decisions.”

Bailey was suspended from the squad for breaking curfew, meaning he did not travel to Arlington, Texas, for the semi-final and third-place matches in the Nations League this week.

Despite the sanction, he says he plans to take a break from international duties.