We believe the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) acted with an eye to justice in reappointing Mr Hubert Busby as head coach of the Reggae Girlz football programme.

As football watchers probably recall, Mr Busby was suspended as head coach in late 2021 following damaging allegations of sexual misconduct dating back a decade to a time when he coached in Canada.

Over the last two and a half years, the JFF first turned to Mr Vin Blaine to guide the national team through qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

However, Mr Blaine walked away following a rebellion by senior players.

The subsequent appointment of former national player and assistant coach to the national women’s team Mr Lorne Donaldson proved pivotal. Under his guidance the Reggae Girlz covered themselves and their country in glory by reaching the knock-out stage of the FIFA World Cup.

But the relationship between Mr Donaldson and the JFF never seemed comfortable and his contract was not renewed late last year.

That was immediately followed by pay and other disputes which triggered a separation from the national programme by leading members of the acclaimed 2023 World Cup squad.

To his eternal credit, Mr Xavier Gilbert, who had served as assistant to Mr Donaldson, accepted the job as interim head coach, though he may well have felt he was attempting to use a basket to carry water. As expected, he immediately felt the impact from the absence of senior professionals with a weakened team faring poorly in CONCACAF engagements.

In the circumstances, word that FIFA, the world governing body for football, had cleared Mr Busby of alleged wrongdoing probably came like ‘manna from heaven’ for the recently re-elected Mr Michael Ricketts-led JFF administration.

Mr Busby’s reappointment has come alongside news that last year’s World Cup stars — with the exception of those injured, etc — are now back in the fold for a two-match friendly series against Brazil in that country early next month.

The longer term task for Mr Busby will be to strive to guide our women to a third-straight senior FIFA World Cup scheduled for 2027.

He said that “some of the objectives … are to reset the culture, reset… in terms of what we’re looking to do… What we want to do… [and] stick to a process of how we look to get back to the next World Cup…”

Crucially, says Mr Busby, the Reggae Girlz football programme should be “utilising each and every FIFA window and making sure that regardless of the results, we are hitting our targets…”

We like his commitment to “clear and open lines of communication”. Said Mr Busby: “I think that’s where it starts. We are not always going to agree with everything, but there has to be a common line where we’re doing the best we can for the programme and the best we can for the people of Jamaica. That should be the guiding principle on which we go forward…”

We wish Mr Busby all that’s good, while recognising that he will need all the help he can get.