Dear Editor,

Jamaica’s recent failure to qualify for premier youth football competitions has highlighted the struggles of parish football associations. These associations, including the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA), face significant financial challenges that hinder their ability to deliver developmental programmes that would influence successes for our national teams.

There is sufficient evidence to support a correlation between the lack of these developmental programmes within the parishes and successes at the national level. Their absences are primarily due to a lack of funding. Parish associations currently operate as mendicants and have as their funding sources infrequent grants from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), sponsorship, monies raised from fund-raising activities, all of which are hardly sufficient for the bodies to carry out their mandate. Additional factors that have impacted these organisations are as follows:

• Poor infrastructure and facilities

• Dwindling pool of qualified support personnel (volunteers)

• Increasing competition from private leagues and other sports for sponsorship

KSAFA, the largest parish football association, and arguably the most successful has not been spared. As a result of this, the association has been forced to cut back on some competitions and put plans for a parish women’s programme on hold.

While many people may question the efficacy of the parish football associations, we must not forget that these organisations have been serving the country for over 50 years and have provided opportunities for young people to participate in football. Thousands of these athletes have gone on to national representation, scholarships, and professional contracts.

We should also appreciate the job these bodies have done considering the meagre resource they have operated on, especially over the last six years, and find a way to address the issue of funding. One potential solution is the much-talked-about, proposed monthly subvention from the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) to parish associations. This would allow the associations to focus on acquiring sponsorship and other fund-raising activities.

It must be emphasised that we are not advocating for a slush fund for associations. The funding should be contingent on the association’s scope of activities and the provision of strict reporting measures. The subvention could be designated for essential expenses such as:

• Staff salaries

• Office rental and utilities

• Equipment and supplies

• Developmental programmes

A shift in government policy to provide support to parish associations would align with their strategic objectives in sports development and youth empowerment. This intervention would certainly benefit Jamaica’s football, producing talented young players and national teams that regularly qualify for world tournaments.

Help us to roll the leather.

Mark Bennett

President

Kingston and St Andrew Football Association

presbent@yahoo.com