HIGH-LEVEL football for 2024/25 is at season’s end for clubs in Jamaica as well as Europe.

And, Reggae Boyz Head Coach Mr Steve McClaren reminds us that there are knock-on effects for the national programme.

For example, a few players in his national squad for the four-nation Unity Cup in Brentford, England, May 27-31, are likely to have been involved in last evening’s Jamaica Premier League final as well as the third-place play-off.

So what? Some may ask. The difficulty is that those players will now have to board a plane for the long, tedious, cross-Atlantic flight to England ahead of the opening game of the Unity Cup on Monday.

In such a scenario there is always the possibility of flight fatigue and disorientation, commonly referred to as jet lag — which is especially noticeable after crossing time zones — adversely affecting people, sometimes for days.

As explained by Mr McClaren, “They [the players] are coming in very late [ahead of the Unity Cup], jet-lagged, and we will have one day of preparation for the [first] game, which is not going to be ideal.”

The Unity Cup involves Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, and Ghana. For the two Caribbean teams who meet on Monday the tournament serves as vital preparation for next month’s crowded Concacaf Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying schedule.

For Mr McClaren, the Unity Cup is another opportunity to assess available talent in the absence of a number of professionals based in Britain, wider Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere, ahead of the challenges up ahead.

Among the absentees are a few now at the end of the tough, tiring English Premier League season.

“… We need them fresh [for next month’s Gold Cup and World Cup qualifiers]…,” said Mr McClaren.

Regardless of the negatives from a long flight and/or long season there is opportunity here for those on the outside looking in to make a case.

We are told that among the newcomers is 24-year-old forward Mr Rumarn Burrell who plays for Burton Albion in the English Football League 1. Mr Burrell qualifies for Jamaica through his parents and was previously named in Jamaica’s preliminary squad for the upcoming Gold Cup.

Another is Mr Tafari Chambers, a 24-year-old goalkeeper from Mount Pleasant Academy in St Ann.

We agree with Mr McClaren that it is very important to provide international experience and overseas competition for locally based players. It seems to us that quite apart from the national team effort, such exposure has the potential to boost marketability for those in quest of a future in professional football.

Says Mr McClaren: “Because of the local camps that we had in January and February, and because of the inclusion of 10 JPL (Jamaica Premier League) players in the last squad against St Vincent and Grenadines [in March], we will give them experience by [taking them] to the UK. When you play international football you want to give local players that experience, not just on the island but also abroad — especially in the UK.”

From our perspective, all of that is essential to the journey to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada — and ultimately for the greater glory of Jamaica’s football.