Although Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) have contingencies in place should Treasure Beach FC withdraw from the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Premier League (JPL), CEO Owen Hill says the St Elizabeth-based club is vital to the competition. He said the PFJL will continue to provide support for the club.

The JPL resumed on Sunday after a six-week hiatus due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa. Eight games have been played over the last four days, with 13 of the 14 teams involved.

However, Treasure Beach, who were promoted to the league this season, have yet to take the field after being granted additional time to prepare.

The club, who are 12th on nine points after eight games, initially approved the December 7 restart date announced early last month. But after further discussions last week, Hill said the hurricane’s impact turned out to be far more severe than expected, leading to an extension.

“Because the community was a major part of the financial lifeblood of the football organisation, the community being ravaged also affected the football club,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“So not just football itself — people who have been sponsors, supporters, businesses who offset any kind of operational expenditure were also affected severely. So they found themselves in a tighter-than-normal position, and because of that it required some additional weeks to mobilise any kind of support.”

Treasure Beach have been given until December 21 to make their return to the league, and Hill is confident they will make it.

“They’re back in camp now and I got assurances from the hierarchy of Treasure Beach, the management hierarchy, that they will be ready. I have those things in writing, so they will be ready for the 21st, which gives them an additional three match days preparation so that they’ll be ready,” he said.

However, there remains the possibility that the club withdraws from the JPL. The Observer understands that topic was addressed at a meeting last month but was eventually played down.

Treasure Beach Head Coach Kemar Ricketts told the Observer last week they’re increasing their efforts to resume playing despite the challenges they’re facing.

Hill, while empathising with their situation, says the PFJL and Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) may have to move on without them if they cannot meet the deadline.

“As a risk mitigating strategy, my approach is to have weekly dialogue leading up to the 21st [of December] with the club to ensure that the preparation is geared towards restarting on the 21st. It’s important because these decisions are not made in a vacuum; these decisions are made after having the information and the stakeholder engagement,” he said.

“However, in the interim, if there’s not that option, then there are some alternate options that we’d have to look at: What does the league look like with 13 teams? How do we treat with the points that were allocated to those games? All of those are protocol-based and there are best practices that guide those. We hope it doesn’t come to that state because then, commercially, we’ll have challenges to deal with if that happens and then we’ll just hope that it works.”

Hill believes the club is extremely valuable to the league and wants to see their participation going forward.

“In the current expansion, we have a greater skew in terms of number of clubs within the Corporate Area, but we also know the value when you have these teams on the outskirts, so Montego Bay United, Treasure Beach, Mount Pleasant — these teams give us a nice mix in terms of where the football is played, the talent identification and development and just the exposure commercially,” he said.

“So partners want to actually have their products being placed in those communities, sponsors want to see their brands across the island, players want to get the chance to play in different necks of the country. So I think having considered those factors, it is even more imperative now to give these teams who would have had, if you want to say, imbalance in the effect of the hurricane, give them an opportunity to actually thrive or to compete in the Premier League.”

The last team to withdraw from the JPL was UWI FC, back in 2021, due to financial issues

Jourdain Fletcher of Montego Bay United (left) takes on Treasure Beach FC’s Tommy Lawrence (centre) and Triston Forde during the Jamaica Premier League match at Montego Bay Sports Complex in St James on September 1, 2025. (Photo: Paul Reid)

HILL… they’re back in camp now and I got assurances from the hierarchy of Treasure Beach, the management hierarchy, that they will be ready