President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Michael Ricketts, is among three Jamaicans named to Standing Committees by FIFA in a development hailed as a major vote of confidence in the quality of football administrators in Jamaica. 

Following a FIFA Council meeting on Thursday, Ricketts, along with Rudolph Speid and Carlene Edwards, were confirmed for positions on FIFA Standing Committees, while Molly Rhone and Ian Wilkonson were named to Independent Committees.

“We are very happy and excited to be representing our country at the highest level,” Ricketts told the Observer Online. “We promise to give it our best shot and hope that there is some spinoff that will positively influence our local football. This is a very positive move and a vote of confidence in the work that we are doing and the quality of our administrators.”

Ricketts was appointed as deputy chairperson of the Grassroots and Amateur Football Committee. Speid, the chairman of the JFF’s Technical Committee and technical advisor to Reggae Boyz head coach Steve McClaren, was appointed to FIFA’s Technical Development Committee.

Meanwhile, Edwards, a marketing and communications expert and the individual behind Jamaica’s successful club licensing programme, was appointed to the FIFA Women’s National Team Competitions Committee.

She is also a senior manager at the JN Group.

“There was a council meeting at FIFA last Thursday, and after the meeting I got a call from the general secretary at FIFA, and he was very elated and excited in advising me that three Jamaicans were actually on different standing committees coming out of that council meeting,” Ricketts told Observer Online.

“(Rudolph) Speid is on the Technical Committee, Carlene Edwards, whose name might not resonate so readily with football, but behind the scenes she has done a lot of work, especially at it relates to club licensing, not just in Jamaica but around the Caribbean so she is known around the Caribbean for doing a lot of positive work as it relates to football,” added Ricketts.

“She is also involved with the management of the structure that mimics that of the Professional Football Jamaica Limited — the female version of that, so she works very closely with the women’s programme as well, so she will serve on the Women’s National Teams Competitions Committee and of course I will serve on the Grassroots and Amateur Football Committee — Specifically as the vice chair.”

There were also appointments to FIFA Independent Committees, with Rhone, a former Netball Jamaica and World Netball president, appointed to the Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee, while Wilkinson FIDE Constitutional Member and former president of the Jamaica Chess Federation, was named to the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee.

Carlene Edwards, A senior manager at JN Group and the individual behind Jamaica’s successful club licensing programme

File photo of Rudolph Speid who officially began his role as Reggae Boyz technical advisor on July 30. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)