Adjusting to fit ahead of Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign

RAPIDLY evolving communication technology is changing the world at express speed and we must all adjust to fit. We believe that’s part of the message being sent by Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) in announcing its partnership with digital marketing/promotional company 876stream as part of the drive to attract support for the 2026 Men’s Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign.

That campaign, lengthy and always expensive, begins on June 6 against the Dominican Republic at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Recently re-elected president of the JFF, Mr Michael Ricketts, told journalists that, in its push to replicate the 1997 achievement in qualifying for the 1998 Men’s World Cup in France, his Administration had looked strategically to an organisation with considerable social media savvy.

“We… wanted to partner with an entity that can impact the world and an entity that has a following on social media… We looked at a number of other possibilities, and we thought that this is the way to go, and we are just hopeful that we will get some positive results,” Mr Ricketts said.

Mr Conrod Mathison, chairman of 876stream, which we are told has partnered with the Jamaica Premier League over the last two years, says his company will be “working through” sponsorship, broadcast, and marketing campaigns on behalf of the JFF.

“We have partners locally, and some partners globally, so we want to use that network to kind of bring this forward and help the national programme,” said Mr Mathison.

The importance of a strong promotional programme to leverage resource support for the qualifying campaign can’t be understated.

Indeed, the exceptional marketing skills of then JFF president, the late Captain Horace Burrell, was central to securing the requisite resource support in the build-up to qualification 27 years ago. That, at a time when social media as we know it today was only been contemplated.

One thing that hasn’t changed down the years is the importance of on-field performance in attracting sponsorship partnerships.

In that regard, results for Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz in recent months provide a major fillip. None more so than Jamaica’s third-place finish at the Concacaf Nations League last month following a 1-0 win over tough Panama in the USA late last month.

Readers will recall that before that the Jamaicans went down 1-3 in extra time to hosts United States in the semi-final.

And, in November of last year there was the glorious come-from-behind victory for the Reggae Boyz over Canada in that country, which took them to the final four of the Nations League in the first place.

Those results and more should provide much assurance for potential business partners that Jamaica’s men’s football programme is in a good place.

Crucially too, perhaps, for those giving thought to partnering with football is the question of unity in the JFF following last month’s divisive presidential election.

An assurance by Mr Ricketts following that election should help, we believe.

Said he: “We don’t want to disenfranchise anybody who can make a contribution [to Jamaica’s football]… We’re not even looking behind us, we’re just going forward...”

That’s the way to go.