Danny Beckford, a true patriot
If the assertions attributed to Danny Beckford, the president of the St Ann Football Association, are true, and I strongly suspect they are, then the blind trek into worthlessness, which appears to be the new reality in Jamaica’s football, could well be as a result of the flawed vision of the federation boss, Captain Horace Burrell.
By now, every reader of this column should have realised long ago that I am no fan of the stewardship of Burrell because the simple truth of the matter is I believe that he has now run out of ideas to improve the nation’s football, and the various parish associations are so intimidated by him that they are afraid to tell him so.
PLANS AFOOT
Based on a statement attributed to Burrell, plans are afoot by the JFF’s executive body to ‘deal with’ Beckford for his socalled rebellious assertions. However, I would wish to laud the St Ann man for the courage, which is clearly lacking in many of the other parish association presidents, who are steadily becoming an embarrassment to those whom they represent.
It should be noted that there is one major difference between Beckford and the vast majority of the Burrell loyalists. Beckford heads an association that does not depend on Burrell’s Captain’s Bakery sponsorship, so he can speak frankly and freely, while many of his counterparts are being propped up by Burrell’s sponsorship so that they probably have no choice but to “sing for their supper”.
I strongly believe that if there was not a conflict of interest between Burrell’s leadership of the JFF and his sponsorship through the Captain’s Bakery, he would have been booted out as