Stewart wants revamped clubs’ association
Carvel Stewart, the vice-president of the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), is calling for the administration of Jamaica’s top-flight football competition, the Red Stripe Premier League, to adapt the model of the English Premier League.
Stewart’s comments came after representatives from CONCACAF recommended that the structure around the administration of the league be rearranged in order to meet its 2019 target of professionalising football across the confederation.
After meeting with local stakeholders, a possible conflict of interest in the present structure was highlighted, given that the board of the Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ), which currently runs the league, is made up of four members from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and three from the Premier League Clubs Association.
“When the PLCA was formed, the premise on which we had presented to the JFF, which was (president Crenston) Boxhill at the time, was that we would copy the English Premier League model. The Premier League is run by the board of the 20 clubs and one director from the FA,” Stewart pointed out. “We asked that that be copied here, it wasn’t done. Instead, they installed the PFAJ in order to control the PLCA.”
NAME CHANGE SUGGESTED
Stewart said the English Premier League model would see the PLCA running the league with a director from the JFF. “I have even gone ahead and said that we can change the name from PLCA to Premier League Jamaica, since they seem to have a problem with the name PLCA,” Stewart said.
“Clubs play football — the JFF don’t play football and therefore, if you want the thing to be successful, you have to make the clubs run the league. For many years, people from the clubs in Europe threatened to move away from the association if they would not allow them to run the league. This shows that it is clubs that have the power.”
As it stands now, the RSPL is run by the PFAJ. PLCA, however, is responsible for marketing the league.
Chairman of the PLCA, Edward Seaga, told THE STAR recently that the PFAJ solely relies on the PLCA for funding and it is draining the accounts of the clubs’ association.
President of JFF Michael Ricketts promised to meet with Seaga and president of the PFAJ, Don Anderson, in the coming weeks to come to a solution.