Referee shortage will not impact JPL
Chairman of Jamaica Football Referee Committee (JFRC), Victor Stewart, is adamant that despite the island encountering a shortage of referees, the upcoming top-flight Jamaica Premier League (JPL) will not be impacted.
Stewart noted that when all the various competitions across the island start, the JFRC will have difficulty fulfilling all the requests, but dismissed concerns that the JPL, which is set to begin on October 23, will be impacted.
Each JPL match requires four officials, the referee, two assistants and a fourth official.
“As it stands, when it comes to the Premier League, on any given match day for this year, we are going to need 28 referees because there will be seven games. We have a batch of referees, exclusively Premier League referees.
“So we have 13 FIFA referees. The Premier League is serviced by the FIFA people and top-level people in the grade-one tier. We are never short at that level,” Stewart confirmed.
He, however, stated that with the country getting back to normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic, the seasonal start of several minor competitions is currently on the horizon.
These competitions have not been contested for two years after the contagious COVID- 19 pandemic disrupted the world and governments had to put in place measures to curtail the spread.
Among the guidelines were restrictions on gathering and being in close contact with other individuals, which limited the possibility of sporting activities taking place.
According to Stewart, there will be challenges on particular days when all these competitions begin, but the JFRC will work with the organisers to ensure that fixtures can be honoured.
“What has happened is that since COVID, a lot of people want to get back into competition at the same time. When we have on a Saturday, for example, in Kingston, Manning Cup, Major League, Division One, Business House, Premier League, any system will come under pressure with that.
“So as best as possible, we try to work with the competitions’ organisers to streamline in terms of the fixtures so that we can facilitate this,” Stewart said.