Don’t chastise Leon Bailey, pay attention to what he said
DEMOCRACY is a hell of a thing. Stitched within it is a thing called freedom of speech, some will even say freedom of expression, an example of which was expressed by national professional footballer Leon Bailey, for which he is being hunted for chastisement.
Bailey, the Bayer Leverkusen offensive player, took a long time to get into the national squad, caused by football politics and a lingering dispute between the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and his father figure, the outspoken Craig Butler.
Now, Bailey, easily the best attacking player that Jamaica has now, is facing a tough national future for utterances he made last week, which urged the JFF to pull up its proverbial socks, so that Jamaica may qualify for the next World Cup in 2022.
In an uncharacteristic show, Bailey said that Jamaica can qualify for the World Cup, but the only thing that could deny them was the JFF. This is something that I totally agree with, and I, too believe in the freedom of players to speak their mind if they think that a national team is not going in the right direction. It wasn’t a Chris Gayle tirade, which is a completely different ball game.
Bailey also questioned the wisdom of certain team selections by Coach Theodore Whitmore.
Now, the president of JFF, and his incompetent general secretary have climbed on Bailey’s back. While Michael Ricketts, the president, has disclosed that Bailey will likely face the disciplinary committee of the JFF; Dalton Wint, the so-called general secretary, is already exacting punishment on the young man, without a disciplinary hearing, which itself will be skewed toward the JFF.
Now is not a time to play around with football. Too many dunce people are running the
game and that is why Jamaica cannot progress beyond the achievements of 1998 when the nation qualified for the World Cup in France. The game’s leaders have no ideas regarding how the sport can improve. I detect a pound of frustration in Bailey’s verbal show, and this is something that the JFF should look at and see how best the situation may be resolved. But, alas, it will not happen. The JFF puppets will want to show who is boss … as if football is played in a boardroom.