When soon never came
THE SUDDEN resignation of the head coach of the national senior men’s football team has sent shockwaves through the nation. By any unbiased review, Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore has galvanised our young local footballers with the knowledge that if you have talent and can play football, there will be an opportunity for you to showcase your skill and be a member of the Reggae Boyz.
A revolutionary thought, when the past history of the selection process of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is remembered. Coach Whitmore was appointed to the post in October last year, and since taking up the job, he has managed to move the country up the FIFA rankings, whereby the possibility for Jamaicans to qualify for employment in the lucrative English Premier League is now coming closer. Therefore, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to assume that he would be employed on a similar financial footing to those foreign, melanindeprived coaches, whose stints at the helm of our football programme did not result in a similar impressive move up the ranking table. Tappa replaced Winfried Schäfer, who was said to receive a monthly salary of US$45,000 monthly, along with other perks. Our successful Tappa was started on US$3,000 monthly, while negotiations were under way. Most fans bought this hoax. I didn’t.
During the run-up to the election of the president of the JFF, due to the sudden and untimely passing of Captain Horace Burrell, the two candidates left in the race were Ambassador Stewart Stephenson and Michael Ricketts, a long-time member of the previous hierarchy of the federation.
NO PLAN
Stephenson unveiled his manifesto with a press conference attended by prospective sponsors who pledged their financial support if he was victorious. There was no similar announcement from Ricketts. This set off numerous alarms in my head. If Ricketts had a plan or manifesto, then the only persons who knew of this plan or manifesto, and supported it, were the ones who mattered: those with a vote.
Ricketts was properly selected as the president of the federation, Tappa, to acclamation all around, and this football hero and sporting icon, quietly and calmly went about the business of developing our football by recognising that the future lies in the hands of local players who would be here to assist the nation’s footballers when their playing days were over, or when the country was eliminated from an international competition. This idea was in stark contrast to the previous scenario, where players who qualified to play for us under FIFA rules but had no real affinity to the country would calmly return to their country of origin, leaving us, the nation, to wonder “a weh dem gone, doh eeh?”
So Jamaica played in tournaments and had games where our stocks rose, we beat some of the best and consequently moved up the FIFA rankings, while contract negotiations with Tappa were stalled, time after time.
WELL-REHEARSED ANSWER
“Soon come” was now the well-rehearsed answer, whenever the question of Tappa’s remuneration contract came up. To the eye of a cynic, it was very obvious that President Ricketts and the federation had no money, no plan which would result in proper remuneration for Whitmore. Having won the presidency and found that the appointment of Coach Whitmore was a resounding success, the hierarchy was in a spin. Nowhere to turn. No plan. Begging bowl in hand would not do. Not this time. Corporate Jamaica and other sponsors wanted a plan. There was none, hence “soon come” became the irritating response to the future of Tappa. Finally, our coach, hero and icon could take it no more. He resigned. When asked by members of the press to give a response? The reply from the federation was: “Soon come, a statement would be issued”. When? “Soon come”.
I think that the time has now come for the football-loving public to demand the resignation of the president, and a change in the voting regulations of the JFF when the time for an election is necessary. The present scenario, whereby parish presidents with obvious conflicts of interest, make the selection can’t continue. They should not be the only ones who decide who the future leader of the federation is. The last couple of elections have proven the point. Change is vital and necessary. Tappa Whitmore must be persuaded to withdraw his resignation, and a proper financial package arranged for him. The nation needs his vision and leadership.