‘JFF cannot get involved’

With the St Catherine Football Association (SCFA) election looming, the public war of words between incumbent Elaine Walker-Brown and presidential candidate Jason McKay has drawn the attention of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).

A large point of contention between Walker-Brown and McKay was the SCFA’s decision to expel McKay Security Raiders FC from the current SCFA Major League competition.

McKay Raiders were expelled from the parish competition as the SCFA found they had breached the competition’s rules by failing to register on FIFA Connect before the stated deadline.

McKay, president of McKay Raiders, insisted his club had not broken any rules and felt the Walker-Brown administration had abused its power in the decision-making process.

He alleged the JFF’s inaction throughout the situation had allowed for her to do so.

“She just committed a blatant abuse of power by disqualifying the club because she can. We appealed her decision and she told us we have no grounds,” he said. “This type of conduct is only possible because the JFF claims ‘they cannot interfere’.”

CLARIFICATION

JFF General Secretary Dennis Chung sought to clarify the federation’s stance on the dispute and reaffirmed the JFF’s policy of non-interference in parish matters.

Chung said the JFF cannot provide a ruling in the situation as the SCFA Major League is strictly a parish competition and all competition rulings should be done through the parish’s legal process.

“It is a parish competition,” he said. “Think of it this way. If the JFF has a competition and someone has an issue without going through the process, should they go to FIFA? So, in this case, they have their process that they’ll need to go through. The JFF cannot get involved with everything that is happening there. It cannot work like that.”

He added, “We went through the process and we told them this is all at the parish level. It is not the JFF’s competition, so it is not something that we can get involved in.”

According to Chung, the JFF’s only involvement to date has been to set up a meeting between the Walker-Brown administration and McKay Raiders.

He confirmed this meeting was not an official hearing, but rather an informal meeting to seek a resolution in the matter.

“We just facilitated a meeting, it was not a hearing or anything about an appeal,” he said. “It was just facilitating a meeting to try and get both parties to talk. It was not anything official, because we cannot get involved in a parish competition. That would mean that the JFF would be running all the parish football operations in the country and we can’t do that. There has to be a process,” Chung said.