6 months ago
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St Catherine Football Association (SCFA) president Elaine Walker-Brown says the recent criticism by presidential candidate Jason McKay stemmed from her administration’s decision to expel his club, McKay Security Raiders, from the current SCFA Major League competition.
While announcing his challenge for office in the upcoming SCFA election, McKay described the Walker-Brown-led administration as “autocratic” and “high-handed”.
Walker-Brown rebuffed his accusations and believes that his comments are a direct response to the SCFA’s decision to expel McKay Raiders from the Major League season.
She maintained that it was the correct decision as the club failed to register on FIFA Connect by the competition’s deadline. According to Walker-Brown, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) decided that FIFA Connect would be the only platform used for clubs to register for competitions.
“In 2022, FIFA Connect was introduced to Jamaica, not just St Catherine,” she said. “I was a little lenient with the clubs knowing that we had just came out of COVID-19 and everybody was in a rebuilding process. The JFF, at a board of directors’ meeting, notified us that this is the only platform you can register on, so if you don’t register on the platform, then all of your players are considered illegal.”
She explained that in preparation for this year’s Major League competition, clubs were told to register on FIFA Connect before the start of the season.
Following feedback from the various clubs, the SCFA gave an extension, with the new registration deadline set for games in week four of the competition.
“We said all clubs must be on the FIFA Connect and all must comply for the start of the season. We started the competition on February 4, and I had sent out a reminder that all clubs and players must be registered. There was some panic, and persons were calling to have some more time.
“The competition’s committee decided to extend the time, so we said that when we reached the fourth round of the competition, all clubs must be on the FIFA Connect,” she said.
As the deadline passed, Walker-Brown said her administration sought to resolve the issue with McKay Raiders to ensure that the club would be in compliance with the rules set for the competition. However, she alleged that all attempts to arrange a meeting with McKay failed.
NO RESPONSE
“My decision is correct,” she said. “I wanted the meeting with the JFF and Mr McKay, but I was told Mr McKay don’t have any time to meet. You have a programme that you have invested in and we are calling and getting no response. I emailed him, no response. I asked the manager when the coach came to a meeting, and he said he never heard any of this.
“I requested the meeting, and I wanted to meet with him, but now that it is happening, he’s talking about the millions of dollars that he has invested in the club.”
However, McKay insisted his club was unfairly punished by the Walker-Brown administration as the rules gave the club the option of registering through the FIFA Connect platform or through the secretariat.
“You can’t change the rules without changing the rule book. It is in black and white, it says you have an option. If the rule was changed, then who changed it? Where are the minutes of the meeting? If fact, where are the minutes of any meeting she held?,” he said.
McKay queried the JFF’s decision allowing Walker-Brown to dismiss his club’s appeal and alleged through its inaction, the federation has allowed the SCFA boss to abuse her administrative powers in this situation.
“She just committed a blatant abuse of power by disqualifying the club because she can,” he said. “How in the world can you appeal a decision and the person who you are appealing against is the same person who is determining if you have grounds or not?
“This type of conduct is only possible because the JFF ‘claims’ it cannot interfere,” he added.
English (US) ·