Gordon Robinson | If yu t’row a stone …

At high school, I was an above average cricketer.

Cricket wasn’t my focus. My father, a JC sports master and mathematics teacher who taught me cricket by bowling to me in our driveway, insisted academic excellence was priority. So, although I captained form teams, my school team practice attendances were too sporadic for selection. Mark you, the school captain was an opener on a team I captained for a Students versus Teachers game that neither I nor Gene Autry can forget. That story was told on November 20, 2012 ( Cricketing Lessons; https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121120/cleisure/cleisure2.html)

Fast forward. I tried to emulate my father by training SkullDougery so the Old Ball and Chain introduced him to school coach, Wilbert Parkes, who immediately remarked “I remember his father. He was a left-hand bat.” Well, I was but Old BC, 10 years old when I left Campion, has never seen me play cricket and knows I’m right-handed. She told Wilbert he was mistaken.

Sigh.

No doubt regular readers, accustomed to my arcane Tuesday style, realise this rant has nothing to do with cricket. But Damon Runyon always said, regarding every losing bet, “a story goes with it”. That I spent any time playing cricket at school should tell you how much I loved the game.

Starting with the 1963 tour of England, I ‘watched’ (on radio) every ball bowled in every West Indies Test match. When debutante Michael Holding, batting number 8, strode to the wicket before lunch on the first day of that ill-fated 1975/76 Australian tour, I was in a Barbadian airport with transistor radio glued to my ear. Autry nicknamed me “Clive” and told everybody I ate lunch only when the cricketers did, and had tea with them.

But the past 25 years of mediocrity, often celebrated as achievement, killed my interest. I no longer watch Worst Indies cricket. Autry is flabbergasted.

Recently, I found a new sporting love in the Reggae Girlz. Over the years, their determination to overcome all obstacles; heartwarming team spirit; priceless patriotism; and brilliant performances won my heart. I watch every game and bore our sons to tears with regular score updates.

When the Reggae Girlz accomplished more than any Jamaican sporting team in the last World Cup, I joined Lorne Donaldson in performing a puppalick in my bedroom. I was certain future prospects were limitless.

Goldarn it, I forgot that, in Jamaica, players, especially female players, are irrelevant. The important performers are administrators. What followed was the most brazen abdication of responsibility I’ve witnessed by any Jamaican sports administration. The coach was summarily fired reportedly for being rude to a JFF official while asking her not to join a players’ bonding outing. The players weren’t paid contractually due fees and bonuses for weeks after the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) received more than enough funds from FIFA to meet these payments. The Girlz qualified for two consecutive World Cups. The Boyz haven’t qualified in 25 years but rake in fatted calf style salaries.

Worse, the Girlz learned (via social media) of their new coach three days before their next match. Travel arrangements were, as usual, haphazard. So, as professionals, they politely declined JFF’s offer to play. JFF’s reaction wasn’t apologetic or conciliatory. The players were suspended!

On All Angles last Wednesday, JFF GenSec seemed at sea asserting contractual flaws pre-dated his employment and payment issues were only discernible with hindsight. Really? Seriously? So whose job is it to review and re-negotiate contracts too vague to enforce? Is foresight now unnecessary in sports administration?

C’Mon Man!

The Girlz, whose on field efforts earned JFF a fortune, have first call on any funds paid to JFF. Their contract specifies this. JFF GenSec appeared confused. He said he was waiting on FIFA to “give” more so the Girlz could be paid the following day. Then he said the Girlz had been paid in full. Which is it? News came on Saturday that the Girlz had finally been paid. Why so late? Why did JFF need more money from FIFA to pay the Girlz?

Then, when an accomplished sports administrator surmised JFF’s inability to pay the Girlz was because JFF had to deal with “past indiscretions”, GenSec immediately interpreted that to be an accusation of financial impropriety. He stoutly defended JFF’s current systems that make it, in his words, “extremely difficult to take money from JFF”. and

Oopsie. Why go there? I suspect the sports administrator was referring to unpaid fees and fines or other accounting issues between JFF and FIFA. So, what does GenSec know that we don’t know?

If you t’row a stone inna hog pen ...

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com