JFF welcomes FIFA, CARICOM collab
Published:Tuesday | June 1, 2021 | 12:14 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
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Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Technical Committee Chairman Rudolph Speid said that the newly formed partnership between the world’s governing body, FIFA and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), could be the catalyst for Caribbean football to...
Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Technical Committee Chairman Rudolph Speid said that the newly formed partnership between the world’s governing body, FIFA and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), could be the catalyst for Caribbean football to experience improvement in development on all levels.
His comments come as the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the objective to promote sports integrity and social responsibility, as well as continuing the development of the sport in the region.
The agreement was signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and CARICOM Secretary General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in a virtual ceremony held yesterday, which included presidents of the football associations of CARICOM countries, ministers of government as well as Concacaf President Victor Montagliani.
Speid called the initiative long overdue in increasing the standard of the game in the region and says that the collaboration will help Jamaica as well as other Caribbean federations accelerate the level of football development.
HOPING FOR BETTERMENT UNDER NEW MOU
“I know FIFA is concerned about the gap that is appearing between the different confederations. This MOU, I am hoping it will bear fruit and actually allows us to be able to compete better, to better our organisation so we will be able to compete against those elite confederations, especially Europe and South America,” Speid told The Gleaner.
Both Infantino and LaRocque spoke on the potential social benefits of the partnership and the potential that football in the Caribbean has.
“We are delighted to enter into this agreement with the Caribbean Community, the aim of which is to leverage our sport as a catalyst for social development in the region. Football has an incredible following in the Caribbean and there is still great potential for additional growth,” said Infantino.
“The partnership with organisations such as FIFA assists in furthering our goals of encouraging our youth, in particular, to pursue healthy lifestyles, while enjoying the benefits of a sport like football,” LaRocque said.
Speid says that they will have role to play in the partnership, in one of the measures aimed at protecting children and at-risk adults involved in football.
“It’s something that we have looked at (internally) and we put it into our training and curriculum. We will have one-off courses to help in this regard. So we are grateful for it and it’s something that we look forward to doing and educating all the coaches that it is something that they should be doing too to help to achieve non-tolerance of abuse of children and the vulnerable,” Speid said.
FIFA signed a MOU with the African Union and the Confederation of African Football in 2019 that focused around initiatives that addressed areas in education, good governance, anti-corruption strategies, as well as safety and security at football matches.
Among the areas that the FIFA-CARICOM MOU will focus on are – providing support for competitions, training of coaches, officials and administrators along with physical education teachers, the fight against match manipulation and the promotion of sports integrity and social responsibility.