Coaches differ wildly over new U20 league

WHILE SOME local Premier League clubs are not in support of the new Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) under-20 league that is coming on stream this summer, others are fully behind the project.

Paul Christie, Dunbeholden manager, believes an amatuer competition for players over 18 is a backward step and said it made no sense.

He would be more supportive of an under-18 competition and said the JFF should be using the resources to improve local football infrastructure and the sport at the grass-roots and age-group levels.

“My personal view is that at 20, you should be a full-fledged professional. At 18 and 19, you should be knocking at the door for a professional contract. So if football is what you are planning to do for a living, at 18, 19, you should be thinking about playing pro,” he said.

“An under-20 competition is a step backward. We need to focus those resources and efforts into age-group competition and get the players ready to break into their (senior) teams at 16, 17, 18. So at age 19, they should be ready for a contract overseas.”

He noted that Kaheem Parris at age 22 has already played fours years in Europe and that that is the example local clubs should be striving to emulate.

Harbour View general manager Clyde Juriedini, however, believes the converse to be true.

He believes that the league will provide much-needed competitive football for those players caught in the transition from youth to senior football.

“It is a good opportunity to have more players playing. Everybody has been under the cloud of the pandemic for the two years, and probably for the last few years, we haven’t had an under-21, and KSAFA, for the last few years, hasn’t had an under-20 either.

“So Premier League clubs will get an opportunity to showcase younger players because there is a big void when players get out of high school. “When they get to 19, 20 and 21, 22, that time is vital for their transition from amateur, junior to senior, but they haven’t had any activity. So I think this is the critical path as they will get some good competitive activity.

JFF technical committee chairman Rudolph Speid, said the competition came into being because clubs were serious about development and that the lack of regular football at the youth level has been distressing.

He noted also that the league will allow for players over 20 to also participate.

“Only 24 teams are playing football in Jamaica, and the return to normalcy is a far way away. So we decided that we are professional clubs, and we want to develop, so let’s run a competition.

“We tried not to be selfish because we have called on teams in the west to do the same because the cost is too great to travel. I am sorry we could not invite Mount Pleasant and Montego Bay because they have serious youth programmes.”

PROFESSIONAL RANKS

He said long term, the plan is to ensure that there are development leagues to help players move into the professional ranks.

“The long-term plan is to go to under 13 ,15, 17, but this time, we had to choose one and go after it.

“People are saying that at 18, you should be playing a professional league. But in professional countries, they have under-19 leagues, so if they can do it, why we must feel we are smarter when they are more developed.

“School leagues are essentially 18 and 19 years old, and there is a competition already for that age group, so we need not go back and do what schools are doing.

“Our idea is to bridge the years when the player is finished with school and help them come into Premier League, and we only see an upside in this. We see no downside,” he stated.

The competition, which includes the six KSAFA clubs in the JPL, Waterhouse, Cavalier, Tivoli, Arnett, Harbour View, and Molynes United, along with Portmore and the national U17s, will kick off on July 2.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com