Alexander credits JFF's admin, coaching courses for development

Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

Chairman of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Eastern Confederation, the Reverend Wanel Alexander, has pointed to his parent body's recent implementation of administration and coaching courses across the country as two of the main reasons why football in the region has been improving.

Alexander, who is a former vice-president of the St Mary Football Association and currently serves on the JFF's disciplinary committee, says these courses, along with the natural talent of the region's players, form a unique combination and, as such, it was not by chance that St Georges and Benfica are plying their trade in the nation's top flight, the Digicel Premier League (DPL).

"A couple of things that have led to our improvement are some of the JFF's new initiatives in terms of courses in administration and coaching," explained Alexander, the pastor at Missions Possible Community Church in Galina, St Mary.

"Another reason is a greater involvement of the parish associations with their respective clubs," he added.

The Eastern Confed consists of the parish associations of St Thomas, Portland, St Mary and St Ann.

Up to four seasons ago, it was practically the 'bastard child' of national football, with not one of their teams qualifying for the DPL, or being able to avoid the drop after a season or two.

Sustainability

Since the initiatives, as outlined by Alexander, however, there seems to be some level of sustainability, with Portland's St Georges Sports Club maintaining their spot in the DPL for the last three seasons, including a creditable third-place finish last season; and Benfica qualifying for the DPL this season to make it two teams from the region.

"On a scale of 1-10 I would say the region is at about a five, as we still have the handicap of lack of finance," Alexander continued.

"For example, in the Super League last season, only two of the 10 clubs were partly sponsored and one of them, Benfica, won and advanced to the Digicel Premier League.

"The other was Kaiser Bauxite, and if the parish competition was structured in a league format they would have won."

Alexander also thinks that going forward football in the region will get stronger.

"I think Benfica has set the trend and it has created a lot of motivation for other clubs, who feel they can do the same," he said.

"In fact, it was my opinion that any of the four semi-finalists in the Super League last season - York, Benfica, Kaiser and Star Cosmos - could have made the final.

"We want to appeal to sponsors in the area as there are a lot of industries, banks and other companies. We want them to come and assist us to help the youths of the area in a constructive way," he concluded.