Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

Jamaica Reggae Boyz, defending Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-15 Cup champions, will forfeit their title, after last-ditch efforts by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to get emergency visa appointment dates from the United States Embassy failed yesterday.

With the tournament scheduled to kick off tomorrow in Trinidad and Tobago the contingent will have to stay put, owing to the fact that 13 members of the 22-man squad have no U.S. visas. The visas have become a requirement because the flight, which would have taken the team to Trinidad via the Miami International Airport.

The team was originally expected to travel straight to Trinidad via Caribbean Airlines, but lost their seats on that flight due to an inability to finalise the squad so the airline could confirm the booking.

Sources close to the JFF organisation have, however, also indicated that economic concerns might have been a factor in the decision to change flight plans, with the JFF having a current deal with national carriers Air Jamaica.

When The Gleaner made an attempt to clarify the issue general secretary Burchell Gibson refused to comment, stating that the facts of the case were generally known already. The team had an almost identical problem when they won the tournament in 2005 with most of the players being granted U.S. visas at the last minute.

No fruit

According to a press release sent out by the JFF, online applications for emergency visa appointments resulted in November being the earliest possible date. A subsequent attempt to hold a meeting with the consular section of the U.S. Embassy bore no fruit. The JFF had earlier managed a successful emergency meeting with the Ministry of National Security, as many of the players also had no passports.

The situation was a distressing one for head coach Patrick 'Jackie' Walters, who was given a mandate to start preparing the team just a little over two weeks ago, after what seemed to be a very late selection of a technical team by the JFF.

"Of course I think that all of this could have been avoided, but that's an administrative issue. As the coach and manager, we did everything possible to go to that tournament," said Walters, who was assistant coach when the team won the tournament.

"It's a major disappointment for us, but more than that, this set the programme back quite a bit," he added.