Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor

Crenston Boxhill ... surrendered the Jamaica Football Federation presidency without a fight. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

AS THE sun made its exit on the Friday evening of November 2, executives who had charted the nation's football business prepared their exit from the sport's headquarters in this country at St. Lucia Crescent in New Kingston.

Bags packed and lying on the floor in the lobby, the top brass of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) took time out to spare a thought on what had been, after an unsettled four-year reign.

In contained visions of lifting the nation's football through unprecedented grassroots off-shoots with the youth, as a major platform.

What evolved, though, was a constant struggle to keep the sport under control and unify forces that were almost split evenly down the middle by the said ballots that cast Crenston Boxhill and his team into the very headquarters they were now departing.

Boxhill, who had been president of three parish associations, a CONFED chairman, coach, national team manager and founder of the Westland FC, said heading the national body was a major challenge.

"It's a major, major difference. It was very challenging. When I look back at this administration, challenges were both on and off the field," Boxhill said. "I've always believed that the stronger the team off the field, the better it would be on it. Try as we may, it was very difficult to build the strongest off-the-field team."

That he and his fellow executives were leaving with scarcely a hint of a challenge as only vice-president Linnel McLean was down to seek re-election barely 30 hours away, indicated how badly their dreams and that of the country had been shattered.

teams' failures

McLean's withdrawal on the day extinguished the administration's last flickering of hope with the unopposed Captain Horace Burrell's team taking office in contrasting manner to its bitter demise at the previous elections - without facing a vote.

Football officialdom had gone full circle in a four-year cycle that will be remembered more for the national teams' failures and the Reggae Boyz' inactivity, while the country's FIFA ranking plummeted to an all-time low 103, in an awfully horrible spiral towards the end, culminating just five days from elections and suspension of the premier league.

"It has not been smooth and we have not reached the World Cup, but much of the best of local talent has made significant strides," Boxhill said. "Much of the senior players in 2005 were built in the Digicel Cup and there was the historic achievement of finishing second at the Pan-Ams."

In 2005, an all local-based team won the Digicel Caribbean Cup and the Under-20 nationals became the only Jamaican football team to medal at the Pan-Am Games, taking silver in Brazil just months ago and Boxhill says those achievements fell in line with their plans.

"The focus was on the development of youth. These things didn't happen by choice, it was part of the whole focus. Women's football has attracted the most sponsorship ever. There's a deepening of the sponsorship support - it wasn't limited to the senior level, but also youth and women which is what we want.

"This administration has forced the football fraternity to focus on the issue of development. In the past the focus was on World Cup qualification," Boxhill commented.

He also listed the national Under-15 team's Caribbean championship among successes crowned with the 2005 Digicel Caribbean Cup finals victory over Cuba and "... policy initiatives including the formation of the Premier League Clubs Association, a development which I think will bring change and development to our football."

Ironically, one of its own initiatives sparked a negative when the JFF called off the Premier League when it couldn't get funds it required from the clubs' association.

"It's unfortunate," Boxhill states. "But it's a major difference in the approach of Jamaica's football. As such, it requires a lot of dialogue which has been going on between the parties for the past two months. It's one of those hiccups. Like anything new, you've teething pains and this is brand new. But I strongly believe this is the way to go and it'll go a long way towards bringing professionalism to the sport."

dedication

There were other disappointments, including the passing of former national Under-17 coach, David 'Wagga' Hunt.

"On behalf of the Federation, we express our condolences to the family of David Hunt. He's one of the persons who gave his life to football. He's one of the coaches who used his money to attend seminars in different parts of the world to enhance his ability to prepare our local youngsters."

And even more.

"The fall-off in activity of the senior team, especially in the last two months; the elimination of the senior team from the Digicel Cup (2006, which meant Gold Cup elimination); the early exit of the Under-23s (from Olympic qualifying recently); the Under-15s not defending their Caribbean title, which was unfortunate; the inability at all levels to get financial support for more practice games, at all levels; disunity at the board level; and insufficient progress in improving the football infrastructure playing surfaces.

Premier League clubs, through the efforts of their own, have made huge progress.

But, at the other levels that is lacking, he listed a plethora of other disappointments.

He blames the senior team's inactivity to "lack of finances as a result of the three major competitions we hosted (Digicel Cup group play-off last year, Under-17 World Cup qualifiers and women's qualifiers). Jamaica took a heavy financial beating in hosting them.

great losses

"Outside of the World Cup qualifiers, it's a very risky and expensive venture to host games," Boxhill pointed out. "You've to bring good quality teams and good quality teams come with a heavy cost.

"We still realise how important it is for our fans to see the team playing at home but in the financial climate that we operated, it was more prudent to play overseas. It was a business decision; we had to take care of our commitments."

The association's former treasurer, Rudolph Speid, backed up the claim.

He said: "Based on our experience in the past year, we lost $6.5 million for the Chile game, $4.6 million for the home-and-away series against Canada; $2.5 million to host the Digicel Caribbean Cup and $18 million when we hosted the Under-17 World Cup qualifiers. We could have hosted three friendlies out here, but we thought that would have been unfair to the new administration."

Speid added: "In retrospect, one of the defining moments in our administration was when we weren't able to host the Bahrain match. We really lost out on that.

"What compounded that is we have made capital acquisitions of $14 million which had a serious impact on our capital flow."

Former national player Wendell Downswell, who also served as technical director and coach in the Boxhill term, said: "It's just unfortunate that things went the way they did, with the senior team being inactive. It hurt from a financial standpoint.

"Nevertheless, if you look at the core of the local-based players, Digicel Cup and Pan-Am, there is some success. We have to look at it from a long-term basis. The foundation has been set, we have to build on that.

"With the new administration coming in, one hopes that with the passion we have for football, we will have a high level of growth and development at both the youth and senior level, especially now with the 2010 campaign. We know what that means to Jamaica."