Seaga
Edward Seaga (In a letter to the editor)
A MEMBER of the Waterhouse Football Club executive told me that he was driving home when he heard on the radio that his club had won the Jamaica Football Federation's (JFF) Wray and Nephew Premier League competition.
If he knew this would have happened he would have been at the game, but even so only a modest crowd was present.
The league competition is the top competition on the football calendar. For it to be decided in this manner is a real let-down. T.S. Eliot would liken the ending to his famous lines, "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper."
The idea behind sports is to generate thrills in order to excite the fans so that they follow the outcome of games, attach themselves to clubs which they support with their cheers, buy tickets and have fun.
This is the way it has been for a long time in the Premier League. To decide the champion team, the top four teams would clash at the National Stadium in the play-offs at the end of the season with their fans cheering or jeering.
SHORT SERIES
The nation knew that the national championship was being decided then and there in a short series that held the attention of all lovers of sports.
Play-offs are key to building the finals to maximum support and attention. American sports are run this way, whether football, baseball or basketball. They wind up their fans and get their support in the season. Americans know how to market sports and grab sponsorship.
The English Premier League, which, it was decided by an ill-fated decision to copy this year, crowns the team with the highest number of points. Most times, it is possible to determine the winners at a point in the season. Hence, it was obvious that Chelsea would be the winners this year.
This has not stunted spectator support in England because most of the tickets are pre-sold by clubs as season tickets, so a large number of spectators turn up anyway. That does not happen in Jamaica. Season tickets are not feasible. When spectators lose interest, the gate suffers badly.
LACK OF INTEREST
The let-down is not only to spectators. It is tough to keep the interest of teams going when there is little chance for any but one or two teams. Players fail to turn up for practice and when they do play, they do so with little interest.
One team which Tivoli played recently admitted that because of a lack of interest, players had stopped practising. Putting a team on the field was, for them, a matter of picking from those who show up on game day. Even Tivoli could not muster more than 12 players last week against Reno.
Sponsors too are caught in this Nicodemus system where a team can win with as little fanfare as a thief in the night. The support of sponsors is based on crowd support. If crowds dwindle, so too will sponsor interest.
In a year in which there has been little to cheer about in football, why dampen spirits more? Sponsor support is going to be key on the agenda for next year. Some clubs are only hanging on with slim financing. Drop-outs can be expected in the coming season.
Assessment of the damage of this low-key, off-hand competition has to include the communities which support the clubs. These are largely inner city or urban towns in the rural areas.
To these communities, performance of their team is a rallying point. If the team is successful they expect to be part of the celebration, not to hear it by-the-way on the radio. To rally them after for a celebration is anti-climatic.
Waterhouse, which put up a gallant fight to come from far behind to win, will no doubt ask themselves what have they won? They deserve better.
The team is to be congratulated for an excellent season despite the odds. If showed real courage and stamina.
Let us hope that reconsideration will be given to return to the play-off system with its built-in drama for the next season. Give football back to the fans, the players, the sponsors and the communities!
Edward Seaga is a former Prime Minister. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the University of the West Indies. Email: odf@uwimona.edu.jm.
