‘Name the date already!’
SAV-LA-mar, Westmoreland
The St James and Trelawny Football Associations have increased their call for the staging of the long overdue Annual General Meeting of the Western Confederation.
Presidents of the Football Associations, Orville Powell of St James and Linnell McLean of Trelawny – agreed that it was full time for the executive of the Confederation name a date for the elections and for the Super League to get under way.
Everton Tomlinson, who will be seeking his third straight term as chairman of the Western Confederation, told the Observer West Tuesday that an announcement concerning the election date would be made by Monday.
Tomlinson, who is also the president of the Westmoreland Football Association, had told the Observer West some weeks ago that they were waiting until this month to start the Super League as they were trying to avoid any venue clash with the ISSA daCosta Cup and also to ensure there were sufficient referees to officiate games.
Powell, who also confirmed he would be seeking to replace Tomlinson as chairman, said the situation with the Western Confederation was “in a serious state for concern”.
He said that with two of the three western teams in the JFF Cash Plus Premier League not doing as well as expected, there is no action on the part of the Western Confederation to ensure that any of the teams in the Super League were in a position to contest for one of the two promotion places at the end of the season.
McLean, one of the most experienced football administrators in the island, a former president of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) and who served as a vice-president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) until last Sunday, said he did not think it was feasible to join the race for the chairmanship given that the Hanover and Westmoreland FAs held the majority of the votes and would most likely support their own candidates.
The executive of the Western Confederation is comprised solely of delegates from Hanover and Westmoreland despite provisions in the constitution allowing the presidents of each of the four FAs to be included.
Powell told the Observer West he has never been invited to any meeting of the Western Confederation since he was elected to head the St James FA last year.