Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) President Mark Bennett says he envisions a new structure islandwide in which academies will be aligned to clubs within their communities.

Bennett has already started work on a similar structure within KSAFA to have its clubs partnering with youth football academies within the Kingston and St Andrew (KSA) area. This, he told the Jamaica Observer earlier this year, was to ensure that there are checks and balances in place to properly certify persons looking to operate academies within the confederation. He said it would also mandate the need for background checks on these individuals as they are setting out to work with children.

The decision was initially met with resistance by academies within KSA, but common ground was found at a recent meeting between both parties. There it was agreed that the KSA academies would create their own association so that they could become a collective unit in having further discussions with KSAFA to foster the partnership with clubs.

Bennett is a member of the campaign team for Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) First-Vice President Raymond Anderson, who will run against President Michael Ricketts in the federation’s upcoming election.

The issue of academy partnership is a key concern of Bennett and he told the Observer recently that, should Anderson win the election, KSAFA’s initiative would be expanded into a model that addresses all confederations, academies, and clubs across the island.

“There’s a discussion we need to have within the national setting,” Bennett said. “We in KSAFA will approach it from a KSAFA perspective, but it is important for a national position to be developed on academies. It’s not about just developing a document and saying, ‘Here, this is how you apply for a licence.’ But how do we really integrate academies into the development structure?

“It is important and that is something that we are committed to do. That’s the most we’ll say at this time.”

The document Bennett refers to is a 28-page outline crafted by the JFF on what constitutes an academy and how one is formed.

It speaks to the application process, the presentation of mandatory financial audits, training and match facilities, age group structures, a requirement to compete in futsal (a condensed version of the game with fewer players on a smaller field), duration and frequency of training activities, personnel and their responsibilities, coach to player ratios, and who academies are allowed to partner with (football clubs, and preparatory and primary schools). However, concerns have been raised about its accessibility to various football stakeholders.

“There isn’t an academies association as yet,” Bennett said. “You have different elements about it and we in KSAFA are trying to encourage them to do that. When we do that, then different standards can be developed, representation can be made.”

No date has been set by the JFF for the general election, but its constitution mandates a deadline of November.