St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Head Coach Omar Wedderburn and his Munro College counterpart Kemar Ricketts have both expressed their solidarity with the Jamaica Football Referees Association (JFRA) after the association’s decision to withdraw its services from the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association’s (ISSA) football competitions on Saturday due to security concerns.

All 13 matches in the daCosta Cup competitions scheduled for Saturday were called off by ISSA and have been rescheduled for Monday. ISSA’s Competitions Coordinator Ewan Scott said on Saturday that after a meeting between both bodies the referees have decided to resume their duties on Monday. The matches were postponed after match officials informed ISSA of their concerns about their safety after three incidents spanning from the end of last season to the present.

In a letter from the JFRA to ISSA, reportedly signed by JFRA President Valdin Ledgister, the referees detailed three serious incidents since last season during which their members were attacked twice by players and once by members of the public and requested a meeting “to review the security protocols in place for the competition and to provide support for all members as we seek to plan for the remainder of the competition”.

Wedderburn says the postponement of STETHS’s match against Maggotty High on Saturday will not disrupt his team’s plans this season, but he supports the referees’ stance.

“It won’t have any effect on us going forward, because we all know that after every action there is a reaction, and this is the reaction from the action that happened the other day,” he said. “Being honest, you have to think about the referees as being the same as a father, a brother, and an uncle, and they have their rights just like we have our rights too.”

“It was surprising to me at first until I went into the online meeting with ISSA, and we got a full understanding of what was taking place. So I am in full solidarity with the referees.”

Ricketts said that although they were preparing for their match against Lacovia on Saturday, he fully understands the referees’ decision to withdraw their services from the competition.

“We would have wanted to play, but it didn’t impact us much because the game has been rescheduled for Monday,” he said. “At the end, we understand what is happening, and if that is the road that they [referees] want to take, then who are we to stand in their way? Of course, I sympathise with them because it is really hard for them at times if they don’t have sufficient security personnel at these games.

“Our focus doesn’t shift, because we are really not paying attention to what is happening; we are just focusing on our games and taking it on a game-by-game basis. The relevant authorities will sort that out with the referees, and we will get going again.”

In an incident that took place on September 14, assistant referee Richard Ball reportedly had to seek medical attention after he was struck in the chest by an object thrown during a daCosta Cup Zone A game played at Maldon High. Last week, three match officials, Christopher Bailey, Robert DaSilva, and Oshane Williams, were physically assaulted and threatened by registered players of Dinthill Technical High School.

“After an intense discussion [on Friday evening], the members were unanimous in their view that the disciplinary sanctions imposed will not adequately address the safety concerns of the traumatised members of the affected referee groups. In fact, the latest incidents are indeed a serious cause for concern and highlight critical security issues that threaten the safety of our members,” Ledgister said.