A desperate appeal

The Jamaica Football Federation’s (JFF) Competitions Department has named Montego Bay United (MBU) as the 12th team for the Jamaica Premier League next season.

Wadada were to face MBU tomorrow for the 12th spot in the league, which was made vacant with UWI FC’s decision to leave last season. However, they were ineligible because of a missed deadline, meaning MBU gained the spot automatically.

But Wadada administrator Daniel Ricketts says the club is making an appeal to the JFF with the hope of getting an injunction to the decision to cancel the match.

The club had a name change from Wadadah to Wadada United Foundation Limited, and obtained a bank account but missed the deadline set by the JFF to meet those registration requirements. As such, its players and other club officials were not officially registered.

“The deadline for registration was 5 p.m. on Friday, and at cut-off time, they didn’t meet all the requirements to be fully registered,” JFF Competitions Committee Vice Chairman Ewan Scott said. “At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the Competitions Department told me Wadada started the registration but didn’t meet the cut-off time for registration of players and officials.

“They satisfied being registered as a club entity, and the bank account was done. But the other aspect of registering players and officials, they did not meet the deadline.”

NO BENDING RULES

Scott said that although the JFF understands the club’s plight, it could not continue bending the rules to further accommodate their late registration.

“This is not the first deadline that has been moved, and whenever you move the goalposts, you have to be careful of the precedent you are setting.

“Both teams were communicated to at the same time in terms of the guidelines they had to meet, and the first deadline (Saturday) was moved to accommodate the Premier League final.

“We do not normally move the registration deadline, as all we were moving was the play date.

“But we moved the play date from Saturday to Wednesday and the registration date from the Monday to Friday, to allow them more time.

“However, if we had move it again, what is MoBay United going to say and what kind of signal would that be sending to other clubs?

“Football should be decided on the field, but you have the rules that govern competitions. So it is tough, but MBU will be the 12th team in the Premier League.”

Ricketts says that he had no knowledge of or experience with the JFF’s Comet (registration) system and says he spent most of Friday seeking help with the process.

He says that the JFF should have provided clubs with information or a workshop to educate them on how to use the system.

It is on this ground that Wadada will make its appeal today.

“They asked us for the bank account and the company registration on Thursday,” Ricketts said. “I provided the company registration and on Friday, I provided the banking information.

“During those times, I kept asking what was the next step. They said I should provide a deposit slip, which we did. They asked for confirmation from the St James FA that the name change had been approved. That was sent.

“So that process was successful before the 5 p.m. deadline. What they are saying is that we failed to register our players and officials on the JFF system.

“But at no time was I advised on how to work the system. There was no workshop or any information on how to do it.

“We need to show the unfairness meted out against Wadada, so we will be making the appeal and we hope to get an injunction.”

Ricketts says he sought help from a number of national, parish, and club administrators, most of whom had no knowledge how to operate the system either.

“Even if we do not win this fight, this is something that should put the JFF in order,” he said.

sports@gleanerjm.com