McKay warns JFF about FIFA attention on Royal Lakes saga

JASON MCKAY, president of New Raiders Football Club, who lost a presidency battle for the St Catherine Football Association (SCFA) to Elaine Walker-Brown last August, has warned that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) should be mindful of what happened in August 2022 when FIFA suspended India’s football association because of “undue influence from third parties”.

When India’s Supreme Court appointed a committee to take over the “day-to-day governance” of the All-India Football Federation after its president, Praful Patel, failed to hold elections originally scheduled for December 2020, FIFA stated in a release that “third party” involvement in India’s football association went against its statutes, which McKay said the SCFA is using to sanction Royale Lakes Football Association, noting that the same double-edged weapon could also hurt the JFF, as it did India, who were subsequently stripped of hosting the under-17 Women’s World Cup.

“The JFF says it doesn’t interfere in club matters. FIFA doesn’t like third-party interference. However, by using the FIFA statutes to ban Royale Lakes for two years, because the club won an injunction against constitutional breaches ahead of last year’s elections, is a high-handed action.

“It flies in the face of the authority of the Jamaican judicial system and the right of every Jamaican to seek justice,” stated McKay, a harsh critic of the Walker-Brown administration, who was only allowed to contest the August 2024 election after Royale Lakes’ injunction.

“The FIFA statute is being weaponised and misused because most persons don’t have the resources to fight organisations with the size of parish football associations. All that will happen is that this action will put the St Catherine Football Association in further debt and ultimately lead to its insolvency, destroying the parish’s football,” McKay warned ahead of Thursday’s hearing following last Friday’s interim injunction, which prohibited SCFA from barring Royal Lakes’ participation in the Major League, which finally got under way on Saturday.

The International Federation of Association Football, commonly referred to by its acronym, FIFA, is renowned as “the international self-regulatory governing body” of association football, beach soccer, and futsal.

However, FIFA’s ‘self-regulatory’ status, which prohibits players and affiliates from taking the Switzerland-based institution to court has been rocked at its core by external court actions such as the 1995 Bosman ruling, which effectively gave out-of-contract players complete freedom at the end of their contracts.

Other challenges

Since the Bosman ruling, other individuals and institutions have openly challenged FIFA statutes in domestic and international courts of law.

Last October, the European Court of Justice found that some rules imposed by FIFA are contrary to EU law, restricting freedom of movement and are anti-competitive, following a challenge lodged by former Arsenal, Chelsea and Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra.

That same month, the worldwide players’ union, FIFPro, and the European Leagues jointly filed an antitrust complaint against FIFA at the European Commission in Brussels, arguing that global football’s governing body is abusing its right as both a tournament organiser and regulator.

McKay said Jamaica could also soon be in the international spotlight with Royale Lakes’ case attracting FIFA’s attention.

“The case of Royale Lakes Football Club is setting the stage for a court case to put to the test if the FIFA statute that allegedly prevents teams from carrying football associations to court is being used incorrectly by football technocrats to effect controls to subvert the democratic process required to elect and remove football-association executives,” he asserted.