 Now continuing this edition of the Sports Mac Zone where the football the contentious pillar three that constitutes 14 of the 56 votes for January's Jamaica Football Federation election was at the center of most debate at Sunday's extraordinary general meeting in Kingston. Three of the seven affiliates in pillar three came up for ratification by Congress with the past National Players Association and Coaches Association getting the nod. However, beach football which was ratified at the board level did not receive the support of Congress. JFF President Michael Ricketts sought to explain. One was was deferred because of a simple misunderstanding. The document that the GenSec has would have named a particular member who said that he did not confirm being part of the the group. But then when we looked it was his provisionalist that was sent. So he is not in fact a member of the group. He was just on that first list. It was deferred to be re-looked at subsequently. The other two were voted on. Currently the exact numbers but in favor of supporting the board's recommendation. Now the other four pillar three affiliates is that the Schools Association, Intercal, the Referees Association and the professional football Jamaica Limited PFJL did not get board approval last week and have on to the 20th of December to submit relevant documents. Michael Ricketts is expected to be challenged by current Vice President Raymond Anderson and both men issued statements about their views on what has transpired so far in this contentious build-up to the election. 37 years on the board. We were a hundred and here votes and we found out that the 13th wasn't a good number. We actually condense it. We want to move away from that with FIFA assistant. Spend years and months and a lot of meetings trying to really move from the 13th to 56th. And what I've seen over the time with some of my colleagues and they want to fix it in a way that it still stay within a small group. That's my concern and we'll hear more about it and in detail because we're putting something together. For another meeting tomorrow we'll have a press but for the record I'm not really happy with all the things over there because we are still not able to widen the net as planned. If you read the constitution it was perfectly legitimate and legal but like I said people's interpretation I mean may differ but what we have done is totally within the articles of this constitution. We understand that there's a representative from FIFA who has been in the office. What is the specific reason for that FIFA representative? You know I wanted them to say it publicly. I personally invited them. I Michael Ricketts personally invited them. So there is a consultant here but we invited some other FIFA persons to just look at what was happening in relation to the consultant. The consultant was sent here by FIFA to just help us and to regularize certain things and based on reports and based on the visit that these FIFA persons I think we are on track. We're doing the right thing. What has been the response from one the consultant and the other FIFA individuals who are here? Well the consultant of course he would make some suggestions that we probably would challenge. We probably would not in full agreement with so we have discussions with him because like he has said easier to help so sometimes he would make some suggestions and would want to think that yeah let's discuss it. Let's review I mean the board might not be in agreement with this but these are the challenges that we do have. Certainly when these other three I think members from FIFA came they met with both parties. They met with Mr. Cole. They met with the GenSec so they would have had discussions with the consultant and with the secretary based on the meeting that I would have had with them. They are now waiting. They've given personally asked them for a checklist so that we can look to see exactly where we are at. So they have provided that checklist and we are going through to ensure that we meet what requirements are desired. I know Carville Stuart had suggested last week that we have to be careful from a Jamaica Football Federation standpoint that we don't end up in normalization like Trinidad and Tobago and there is a concern that given a lot of what is going on we may even be close. How would you respond to that rubbish? Nothing of the sort. Nobody has ever mentioned that. In fact in fact as we speak FIFA has sent us a grassroots coach that we have signed a contract with. That's the kind of support we're getting. There is a coaching convention that we will be held here. I mean FIFA we're having issues with us. I mean they would not be reaching out to us in so many areas but we do have challenges and there are I think 22 countries in our group. 10 of those 22 countries are under financial restrictions. So it's not a unique situation for us and when one considers that we have 12 teams six on either side of the gender. I mean we are overseas almost every single day. We are going to be faced with challenges. We are probably the leading light in the Caribbean. So we participate in almost every single Caribbean and Conca-Coff competition. So that in itself presents challenges but I mean with Adidas on board we are navigating and hopefully we'll be okay soon. Why are we on restricted funding and how soon do you think we will get out of that situation? It's been a while. I think our former accountant and when FIFA came here the first response was that he wasn't cooperative. He doesn't respond to emails. He's not timely in his reporting. Now we have a brand new accounts department. We had given Mr. Cole the permission to interview and ultimately to employ these persons. So he would have been the lead role in interviewing and employing some of these staff members. So we know virtual a brand new set of employees in the accounts department and we're just hoping that from here on we will be able to meet our timelines. I mean and there are not too many things because we have asked Mr. Cole to just tell us what do we need to do and there are not many things. There are not many things you need to do and there are not impossible things. Is there a pathway on a timeline? There is a pathway. We have created a pathway. Mr. Cole and of course the Gensik, Amosel, Fudalspeed have sat and of course the accounts department and we have created a path getting out of restrictions. We are waiting on the 2023 audit report and then we'll see what happened thereafter. Is Michael Ricketts confident that at the end of January 14, 2024 he will be returned as GFF president? Absolutely. I'm going to outline in a manifesto what my achievements are second to none. I'm not blowing my own trumpet but this GFF and I tell you sometimes the things that we make big issues off and it's simple media craft these things. For example we're coming from Australia and two days after we handed over all equipment to a shipping company and the goods got here one day late and it made the headlines globally one day late. It was supposed to outcome the money and it came the Tuesday and it was all over the world are we incompetent and this had nothing to do with the GFF and there are so many other examples. It has the relationship between yourself and your vice president Raymond Anderson been like since he announced his candidacy and it is clear that he's going to be the man to challenge you. You know when I heard that Raymond wanted to get into a contest I called him and I didn't say to him that I understand that you want to run but I said Raymond this is the time when we need to come together we need to sit craft away forward for football. He said yes yes yes when Norse once was forthcoming I asked Sheridan to call him. Sheridan called him I said the president he's received to do a work out. I called Pearson which is one of his strongman as a person I would need to meet with Raymond because I want to put Raymond as part of my team. He said yeah man yeah man I haven't heard from him in the next thing. Obviously he has not said to the board that I am getting into an election but it's obvious that he is but you know when I see what is happening now the kind of disruption that election is causing I am very disappointed and unhappy that he took that decision but that won't hurt our relationship it ought not to. I mean we've all been in football Raymond been vice president before I got into football but you know I just want us to have a good relationship work together in the interest of sport because like I've said football most influence the psyche and we most understand that the social well-being of so many young boys and girls depending or depends on football so that's where we want to go in the near future to ensure that we provide that kind of support and provide that kind of a social intervention that we positively impact. Yeah well Ricardo and Mariah the gloves are up I can say because the first time that I heard a reaction in the media from Michael Ricketts re Raymond Anderson his vice president challenging him it didn't have this stone he pretty much said well you know these are the things are like that sometimes but now he says he's disappointed and unhappy that Raymond Anderson has taken this position to run against him so the gloves are off. Yeah he says he's disappointed and unhappy but then he continues by saying you know he just wants football to do well you know he just wants the sport to win so we're getting like mixed reactions for me I'm looking forward to the next segment because there's a lot to unpack from this interview there's so much thing he speaks about them being in line with the Constitution and I know of you has picked that up he spoke about the fact that the normalization issue is rubbish that is stuck in my brain so there's no reason for them to be normalized for Jamaica to be normalized he also spoke about he himself inviting a FIFA representative to Jamaica so if if they were going to normalize the GFF and Jamaica football there was no way that the FIFA was going to invest in all the different things that they've been doing so team segment two the next segment is when we talk anything next segment all right don't go anywhere yes so we're following up in this segment on a lot of the things you would have heard in the preview of segment with the vice president Raymond Anderson speaking and for most of the segment we heard from the current president of the Jamaica Football Federation Michael Ricketts of course the presidents of elections set for January 14 next year and I want to get Ricardo's comment first because he didn't quite address the issue that we left the last segment with that the gloves are off Ricardo because there has been a change in tone from the president Michael Ricketts read his vice president challenging him and he used words like unhappy and disappointed that Raymond Anderson has decided to run against him and the disruption it has caused which is a little different from what I heard probably six seven weeks ago when it became evident that Raymond Anderson would be challenging him but I think it's even more evident now that Raymond Anderson is going to be challenging him and and the challenge all of a sudden I think is starting to seem real and genuine and I think the president of the Jamaica Football Federation would be realizing that and I think in many ways is responding to it as well I do want to get back though to the first issue that we discussed or brought up in that first segment and it has to do with the decision that was made at Congress yesterday with the in pillar three the past national players association and the coaches association getting the none but beach football not getting the none and now I listened carefully to the response from the president Michael Ricketts saying that it was a simple misunderstanding and this is where I have a massive issue Lance and Mariah now we all know that this JFF administration has been characterized by a number of fall ups a number of administrative fall ups and I think in many instances this is another one of them so the president is saying well what happened is that the names were on a provisional list and then the the wrong list came which was a provisional list and not the current list and for me I don't know that you can say that is a simple misunderstanding in the context that the opposition is saying that the incumbent Michael Ricketts and his team have been going out of their way to form new associations to fit or affiliates to fit into pillar three affiliates that were registered only weeks ago and secure votes for themselves presumably to secure votes for themselves and in this specific instance what you had was an individual coming out ahead of the extraordinary Congress and saying well I never gave consent for my name to be part of any beach football association I don't know about that and then the response to that is going to be it was a simple misunderstanding given the context of the discussions that we've had in recent weeks and given the context of what the opposition the real solid team led by Raymond Anderson have said I don't know that that is an adequate response coming from the GFF president and I think at best from the point of Michael Ricketts it does not look good. No it does not look good and it begs the question as to how desperate will we go in order to attain all these extra votes because for me you're hearing it from the man himself seeing that you know I didn't really give permission for that and there are other bodies as well on the waiting list you know who have I think legit candidacy to get on the list and they're not on it so for me it's just not a good look. Yeah but Ricardo I want to say that your assessment of Ricketts' comment that what he described as a simple oversight or simple misunderstanding which you categorize as a colossal problem not not a simple problem it could be argued that Ricketts is being consistent because when you spoke with him yesterday he spoke about his accomplishment speak for themselves as if his GFF administration has been excelling in all of these areas and that is not how the general public sees it so there appears to be a disconnect in how Ricketts assesses things to what the real world sees. And the media was blamed Ricardo you were there as in when something happens the media runs with the story in a negative manner so a lot of default you were there Ricardo was attributed to the way in which the story is written and not that they're the facts. Well listen I hear you Mariah I don't even want to comment too much on that because I think as media we have a job to do and we try to do it in the best way possible but to your point Lance I think you make a very good point because while I was doing the interview as well I was trying to connect with a lot of what Michael Ricketts was saying because as you pointed out Lance it is so different from a lot of what we hear publicly and so maybe you are right that what is happening here there is a disconnect between how Michael Ricketts sees the performance of his administration versus how the general public sees the performance of the administration. I just want to say this quickly I think what Michael Ricketts is thinking about when he thinks about the performance of his administration he's thinking about the fact that the reggae girls qualified for two World Cup tournaments under his administration he's thinking about the fact that the Adidas sponsorship came under his administration and things like that the general public is thinking that the reggae girls had to strike ahead of the Gold Cup qualifying campaign because they were not paid. The general public is thinking about the reggae boys having to come to the media because of how they were being treated by the JFF administration. The regular public is thinking about all the flight mishaps with various national teams from the junior level to the women to the senior level and all the complaints that have come in regard to let's say messes with flights with transportation and so I think that's where the disconnect is that Michael Ricketts is thinking about a lot of the end result while the general public has been thinking about a lot of the complaints that have come from the players and a lot of the issues that have been broadcast for the entire world to see. Yeah and you say the general public and it goes beyond that because you spoke with Stuart Stephenson Ambassador Stuart Stephenson yesterday who is a former challenger for the presidency who was defeated by Ricketts but he has been a president of Kingston and St Andrews Football Association and a man with football experience stretching more than 40 to 50 years and he said yesterday that in assessing Ricketts' performance as a JFF president or his administration there have been too many missed opportunities and too many situations where they have bungled issues so it's not just the general public that has a negative view of the performance of the JFF administration under Ricketts. I guess it would be easy for you to say that Stuart Stephenson would be opposing him because he didn't win against him but I think those comments are generally accepted by a lot of people in the football world. And I think you speak about Ambassador Stephenson there was a strong suggestion from him as well that it is time for a change well more than a suggestion I think he said it in the conversation I had with him where he said it is time for a change and that Ricketts given all the mishaps that his administration has had maybe it is time for someone else to get an opportunity. I wasn't convinced and maybe one of these days we'll get Ambassador Stephenson on and he could probably correct me if I'm wrong and you know he's a man in the law field so I have to be very careful here but I didn't get the impression that he was convinced that Raymond Anderson was a great candidate necessarily because what he said specifically was well Ricketts has had his opportunity someone else it's probably time for someone else to get theirs as well he also said that the football could use Ambassador's style of leadership right now but he did concede that because of his law practice that he had not considered running even though he had been approached by individuals saying we would love you to step forward and challenge but he's pretty much said that's not gonna be the case. And I can understand that remember it's the same sentiment that a lot of people echo that Raymond Anderson is coming from the same camp he's coming from the same organization and the fact that he's been there because I heard Raymond Anderson speaking to this he's been there for some time when people think change they think a brand new person somebody who can bring fresh ideas a different format so you said we're not sure if he said that we're just analyzing how he said it and what was said. Yeah but one of the things that we have to point out here is that one of the things that makes this election so gripping is that there is a strong feeling among the football fraternity that they don't necessarily feel that Raymond Anderson is a brilliant replacement as the president so that is not something that you can dismiss either but I think a lot of people feel that Ricketts's administration has not been successful yeah I mean I know you he will point out to the qualification of the girls and so on but the girls have been through a lot as you mentioned Ricardo in fact not on the Ricketts administration but the JFF had one at one point about eight ten years ago abandoned the football program for women yes because of a lack of funds and and issues and so on and the JFF in truth cannot take responsibility for the upturn of the reggae girls they cannot that's the fact it is the it is the ambassador Sidella Marley that came in and injected life into the program no it could have happened without the JFF's assistance there's we have to say that but I would feel I would feel a little disingenuous if I was the JFF president taking credit for the girls qualifying for two World Cups yeah and there and there's a lot of people feel that they qualified for the World Cup in spite of the JFF and there in lies the disconnect lands where the public feels that a lot of the achievements have been in spite of the Jamaica Football Federation while Michael Ricketts will spin to say it is because of and so therein lies the disconnect I also want to make the point quickly there was something that Michael Ricketts said 10 of 22 federations I think in this region are under financial restriction then he went on to say that Jamaica would be one of the more prominent federations within the region leading light of the Caribbean yeah leading light and I would like to say it is because Jamaica is a leading light of the Caribbean why you do not expect them to be in a situation like this and the focus should really be why are we in a situation like this and not that others are in a similar situation that for me is not a good enough response to why we find ourselves in well first of all the JFF has consistently complained about a lack of funds if you are complaining about a lack of funds when there is funding left on the fee for table that we cannot access because of this restriction then you have to ask yourself the question why are we unable to access it why are we on the restriction and the response to that cannot be it is not good enough to say well 10 of 22 nations are there are 12 who aren't which means that they are 12 who are doing the right things necessary not to be on the financial restriction is what stood out for me he went on to tell you that he has a brand new account department because the last one was not responding in a timely manner and all those different things yeah but but they are still on the fee for restrictive funding restricted but that was a response because I wrote down he said that that's how they addressed when the problem happened first yeah but there are no on restrictive funding for about five or six years or this seems to be a more recent development in terms of the change in the the the financial team but you are right it is still a number of yeah and for me is still an issue but I didn't like the idea that you're telling me that 10 of 22 are on the restrictive funding because for me that's not good yeah and the point you're making just to put an exclamation mark on it Ricardo is that in reality he the JFF is failing in its financial responsibilities yes and he's saying well others are failing as well yeah so you're accepting that you're failed if you admit that you are failing yes so you cannot be commended for a failing grade you're just saying we are not the only ones who are failing the one thing I'll say though Lance and Mariah is you use the correct word Lance this is going to be a gripping JFF election build up and I think we are in for we're in for some good times as media maybe not if you are part of the JFF at the moment let's take a break