 Yeah, welcome back to today's show, one of the main fears for fans of women's football in Jamaica was realized on Sunday as the reggae girls failed to advance to the inaugural Konka Kaif women's gold cup. The depleted side missing the 2023 World Cup stars needed to win in Guatemala but were held one all. That brings us to the issue that got the reggae girls into this situation, the impasse between the Federation and members of the World Cup squad. On Friday, in an exclusive interview, we had the opportunity to hear from the reggae girls for the first time since this standoff began. That interview with Captain Kadija Shaw and goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer had a number of revelations. The most talked about issue has been the payment or non-payment to the girls. Before we delve into things though, let's take a step back. You know, the commitment that was made in in in February by the president that would pay everything, every single cent that we've collected from FIFA has been paid over to the girls staff or used for the Olympic qualifiers. And so, you know, everything was depleted from that. So we were just not in a position to pay anymore because you talked about whether we would have received for our incentive about 1.2 something, all that was paid out between all of them. And then there would have been an additional amount of over 700,000 which was paid to us to be paid onto the girls for the 60,000 bonus net of the taxes that was paid within two days of receiving it. So the only thing that's disputed right now is that amount. Yeah, that was Jeff of General Secretary Dennis Strong speaking with us on the 25th of October. Then on the 27th of October, the Federation announced that full payments for the World Cup squad were made. This is what they said in that release. The Jamaica Football Federation is pleased to advise that as committed, we have now paid in full balances due to the women's World Cup team. We will also start processing payments to all players who played in the qualifying rounds, but were not in the final World Cup squad. We are always grateful for the contribution made by all our players and are happy that we have been able to set those outstanding amounts. Now, fast forward to the 1st of December in our exclusive interview, Bonnie Shaw made a shocking revelation. The payment issue as well, I just want to get completely clarified. Becky said that there are still players who have not received full compensation. Are we talking about players in the World Cup squad or are we talking about players who only competed in qualifying? Yeah, players from the World Cup squad from February. So there's half the team in February that competed, which half those players were the ones that competed in the World Cup haven't gotten any match fees. They've just got per diem, so there's no match fees or appearance fees. And then a few of the players still have yet to receive match fees and appearance fees for the World Cup. And I think that it's unfortunate because it took 23 players to help us to get to where we were. So the fact that half the players have gotten paid and half the players haven't gotten paid and some players have gotten payments, half the team have gotten numerous amounts, way more than some of the players, just all over the place. And I think it's just very unfortunate. Yeah, a lot to unpack from the interview on Friday, but before we do that, let's take a quick look at the timeline of events in this impasse. Yeah, some key points as well. I'm starting on the 18th of October, when the 2023 World Cup roster withdrew their services from competing in the international window for ConquerCaf women's Gold Cup qualifiers, citing non-payment and to end the cycle of mistreatment. And on the 20th, the GFF suspended the World Cup players eligibility for selection until the issues were resolved. On October 27th, the GFF announced full payments to members of the World Cup squad. On the 22nd of November now, the GFF announced a squad for the international window of that month without the World Cup stars. It was understood that attempts to convene a meeting to address the alleged mistreatment did not materialize. And of course, on December 1, we finally heard from the Regga Girls, Katija Shaw and goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer joining us in that exclusive interview here on SportsMax. Mariah Ramirez, where are you on this? Well, again, I sit here very confused because Ricardo, the matter at hand is that we're hearing from the GFF, Jensic, that the ladies have been paid and that situation has been cleared up. So for me, I was expecting to see the ladies back on representing for the Jamaica Regga Girls. However, after speaking to the ladies in a one-on-one interview, we have found out from them that a lot of the players have not received, they said they only received the podium, so they didn't receive their match fees and their parents fees. So to me, Ricardo, the two parties involved are saying two different things, which means that one of it is not true. And I sit here today and I feel so disturbed because for me, it's either you pay the players or not, and if the players receive the money, just say that you receive the money. So for me, I feel like this is being made much more difficult than it really should be. Yeah. I listened to the GFF General Secretary, Dennis Chung, in a YouTube interview at the weekend trying to address what the girls had said about not receiving all the monies owed to them. His explanation was that as far as he is concerned, all the money was sent to the girls, and if it is a case that they have not received it, then he would have expected them to say that to him and the Federation instead of coming publicly. And I heard all of that. You know where I am on this now though, Mariah? I realize that the real issue in all of this, or definitely the main issue. Communication. Yes. That's it. That's simply it. The GFF clearly genuinely believes that what we are saying are the facts. The girls also genuinely believe that what we are saying are the facts. What is not happening in this case, and as we could pick up from last week, even though the girls have engaged Fifth Pro, who is the union for professional players worldwide, there still seems to be a significant breakdown in communication. And clearly what needs to happen now is that the reggae girls' representatives and representatives of the Jamaica Football Federation need to have a sit down and speak through these issues, clarify what needs to be clarified, and move on from there, because clearly there is a massive breakdown in communication, Mariah. And Ricardo, I feel very sad that it has come to this point, because when we were having the interview with Khadija and Becky, to me it's as if, you know, things have gotten so bad that it says, if I can't speak to you, I can't have a conversation with you face to face. Like, I have to relay this message from one party. We have to take some time. We have to wait. And that's Fifth Pro's involvement in the matter now. And that's what I'm saying. Like, it's unfortunate that this has gotten to this stage, but it's already at that stage. And I wish that, you know, they can just come together, because the girls, when we asked them about the meeting that we were updated there, supposed to be a meeting, they had no clue about it. Yes. So the GFF, for example, had said that they had proposed at December 8th meeting, and the girls said they knew absolutely nothing about that. So again, that communication, so to me it's, and they were explaining, and I was really listening while you and Lance were questioning doing some of the questions. The girls are saying that how this works is, so they send an email, then of course they have to sit and wait now until the GFF responds to Fifth Pro, then they will come to them, then they will discuss, and remember, these girls are applying their trade elsewhere. So they have matches. So they only can discuss when time permits, when they don't have a match. Of course, time difference and all these different things. And for me, Ricardo, I feel like something that should have been easy. I always say because of our profession, we are communicators. Sometimes even here, we don't communicate as we should. Something that should be easy is being very, very difficult. And that's just one thing. It's costing the entire country. It's costing the entire football landscape in Jamaica. And I think it's affecting all the things that the woman who have played football for Jamaica before, it is affecting all that work that was built to get us to this stage. Yeah. So I think the important thing is that they can have that meeting as quickly as possible to sit down and iron out the issues that they need to iron out. Let me also say something else though, because I remember at the start of this saga, one of my main points was that I felt that while the girls had genuine grouses, that strike action might have been premature and that definitely the issue could have been dealt with differently. You did say that. And I remember saying that. Now, part of what I also said is that many would realize how detrimental the strike action could be for Jamaica's women's football if and when we did not qualify for the ConquerCaf Gold Cup, the inaugural staging of the women's gold cup. Jamaica have no not qualified for the inaugural women's gold cup. What does that mean, Mariah? Already, the regular girls will not take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, because of course they did not qualify from that. There will be no gold cup and there are only three FIFA women's windows in 2024, meaning only three opportunities to play international football for the regular girls, unless you're talking about complete local squads, because we already know how difficult it is when the international players have club duties and others may have school and our difficulties to get those squads together. So that is what now the Jamaica Football Federation will face in trying to get games. And remember, World Cup qualifying begins in 2025. So I don't think that we've even started to see how detrimental the fallout from this decision could be for Jamaica's football going forward. And just quickly to make this point, if you look at a few key players in the current regular girls setup, and I think we have a graphic quickly with their ages, you will see that in terms of how long they will be around, the likes of Rebecca Spencer, who is 32 years old, Tiffany Cameron, Sashana Campbell, who was a reserve at the World Cup, also 32, Drew Spence, 31, Havana Salon, 30, Trudy Carter might still have another World Cup in her 29, but those are six key players out of the regular girls squad that you are not sure will be around for the next World Cup. And what that means is that the upcoming players will need experience for the next World Cup qualifying campaign. That experience is going to be limited now because the regular girls or likely will be limited because the regular girls have not qualified for next year's Gold Cup and we only have three international FIFA windows for next year. Let's see how it all plays out. Hopefully this thing will be rectified soon enough, but JFF and girls get together in that meeting as quickly as possible and sort this out like big men and big women, all right? And let the business of Jamaica's women's football go forward and no politicking if there is any of that going on, which I'm sure there always is. Let's take a break.