 We're kicking off this Tuesday edition of the Sportsman's Zone with a football. Things are intensifying as we draw closer to finding out who will lead Jamaica's football for the next four years. Come Sunday, incumbent Michael Ricketts and his team will seek to stave off a challenge from his current vice president, Raymond Anderson. Ricketts, the GFF president since 2019, will reveal his manifesto on Wednesday in his home parish of Clarendon. Anderson released his plans in December last year. But even as we look ahead to Sunday's election, there are some prevailing issues with Anderson's team contending that there have been a number of procedural breaches in the handling of the election process. Their concerns were brought to the Christopher Samuda-led Electoral Committee and having not gotten favorable responses, they took their grouses to the Royal Gibson-led Appeals Committee. It is our understanding that the Appeals Committee has responded and now are awaiting further documentation from the Electoral Committee for them to make a final ruling. It is also our understanding that the issues must be cleared up at least four days ahead of the election for it to go ahead. Well, we told you it would be a riveting election buildup. A man who knows a lot about what has been happening is Wayne Thompson, president of the St. Thomas Football Association and campaign manager for Raymond Anderson's real solid action team. They are calling him Raymond the Builder. Wayne, it's a pleasure first of all to have you on the sports mic zone. How are you doing days ahead of what we expect to be a hotly contested election? So, ladies and gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be here. We are feeling good and I must say to you that I was encouraged by the preamble, the preliminary conversation you were having. I just want to put on the table the reason why you will have this kind of environment when there's an election. You're talking about billions of dollars investment, not just directly in relation to JFF itself, but right across the world because we are impacting not just local investment but overseas investment. You need to understand also that the picture may be painted that with us dealing with the JFF in terms of the headquarters. But the JFF headquarters have no vote. Just check that out. It is really delegates out there and therefore even as we speak, we have to recognize them and I'm here to speak on their behalf while I'll make my own contribution to the process. I think I'm gifted enough if I may say that because I'm sitting beside you, I just want to use those words because I would have been part of the system for a while. I may not be visible, but you guys would have known that I'm there. I'm trying to make a difference under the Michael Ricketts administration. But you would observe also that I've never been part of a state of school because years ago I would have voted, I would have supported Ambassador Stewart Stevenson and I'm supporting Rearman and I'm not doing it because I have any issues with personalities. Yes. I'm doing it because I realized the investment is so big that we have to keep changing and probably part of my training and I just want to ask people to forgive me if I've been like that because I've been very consistent because I do believe we're not representing ourselves, we're representing the parties who are struggling. Some of them can't find the way at all to support and compete in a global environment. So we have taken it seriously and which is why when I sit at the board and when I have the conversation with anybody, it is about the stakeholders out there. Yes, it is easy for you to think about yourself, but you have to manage yourself if you really want to get the return on investment and to support all the stakeholders out there. And when you talk about the investment and you said that part of the reason why there is this great push for office is because of the millions and billions of dollars that we are talking about. From what standpoint do you make that comment because quite often sporting administrators right across the Caribbean will say, well, this is a volunteer job. There isn't anything much in there for us. We're giving of ourselves, but you get the impression that there is a lot there for the persons who are pushing for office. So we have to recognize that football started out through volunteerism and it is still affecting us now because many of us have not made that paradigm shift and certainly persons would have volunteered their services, recognizing the importance of it in their own local space. But I think what would have happened over time is when we start to have the conversation and we look at the fact that this is a blessed organization, it provides you with the opportunity to meet with people locally and overseas. It can help you personally because networking is key in anything you do it and nothing is wrong with that. But I think there are times where we have to, and it is easy, by the way, for you to forget why you would have gone in the first place and that is why you have to constantly be checking yourself. And you think change is an important part of that. Change is very important, but I'll tell you from my experience, I'm not one to say that change is easy to happen and which is why companies have invested so much in soft skills. And that is one of the reasons why the change is so important at this time because the truth is we would have taken the football, because I'm a Paris president, we would have taken the football to where it is, but it needs a lot more, it needs a paradigm shift, it needs a total revamp and it's not that we're saying that all persons are focusing on self-perceive at this time, based on the point I make you know. What is the fact that globally it is getting more competitive, it's a business, you know. And if you look at countries who have done well and you want to benchmark because you have to do it in this business, then it means you have to do the things that they do. So if you look at how countries have done it, even Canada here, they have encouraged a lot more professional clubs into their environment, so there are a lot of vote, that kind of thing. I don't think we are there yet, because just based on the evidence of what is happening here, you suspect that the mindset is still there and persons, even though they talk about it, we talk about it, you're not seeing the change that is needed. Again, because change management is needed, maybe we would have failed somewhat in kind of looking down the road where we want to go, because there's a road map and we knew it was coming. But clearly we did not invest heavily in change management and it's not just a problem with the JFF by the way, it's not a problem with sports, it's a problem with business generally, we tend to focus on the hard skills, feeling to recognize that you have to create the change in people's mind before. Before we get further into that, let's talk about the build up to this election. A lot of what I know of you, you are a man for procedural efficiency and there has been a cry from the Raymond Anderson led real action team that procedurally the Michael Ricketts led Jamaica Football Federation has not been efficient in the way that they have gone about their business in the build up to this election. In fact, I'm looking at a release here that came from the real solid action team in December of 2023 saying that you condemn the disenfranchisement efforts by the JFF under the Michael Ricketts leadership. We are talking about here the RSA team that they have come in possession of irrefutable evidence showing the JFF's repeated attempts to prevent legitimate voter organizations from exercising their right to vote that they have created shell companies competing bodies and you have over time called for immediate action. The real solid action team has gone to the electoral committee as I pointed out in the build up to this, these issues are known with the appeals committee and as far as I understand it you are awaiting a ruling from where you sit, where has or essentially where has the JFF gone so wrong with how they have dealt with the build up procedurally? First of all I think we may have forgotten when we were having the discussion with FIFA. In fact we got a template from FIFA in terms of how this thing should work and it's part of a continuation of work we would have done. We would have done a lot of work with FIFA when we started out in support of the Michael Ricketts because administration which we are part of we felt it was in our best interest to all support the organization in whatever way we can. So part of it was not only the statute by the way, the statute was won but we also developed a document which I think is also affecting us now. It's a governance document, a consultant who came and worked with us while the previous general secretary was there and it highlighted some very important points. That's why Dalton Wint was there. For example, one of the things it spoke about is the fact that you shouldn't spend a dollar more than you earn and in fact I can hear the consultant repeating that and it's not that we didn't absorb it and recognize how important it was. Governance, the train of the board, that kind of thing. I think what may have happened and as I look back, if we had completed the process in relation to installing the members, the members have already been installed actually, I want to say installed, they were documented in the statute. They are documented in the statute. What is needed and in the wisdom of all of us, it was a recognition that if we're going to be working going forward, it means that there are some minimum standards that must be met by the members as we won't be able to compete. The game now has changed and we welcome politics because politics is good. It helps you to think but when you start to move the rules of engagement, it becomes a problem because you have to ask yourself at that point, do I want to be part of this? Is the example being sent to St. Thomas is what I sitting there would love to see. I have a professional life also. So the difficulty and the challenge is to recognize that an organization that is established with so many passionate persons start to create additional bodies. If these issues are so glaring as the RSA team has outlined over time, why is it then that you are not getting traction from let's say the electoral committee? You're all the way now at the appeals committee and personally I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up tomorrow morning and hear that there is an injunction out for this election not to go ahead on Sundays. So why are you finding it so difficult to get traction from these independent bodies? I'm starting to think and probably this is just my personal view. When you look at the people who are sitting on that committee, for example at Mr Samoda, Mr Samoda is one who would have given his support to the JFF over time. But if you're working with a Samoda or a committee like that, you have to have people. Which is fine as a GOA president, isn't it? Well, I don't have an issue personally. OK. And I want to make that clear. I don't have an issue personally. But Mr Samoda will do well if there are persons around him, just like anything else, that is able to provide him with information when it is required and to guide the process along the way. Every single committee must have a secretary that with competent people who are able to provide guidance because he doesn't have the time really to sit and look at every single integrity. And this is just my personal view. Because when you look at organization being formed, I am prepared to say that goes against the Constitution. There's a June 30th and there's the clause in the Constitution. And by the way, quietly, I was sharing the Constitution with every single media personnel. You know why? It should be a secret. It shouldn't. It should be a secret. And when I hand the documents to persons, I said to them, advise anybody who asks, I give it to you. Because I suspect if we all understand and treat with the Constitution as it is, Eritrea, clause Eritrea, we would have realized that there's a transitional process. And the transitional process is not for us to use our creative minds to do the wrong things. It is for us to adhere to what is written there in terms of the transition. The disappointment for me again, as I've said, it should be very clear to everybody because we actually had conversations around it before it was tabled. I had some challenges. Other members had challenges. And which is why when some changes were made, we, some of us did not agree to it at the Congress that was held in Manchester because we figured too many changes would have been made. And it's kind of contradict the original template and the guidance that FIFA would have provided. But not to stand in that if we're just adhered to what we would have created. No matter how imperfect this is, we wouldn't be having a problem. And we talk about these things not because we're spoiled. We do it because, and deliberately, because we want the public to be part of the process. Because the next time we come to you know, we want to share our plans with you so that you can be part of the planning process. The football will never move if the media is not involved, if others are not involved. So if you're locked out, it becomes a problem for the quality of the product that we're trying to achieve. A couple of quick questions before you go in because you referenced earlier on your training in explaining the posture that you have with. Could you just say exactly what your training is? So my training, first of all, is in terms of governance. We started out in Aleco Club up by hearties somewhere in Yalas. Yes. I will invite you out there because the roads are good now. Yes. Right? I've always said to my colleagues that is 60% of my training. I've had other formal training and I've certified in areas that I'm speaking about. So I don't generally communicate these things, by the way, because sometimes in football you find that when you start, when people start to know you that way, they may look at it differently when we should all be equal. So I have a master's and I have my degree and I've certified training, project management, change management and those things. Okay. There appeared to have been a little bit of a surprise from the President Michael Ricketts that he was being challenged by Raymond Anderson, which he said openly that it didn't appear as if he expected a challenge. At what point in this entire process did you, Wayne, as a St. Thomas President, feel as if you would go in Anderson's direction as opposed to Michael Ricketts' direction? Right. So it was not about Anderson's direction. It was about, we started out very well, you know, and I had said to a couple of persons in media, we're going to miss Dalton Wint. Because we miss Dalton Wint and I've said it to him that when you come and talk in the media, you can't be talking down to the people. That's the only problem I have with Dalton and the stakeholders. But Dalton understands his weaknesses and was prepared. And he always asked questions. More than a year ago, we had said to Mr. Ricketts, let's, because we have supported him 110% and we said, based on where it is going, more than a year ago, we believe that we need to have a different kind of leadership. And it was done in a malicious way. It was just a recognition that if we're going to be competing and based on what we say ahead of us and the fact that the restriction was there in terms of the financial restriction, we had to find a way to get more private sector people being part of us. It's important to know because what the private sector person, what they do is not that they're brighter than us, you know. But what they do, they add to the mix. So when you start to have the conversation, there are different perspectives that you can look at. So more than a year ago, we had sent the signal. And Rayman has not said to persons that is not me putting up myself. We wanted a leader. We know couldn't get a leader from outside. Because if you had gone for a leader outside, it means that you would not have learned the lessons. So we recognize that Rayman was the most suitable. Why? Because he would have anything that Rayman touches. It works. For example, you would see the PFJL in terms of the execution. Rayman is always the end support of the body. So we recognize that we needed to have a team of persons with different skin sets. If you look at the team, you can match it with the issues we're having at the JFF. Communication and marketing. Finance. So if you look at how we would have positioned ourselves in doing the selection, you can say that we're heading somewhere. And this is where Rayman must take credit for this. And it tells me that he knew what he was doing. I did not make any recommendation to Rayman. And when I saw the team that he brought, I thought it was very strategic because somebody like Dave, Dave assisted us. And I wanted to make it public. Dave assisted us when we were having serious problems. You would have heard the reggae boys. Dave came in. And the payment issue. Right. And he used his own style. And no persons have this thing, those who don't like him, to say that, boy, it must have cricketed. But Dave was able to use his own experience to drive that conversation. We were hoping that the same mix could have been done to treat the girls. It didn't happen. And you would have seen the result. In five seconds. Who wins on Sunday? Rayman. You're that confident. Yes, Rayman. Because Michael Ricketts says he has 110% chance of winning. And I'll tell you, elections are one on the day. The delegates are listening to me. And I'll ensure that the audio which is produced here will be sent to all of them and video. You know why? Because they need to understand. And I don't think we probably would have done a good job over the last four years to have them understand what is happening. We shouldn't be paying a tier two and the clubs are struggling. The environment is too conducive for development in terms of football. And private sector people are out there waiting to align their products with what we have. Wayne Thompson, we're out of time. Thanks very much for joining us on the Sports Mag Zone. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. And we'll be there in Hanover on Sunday to witness this election process. Thank you very much. We'll be back with more on the Sports Mag Zone.