 We start today's SportsmaxZone on a Friday with news that a Supreme Court judge Andrea Thomas has granted an injunction to delay the Jamaica Football Federation's election by 28 days. As it stands, the election cannot take place before the 10th of February 2024. This game, after Pat Garrell, head of Beach Soccer Jamaica and her executives filed an injunction to be recognized as the legitimate beach football governing body in Jamaica and hence eligible to vote. They were deemed ineligible by the Michael Ricketts led Jamaica Football Federation while another body was formed and given voting rights. This is also true for three other bodies, the referees association, coaches association and intercollegiate sports association. Now joining us on set today is a man who has contested his fair share of elections, some of which were as contentious as this upcoming JFF election, Dave Cameron, former president of Cricket West Indies. Welcome to the SportsmaxZone, of course he's a part of the real solid action Raymond Anderson team challenging Michael Ricketts for the presidency. We suggested earlier on the show Dave as we welcome you that today's development isn't totally shocking is it? Good afternoon lands, Maria and Ricardo, thank you very much for having me. That matter, while I'm a part of the real solid action team is not under our purview as you'd understand so Pat Garrell in her own wisdom has thought that they have been disenfranchised and so they've taken on that action so it's not necessarily surprising. What I would say to you is from the real solid action team all we've been asking for is that the JFF follow the rules and I would like to say that's another bumbling of the current JFF. What I'd like to also say is that having dealt with the JFF for a better part of three or four years because I invited myself to assist with the negotiations of the players and yet to still see and understand who is the legal representative for the JFF. And so I think they're going they're flying by the seat of their pants by what the layman view of the legal terms and I think that's what's getting them into trouble. Can I say something quickly though because we know that FIFA's posture to court issues and challenging national federations is not something they embrace which I suspect is the reason why you've made it clear at the top of the show here that this injunction today has nothing to do with the real solid action because you don't want to float the FIFA statutes and making it clear that this is the coaches beach soccer association that is challenging it on their own and not under your banner. That's correct. My understanding as well is that the coaches association wanted to challenge as well and fortunately unfortunately one of the members got some kind of threat and so they withdrew from the action. A threat. Yeah I mean those are the allegations which is quite unfortunate. I mean again I urge the football federation and all of the sporting bodies just play by the rules play fair and we won't have these challenges. Yeah how do you feel though after this news broke no elections until well it can't happen until after February. Well a little disappointed because we were looking to be in office on Monday. Absolutely absolutely so we'll wait we'll wait the 20 days because it's important that the legitimate bodies get a chance to be part of the elections. The constitution was changed deliberately to allow a widening of the votes and my running made Keith Wellington made it very clear on another forum that they didn't want 13 members times four votes plus four. It was that we widening the the stakeholders in the sport to determine who are the best persons to be able to take Jamaica's football forward. There is one of the narratives coming out of the RSA team has always been ethical breaches. You've started the show by talking about just follow the rules. Can you talk to us about some of those ethical breaches. Yeah well again and I work with my constitution and with my constitution so simple things. The constitution was was adopted in December 2022. It gave the the organization one year to regularize and to admit the members into into into membership. The first thing it said was the status score remains. But the next election all these things shall be in place. So it gave the JFF an entire year to put all these things in place. Whether they understood that it was their prerogative to ensure that everybody was compliant or not. They didn't do it. And so we got down to September when it was no time to have the next elections and then we started to run around to determine who are the electors etc. And those are those are where the challenges have come in. And again like I said Marie is very very unfortunate. One of the things also highlighted was conflict of interest and issue with the J.O.A. President Christopher Samuda holding the post with regards to the electoral committee that he does. Can you talk to me about that. Well I mean I don't listen conflict of interest. I'm sure you and I are conflicted and and Ricardo. Ricardo is a member of Ligon E-Club and I used to be a member there. So we have some conflicts. So we're a small community. That's the truth. All the challenges were and still remains that we didn't feel that the committee was was doing what we felt it was set up to do. And so hence you know we were saying it mostly because of there are some other other reasons and that's all we're saying. Yeah. The the the electoral committee felt that they were not empowered and right to so wrongly. So there is a decision that we have filed as RSA team now that we can speak about that. There is an appeals committee that sits on top of the electoral committee. We file an appeal on the basis that the electoral committee has not acted how we felt they should have in protecting the integrity and the rules of the Constitution. Now the electoral committee in there with them felt that those things are not in the purview. And that's that's what we're challenging. And I'm glad you went there Dave because I want to read something here quickly. Article eight of the electoral code speaks to the eligibility of candidates vying for office. And I'm bringing this up because I think this is such a significant matter that we have not spoken much about part one and two of the general provisions of annex A of the JFF Constitution speaks to the integrity of screening of all candidates in the electoral process. It goes on to say the presidential candidate for one of the slates Mr. Ricketts has a very publicized unpaid Supreme Court civil judgment against him for defamation wherein he also breached article 23 of the FIFA codes of ethics with states as follows. And it goes through that. And then there is a part that says this candidate cannot therefore qualify for office. Part of what you are challenging is the legitimacy of Michael Ricketts' candidacy for president of the Jamaica Football Federation. We're not challenging Michael Ricketts' legitimacy. We're challenging the fact that all of the candidates must go through that integrity screening. And like I said, the Constitution says everybody's in office is fine. They've been grandfathered while before an election. And for the next election, everybody shall go through that process. That's what we're saying. And we're saying we're asking the question. We're not the judges. We're asking the question. Is this OK? And somebody need to come back and say that's fine. Is there a strong suggestion, though, that if you go through this process, that Mr. Ricketts may not qualify to be a candidate? I'm not a judge. We're asking the question and we leave it there for somebody to determine what the response is. But if it came back and let me get this straight, right? Because usually, when you ask those types of questions, there is a particular response that you expect based on the information that you have. Nobody's been asked of other candidates. All I'm saying is that if there's a reason for allowing it, then we need to understand what's the reason. If it's not, then it's disqualified and any other candidate who has simulations. But are you saying you're not seeing the reason at this stage as to why he should be allowed? We have not been provided with the reasons. OK. And so we've appealed that as well. A question that I keep asking, Dave, is there is a fee for consultant in the JFF offices now for a thing going up to a year. I know his primary role was to oversee the financial happenings there because the Jamaica Football Federation has been on financial restriction for about six years. For about six years because of their improper or inefficient handling of funds, which a lot of the rickett supporters to me seem not to realize that this is a pretty serious issue. But on the question that Ricardo is asking about eligibility and so on, isn't this fee for presence inside the JFF corridors not in a position to say something, to have some role into making sure that that things are going well? Well, I think that again, the fee for statutes and again, I'm just learning football as I go along. So excuse me, I'm a cricket man. But the fee for the fee for will not get involved until we've exhausted all the opportunities at this level. So so hence no response from them. So there is an electoral committee, there's an appeal as committee. And once we've exhausted that, then if we believe that we need to go, then there's a CFU, Conkercraft and then FIFA. You just referenced some of the handling from the Electoral Commission that you suggested didn't operate in a way that you were anticipating they would have. Would the issue of some of the parishes, which were not documented as legitimate companies and hence the feeling that they may not be eligible to vote, but cleared, I gather, by the Electoral Commission, Samudas Group, that it's OK they can vote. Is that something that has disappointed you as well? Well, it's not that it's disappointed us. They were not aware. So again, another bumbling event in that it's been a year that this constitution was passed. And the first line of it says that all members must be registered in Jamaica and Domesat. Yes, as legitimate companies, legitimate organizations. Yes, yes. Up to this point, about six parishes are not. That's correct. So. Yeah, you know, I think I'm with you, Dave, because. And I gather from earlier on in 2023, the fee for consultant and the various meetings that they were having kept nudging the authorities within the JFF to say, you know, this is something that has to be dealt with. And this was March, April, May, June. And we get to September and October, and it isn't dealt with. So one of the first things that we will have to do when we get in office is to employ a corporate secretary. You know, again, a lot of the things are bumbling because of it. So fortunately, we have we have two lawyers on board as part of our team and one lawyer and we have, you know, other persons around. But it's important to just follow and understand what the statutes are saying. Don't in don't interpret it as a layman. I think that's that's some of the challenges. So you're suggesting the JFF needs a corporate secretary. In other words, that's you don't think that the general secretary now can handle all of this. That's not your prerogative, because, again, the corporate secretary is responsible to the board of directors, not necessarily to the organization to ensure that the board of directors does the right thing for the company. And the GenSec is dealing with the company is running the day to day. The GenSec is the CEO, the CEO. Yeah, let's be very clear. But legal, all the legal matters ensure taxes are paid. All these things, that's the corporate secretary's role. And I think whether Dennis is competent or not, he's not been able to grasp all the matters that are required. And it's a huge company. We're talking about the annual revenues of JFF. It's just short of a billion dollars, the twenty twenty two numbers. This is a massive company. And to be running it without legal, daily legal advice, scrutinizing these kinds of documents and showing that we're compliant. Legal, we just signed a massive microkits, spoke about a massive deal with Adidas. Who was a lawyer for the JFF on that deal, spoke about massive revenues coming in for the parishes and all of this and sounds good. And once we get in office, if the Congress believes that that's how the money should be spent, we'll go along with it. We feel that there are different ways to ensure that if those royalties, the one point two million, whatever is coming in, we need to ensure that the future is secure and not just go and spend it as we get it. But how do we ensure that the future is sustained? But again, as I'm saying, who is a lawyer for the JFF that would have perused those contracts to ensure that the JFF is given the best deal? How soon are you expecting a response from the appeals committee? And none of that. So will you send us a message so we can update our viewers? Because you'll be gone. And I must tell you, the appeals committee, the way they conducted themselves, our team was very, very impressed with the conduct of the meetings. And we believe that we will at least get an opportunity if they can't rule by now to be heard further. And that's I think that's what we want, that these matters are properly fleshed out before an election. Having the stay then also gives us an opportunity for them to, I think, act a little bit. And the appeals committee, by the way, is chaired by Ruel Gibson. That's correct. Yeah. Interesting times ahead, Lance. Yeah. You know what, we've got to wrap the segment pretty soon, Dave, but I started the show by suggesting that given the pillars as they were heading into this week, a lot of them appeared favorable to the current JFF administration. Several of them, as we have mentioned, the Coaches Association, the referees and Intercoll and so on, have been challenged by your group. I say this to say that you expressed huge confidence just now that you would have won the election on Sunday, regardless of the makeup of the slate. But given the injunction now and the possibility that the Mike Ricketts pillars that he had been confident about could now be shaken, it appears that if those things happen through this injunction, then it puts the real solid action team in a better position to win the election. You're suggesting by your earlier pronouncements, Dave, that you didn't need that. You would have won anyway. We are confident that we would have won. I mean, the truth is, Mike has announced that we've done very well all these things that have announced, you know, sponsorships, well, one sponsorship, Adidas. The challenge is that all the other partners have disappeared, including Siddhela Mali, and he says, well, she said that she's supporting him. Now, you know, you can, if you believe that, then my mother is a man, but that's another matter. What I'm saying to you is that we have garnered, we are the challenges, and today we sent out a release. Have you seen it? That we have garnered roughly $200 million to support the parish associations, tier two men's football, tier one women's football, and people are calling us because if this was a national election, there would be no election. Is that $200 million over a year or over several years? I'll give you the details at another time, Ricardo. I know you'd ask for details. And you want to know who is one of the sponsors, and we're not going to give you that as well. No, no, that's fine, because part of the thing is that sometimes I know that these announcements can sound grand and the money can sound a lot, but when you go into the details of the period, then you think to yourself, well, maybe it's not that much. Well, just think about it. Right now, we've lost whatever Siddhala Mali was giving, right? Yeah. If you look at the JFF's sponsors list, I think they have like four sponsors coming from a list of maybe 40. So while there's one deal that they've done, we've lost all the partners and support, including FIFA. There's at least a half a million dollars at FIFA that we've not been able to access annually for the last six years. If you do the math, that's $3 million because we're in the restricted funding. And everything that we do, we have to report very, very carefully. So I think the delegates realize that at this point in time, while they've done well, we're not going to argue about the fact that what has happened has happened. We've gone to two World Cup, the women's team, we've improved in our rankings and et cetera. But at the end of the day, the administration of JFF needs a lot of work and leadership. And they've shifted our own personnel in the pronouncements. Again, people like Raymond Gran has been the JFF general secretary. You know, saying he's going to run a day today. So I don't understand that. So what's Dennis Chong doing? That's what's been announced. So you tell me. And he's not running travel, taken away from Bruce Gaynor. So I'm not sure when you look at all of that, what exactly? The JFF is saying that we are not competent to run the business as constituted. And the real-time action team, including Raymond and the team, again, just for the information of all my viewers, are Keith Wellington, the president of ISA. Mr. Powell of Mobile United was developed that team and so the team. Carol Beckford, you all know. Jackie Cummins, the former president of the Bar Association of Jamaica. Raymond Anderson, myself. And Danny Beckford, who has done tremendous with sent and football. Sent and football is probably one of the beacons within outside of Kingston, outside of Cassarfo. Probably has more teams than any other parish. Those are the persons putting themselves forward with Raymond Anderson to take Jamaica football forward. Dave, a pleasure having you on the Sports Magazine. As usual, the huge story today that injunction taken out by the Beach Soccer Association, challenging them being disenfranchised as legitimate voters for the JFF elections. Schedule for Sunday, but the injunction now means there is no election coming up on Sunday. The earliest election can be held is the 10th of February. So watch this space on Monday. I'm sure we'll have a lot more discussion on this. We go to break back with more on the zone after this.