 The Jamaica Football Federation, the JFF, is still in focus on the sportsmax zone. A race is brewing amongst the incumbent president Michael Ricketts and his vice-president Raymond Anderson to determine who will be in charge of Jamaica's football over the next presidential cycle. The election is set to take place before year-end and will feature these two pillars of Jamaican football, who have both involved for over four decades. Joining us in studio to officially throw his name in the ring is none other than Raymond Anderson. Good afternoon, how are you? Good afternoon, I'm fine, I'm fine with me. Not a problem at all, so Raymond, many people when they saw your name coming up to go up for presidential elections at first were a bit shocked. And maybe it's because of the post that you held, because even for me I was like, oh the vice-president, he's now going up to be the president, so you talk to me about that decision. Yes, I always said I'm a vice-president, but I'm a vice-president for the past 18, 20 years. And I would say a lot, I would see the leader and I work at least with five presidents. So going through all of that daily, my task was operation. So I see it all. Now at this crossroad, I really looked at where we are with football and where I as Raymond Anderson can help. So I continue to think about it. And where we are is not satisfactory for us in football and most of you already discuss it every time you're listening to news, people discuss it. So for me, I looked at the people around us, look internal and external. And we decided that for us to move to the next level, you're going to need somebody who is an action person and also have people around you with the skill sets. So I looked outside for some people and I looked inside for some people. And all of them after discussion, they agreed to serve if we get the chance. So I went ahead and said, well, if I get this team together, then we can make a difference with the football at this time. That is why I really actually put my hands in the ring. But because you were associated with the Michael Ricketts organization, do you feel as if that would be a stain, maybe it would work for you or against you? Because people will say, but maybe you are part of the problem as well. Did you ever think about that? I always think because collective responsibility is where my experience is. And I've never moved away from that. But if you ask me equally, while I was there, a system, remember I was a vice president and you have leadership as a president. So most of us work in the leader dream. Now, if you find that over time, that change is needed. And if you continue to do the same thing, the same way, ear in, ear out, you're going to get the same result. Where we are now, we want to move to our next level. The next level is upward. So I think at this time, that is why I put myself in. So what are we getting different from you? What have you thought about? Well, for me at this time, we have to be more decisive. We have to be also inclusive and consultative. Now, if we get, for example, the inclusiveness of the sport, where all the stakeholders come together, agree on one thing and move forward, continue on the line of transparency and going forward, try to get the football family to trust you to move forward, then we will have something different from what we have now. Raymond, you touched on something just now about assisting over the years, serving as vice president. The inside story from the administrative fraternity is that you've been the workhorse. You've been a hard worker and doing a lot of work behind the scenes, supporting the presidents who would be the persons delivering to the public. But there is a view that you've been a tremendously hard worker over that period. And maybe I'm thinking that it's part of what you're saying when you say that you've been there assisting all along and you have the acumen to now step up to lead at a different level or a higher level. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes, that's what that is exactly what took place. And I am all the president and I don't refer to only the president and president. Going back to even the former president who was sitting here earlier, you would tell her that I'm one of the persons who always give an assignment and always fulfill the assignment. And at time, I don't want to refer to myself anymore as the blue color vice president because I'm moving from the blue color to the leader, right? And there's a reason for that because I've seen it all. And we want to ensure with my team, which have the skill set inside and outside to really move to the next level. That again, that's why I'm moving. Do you believe that the change in the Constitution from 13 delegates voting to now 56, embracing a multi-dimensional part of the stakeholders, puts a challenging president in a better position to unseat a standing president? Yes, I'll say yes. And that's outweighing the right direction because again, if you have more stakeholder, more people involved with the sport, really decide who leads the sport. That's the best thing. So moving away, no disrespect to my colleagues as parish presidents, right? But you need to have more stakeholders inside the sport. So I agree with that. Do you think your strength going into this election lies with the 13 parish bosses or does it extend across the gamut of the stakeholders who will be voting? I think it extends across and I'll tell you why. I am there as an operational person. So at all times, I touch all sections of the sport. So I think it's good for me. I want to ask you this because Tony James referenced it just now about the difficulty of administration for football because of a serious lack of funding. What could you tell the football public in Jamaica to give them confidence that you would energize the financial growth of the JFF? Because it's very clear that part of the lack of development of football is because it's difficult to finance it. Yes, I agree with that. But I'll again equally say that if you get the football public and the public at large on your side, you're listening to the media where everybody is saying that we need transparent, we will need to trust football, etc. If we get these people by being transparent, being engaging them into football, get them involved in inclusivity side, they will participate and if we get them there, people, the business sector want their products to be unsure but they want to associate with a good vise of football. So you'll have them. Sportsmax.tv ran a story a few weeks ago quoting the President Michael Ricketts as saying that he embraces the challenge of Raymond Anderson. You've worked together for a very, very long time and he embraced the challenge and didn't feel that it would affect the sort of relationship that you've had. Have you detected any change in your interaction with him since your decision to challenge him? No, and I don't expect that either because football is football. We are family but as you know that leadership change and this is one of the time that we believe that leadership should change. That is why I put myself, but there will be no problem with myself and President. Right, before we get ready to go, tell us a bit about your team because I know you have some names that are well-known in Jamaica. I'm seeing one sitting right in the back here looking on at us. So tell us a bit about your team that you'll be working with. So when I decided to really put my hat in the ring, I literally said that I know that I have to look around internally and externally and I know you're speaking of Carol. She was there, I met her some time long ago and other sports, but we had to serve on a committee at the J.O.A., which I am also a director, and that committee was Flam Commission. She was the person who lead in the whole thing. And based on the decisiveness, the ungrateful, rich deadlines and I said, yo, this lady is great, you know? So I keep on talking with her and she said, so I remember she said, when the time is right, you will know. And she didn't have to tell me when the time is right. I feel the time is right. So I went back to her and she said, done. She will serve with us after I explained everything. So I looked at Dave also and Dave again served on a committee with us, really deal with the dispute of players. And believe me, he was a chairman. That's Dave Cameron, former president. Yeah, Dave Cameron. And based on that, Dave got us done this dispute amicably. And I think with given time. So again, I went to him and he said, yes. So I didn't stop there. There are not a lady inside the audience there. I went, I tried to find her. And when I find her, I asked her again to serve. And everybody saying yes. So I said, well, this is great. And we looked around. I went even further. People mentioned Issa. I looked across the Issa line and said, well, this president is a good man. If I get him on my team, then the Jeff will be happy. Only positiveness and he accepted. So based on all of that, and we're also looking always inside of the football. And we look at two presidents. We should be named name list for this time. Based on political reason, right? You'll have a know-how in an election, right? When you said two presidents. Two of the president of the parishes. Of the parishes. So it's seven days there. Seven people will be on the slate, right? So I just named five. Yes. So we looked at those people and we know with the skillset, the marketing skillset, the financial skillset that we're lacking at this time. And we ask these people to serve. And if they, we base on what they've done at this time, we believe that we can only go forward. Yeah. Well, Raymond, we're going to take a quick break, but we're keeping you with us so we can talk a bit more. So we'll be right back after this quick break. On a football heavy sportsmax on show for this Thursday, we continue to discuss the presidential race for the Jamaica Football Federation. And Raymond Anderson, vice president of the JFF and the challenging to be president, is with us live in the studio at the moment. Raymond, it is my understanding that the election has to be held by, I think, the third week in December. And the constitution requires that the election date has to be announced, I think, 60 days before the election date, which means that a date announcement for the election should come pretty soon, maybe next week. Is that your understanding? That's my understanding. And the constitution spoke for that. So we are looking forward to hear from our board that the sign-off and the day of the election. Mariah has some questions to ask you about your manifesto because I remember when Michael Ricketts was challenging for the presidency back in 2017, he simply set on the sportsmax zone that he did not have a manifesto and he would deliver the manifesto after the election, which we found ridiculous at the time, but then he won and he probably knew he was going to win so it was, you know, water under the bridge really. But I want to say this quickly before we talk about your manifesto that I saw you on a TVJ presentation some weeks ago and the narrative from the public responding to that presentation was that you did not look impressive and they were not impressed by what you were saying and how you were saying it. And it was generally not a favorable public response to that presentation. Did you get that feedback and could you respond to that? No, I'm sorry for them to really think that way, but there's some of the questions that was asked. I didn't want to answer them really straight because I always remember collective responsibility and the question was asked, that some street question and need some street answer but at the same time I have to consider myself as a vice president at this time. So there's certain things that I will not ask. I'll refer that to the president or the general secretary. So I'm sorry, but I just could not answer. Yeah, well, I'm looking at your manifesto. I'm happy that you have one and you could present it to us. Talk to me about the policy framework that says good governance for you, Raymond. What does good governance entail? Good governance is the standard best practice, including all the areas like the transparency and get the level of trust from your stakeholders and the wider football fraternity and the corporate Jamaica because you need them on board. So the good governance will all of the policies that we agree in principle will enforce them. Yeah, it also went on to say your team would focus on rebuilding. When you say rebuilding, are you talking from grass root level, go right up? Will there be a lot more programs for the young girls and boys? So there will be programs for the young girls and boys and we went even further. We have 13 parts association. One of them already step over the box in most of the things that we should really have done. And I believe that for us to move forward, we have to look at Kassafah policy and their framework and treat it somewhere to be getting national because they are definitely working from five-year-old hope. The JFF will see those players, boys and girls, 13. So the program that Kassafah have, we will get that program island-wide to ensure that based on that, we'll have a good base of young players, girls would have. Yeah, before Mariah continues, the relationship between JFF and Kassafah is fractured at the moment. Are you suggesting based on what you just said that under Raymond Anderson's leadership, the JFF and Kassafah would have a better relationship? Yes, and I could go further. When I saw the campaign, that's my first stop. And I said, if there's no Kassafah, there's no Raymond because I will not start with a fight. I want to start with amicable discussion and that's where we are now. Yeah, one of the things that stood out as well is revising policies aimed at growth and development. Are there any policies in particular that you feel need some attention? Yes, but there are no revise and there are no revise because we have in-house FIFA is in-house with us because we're restricted over the past five years. So we have a consultant from FIFA there looking at the financials, looking at how we do best practice and that. So yes, we will actually continue looking at that and see how best we can continue revise it and implement it to ensure that when FIFA visit us, they just visit us to assist us with some more funding or some more development program, et cetera. So that's what we're really planning for, yes. Yeah, Raymond, you know that the sort of mood of this rivalry at the moment seems measured. Is it that when the election date is announced, we expect next week that things will intensify and the sort of rhetoric coming from the two sides will get more aggressive? Well, I don't know if it will be aggressive but it will be more intensifiable, more because that's the time we're actually, we're made every week. We will look at our team, our team, as in both the people on the slate and we will assist us, like committee, EDGE and committee members, we meet every Tuesday. And we looked at it. So whenever the time call, whenever the election call, we will ready to step up our campaign. I have a difficult question for you, Raymond, because you have just spoken of being a vice president and in the hierarchy of the JFF for like five, four or five presidents. Yes, five presidents. Who was the best? Every president have something to contribute to the sport. And I would say to you that all of them contribute and I really thank them for the service. But what I'll do for them, I'll take what they have taught me, what they have done so far, and move it from there. And we always say, I'm after users from the third floor to the penthouse. So they have taken us now to the third floor and we're moving it to the penthouse. So you can't tell me who was the best. They all of them have somewhere in that really tangible variable. You just said that you use things that they taught you. So who taught you most? That's a question. That's a question. There's two presidents that I always have discussion with. Captain Mays who are resting in peace and one just come from the seat. We have a lot of discussion. So I seek discussion from and Boxhill. Boxhill is their era and they're all of them. I'm telling you, all of them have discussion with. But you just said Dale, Boxhill, James and Captain Borel and you haven't mentioned Ricketts. It seems as if he's the worst. No, I'm not, he's present. I'm talking about form. Also the past. Okay, yes. So present is present. I was just trying to follow your line. I'm just really trying to be clear with that. I'm just dealing with that present and now. Present and past. So I'm just really talking about the past present. The present president is my present. I'm his vice president. Okay, so he's not in the equation based on the question that I asked you. As yet. As yet. You're right. You're my president. So if I ask you this question in January and you are now the president and Ricketts is a past president, you could be more direct with your rating of his work as a president? I could be more direct in the rating of all past presidents. Okay. Of all past presidents. What's your what's your vision for Jamaica's football at the moment given the fact that the women are on the rise unprecedented back to back World Cup qualifications while the men having qualified for the 1998 World Cup historically have not been able to experience those highs again. So we'll respect the men because they have taken us to one of the highest part of our history in football, 1998 World Cup. But equally again, the female took us back to back. And whereas it, we also have discussion on it with my team on myself where we looked and said for us to really show some form of appreciation and upward mobility of the female, we'll ensure that we have a department for women in the JFF to take it from grassroots. And that doesn't exist at the moment. That don't exist at this moment. So when we have that all stakeholders including or ambassador will be sitting around the table with women. That's Siddala Marley. See, right? Yes. We will sit around the table with us to ensure that whatever we discuss is for the upward mobility of the sport, women football. Raymond Ferguson, great. Anderson. Raymond Anderson, I'm sorry. That was a cricket, I think. Yeah. Great to have you on the sports mic zone. A pleasure hearing your thoughts and your outlook for not only the campaigning period, but whatever happens after the election, whether you become the new president. We hope to be discussing this further with different stakeholders. And of course, the standing president, Michael Ricketts, we would expect him to join us on the show as well to offer his views and his pronouncements as far as a future role as or continuing as president is concerned. So Raymond Anderson, thanks for joining us. And we look forward to having more chats with you pretty soon. Thanks for having me. But it will be a waste of me not to say that the RSA team, the real solid action team, will be the new game plan. The new game plan. The new game plan. OK, confidence there from Raymond Anderson. Vice president at the moment of the JFF challenging for the presidency. The election is set to come up in December. We'll be back with more on the sports mic zone after this.