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Thu, Mar

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When the Football Federation decided to change their format for the purpose of stepping in line with almost all of the recognised leagues internationally, it seemed a very positive step towards repairing some awkward situations whenever our national team needed to have the services of the overseas based players for friendlies and competitive matches.

It also provided a wider variety of playing fields which will be used, especially during the dry season from January to April and also the rain filled months of August to November. This may well have been a plea from the Professional League, although it would have made little difference to the zonal competitions.

It would take much more than date changes to correct all the ills of the zonal leagues, whose uncertainty of ground usage, the shortage of referees and the absolute lack of security around the playing fields for the protection of the players.

We have become accustomed to seeing the behaviour of some of the club members and supporters whose language and sometimes irresponsible actions can either scare or antagonise players who are affected by their threats. Personally, I see little future for the players who play in the zonal competition.

Firstly, they are already faced with substandard grounds, they are never certain of referees showing up, then, they are fully aware that none of the people who select national teams are interested in whether they can play or not.

The cost factor for club and players attending matches is hardly ever compensated, making their involvement a fruitless exercise. This makes the proleague clubs and to a lesser extent the super league teams, the targets for the players who may wish to address the national selectors.

They receive a salary, and gain mileage when they produced good performances, features which change the amateur status into one of full employ.

The other players have been playing in zonal competitions with different clubs in the four zones, sometimes registered and other times, playing under names which are already registered. The system seems to be totally flawed and I am making this comments after being attached to  the system for a number of years.

Forget about protests, because justice is hardly ever given, mainly because it will be too tardy an exercise to prove the point. But in recent times, with all the allegations of irregular practices flashing across the Caribbean, there appears a deafening silence coming from the ruling body with regard to anything concerning the administration of the game.

This is the period when the executive committee of the ruling body should be flexing their muscles in an effort to retain their position of decision makers at all levels. It almost appears as though the Pro league and the Super league have full control of everything and no one else matters.

This is not a comfortable situation for the game in this country and the public should be able to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

The restart of the national programs must be well marketed and prepared for all competitive activity, especially as we have witnessed the quality of performances displayed by the leading Concacaf teams in the Gold Cup.

One of the significant signs of the gap between our progress and that of our competitors is clear, as Jamaica leads the way with their improved performances at gold cup and the World Cup U-17 competitions, Grenada  has qualified twice for Gold cup ahead of us, while Cuba and the French Countries are constant in their quality of play whenever they get the chance to show their worth.

It would be nice to hear something about a plan for the future from the authorities, if only to convince our supporters that better days are ahead.