QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED

The CONCACAF Under-17 competition is winding down and Jamaica, along with the United States, Panama and Canada have all qualified for the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico this summer. Captain Horace Burrell, General Secretary Horace Reid and indeed all Jamaica must be proud that the Young Boyz have made it to the World Cup.

It is now a matter of pride for the local squad to try to finish third and end their campaign with only one loss. They have done well but work still needs to be done to get them ready for Mexico. That aside though, in the post mortem analysis of the competition there will be many questions that require answers.

Two issues stand out above all primarily because they were particularly embarrassing to the country and the Jamaica Football Federation and to CONCACAF.  That the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium was declared unfit to host any games is still the source of major embarrassment as we continue to ask what really went wrong. Where did all the grass disappear to? Is there any truth to word going around that the contractor tasked with getting the playing surface ready used pesticide to get rid of ants but killed the grass instead?

If this is true it would be hilarious if it did not prove to be such a debacle for the organizers. Captain Horace Burrell is a proud man and I am sure he knows the buck stops with him. As such, it would be very interesting to find out who has been deemed culpable for such a disastrous series of mistakes that ended up with Jarrett Park having to be hastily prepared to take the matches originally scheduled for Trelawny.

There is also the matter of oversight or the lack thereof that resulted in the Trelawny surface not being ready. It seems apparent that if the proper oversight was in effect the usage of whatever was used to kill the grass could have been stopped in time. That being said should Linnel McLean, Horace Reid or Captain Burrell himself, shoulder the responsibility for having dropped the ball with regards to oversight?

We eagerly wait to see what unfolds in the days to come.

With regards to the Haitian affair, did local health authorities and members of the team of organizers fall short when they allowed the Haitians in? It is my understanding that the Haitians were screened on arrival, but if that is the case why then were not the symptoms of Malaria detected in the three who were carrying the disease?

President of the Haitian Football Federation Yves Jean Bart made some spurious claims against local authorities but while I am certain most of them will be debunked, what are we to make of the fact that Haitians carrying malaria manage to elude our health screens putting the other participating teams at risk? Minister Ruddy Spencer needs to come forward and explain.

If Jamaica is to successfully bid for and eventually host other international tournaments of this nature, sporting competitions that can bring Jamaica much-needed revenue, this country has to successfully demonstrate that it is capable. And while the Under-17 Tournament was largely a success there are still troubling questions that we need to provide answers for.

Those answers will tell us more clearly whether we are ready to take on challenges of this nature and execute in a professional manner that could make Jamaica the true hub for sports in the Caribbean.