FILE PHOTO: BoxillHoward Walker, Staff Reporter
CRENSTON BOXHILL, the embattled president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), remained fully in charge after the much-talked about no confidence vote against his administration never materialised at yesterday's Annual General Meeting (AGM), at the Jamaica Crest Hotel in Fairy Hill, Portland.
After the AGM, a confident Boxhill told The Gleaner that he "wasn't unduly concerned about them getting the numbers to overturn the administration".
"We heard names and a couple of parishes on the radio over the last 48 hours but what was common to all the parishes that I heard is the fact that they were all sponsored by one company," he noted, declining to call any names.
Meanwhile, George Evans, first vice president of the JFF, said :
"Contrary to reports and all the speculation the meeting was a very calm and respectful meeting. Naturally, the members asked relevant questions which is their right.
"This is a democratic federation that we run and they were answered as asked. All the hype and speculation that it might be heated, was dead," he added.
General Secretary Burchell Gibson supported that view.
Gibson said: "It was a very good meeting. As usual we were dealing with 13 parish associations and in excess of 100 persons and they all have different personalities."
Having side-stepped one potentially dangerous challenge, Boxhill and his JFF team found themselves faced with another.
STONE-WALLED
A plan proposed by their Finance Committee to sell its $48m building at St. Lucia Crescent, New Kingston to clear huge debts has been stone-walled with a counter from the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), the sport's world governing body.
The FIFA contends that should the JFF go ahead with its plan to sell the building, it could face harsh penalties including expulsion, insisting that their cash injection
of US$500,000 in assisting in the purchase of the building would be viewed as misuse of its funds.
Boxhill says the FIFA decision has affected the JFF's plan.
"The building was a small part of the plan. It was to offset some of our debts, including (that owed to) the former president (Captain Horace Burrell) and give us the kick-start that is needed. It is for us to find another way of getting cash upfront," he pointed out.
According to Boxhill an alternative option now is the raffling of a high-profile vehicle that
has been identified and he is
currently in discussions with the government.
