Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
THE JAMAICA Hockey Federa-tion (JHF) has been forced to take drastic action against teams that have been delinquent in their payment of various fees, some of which have been outstanding for as long as three years.
At the most recent convening of the JHF council held on April 21, it was decided that the negligent clubs should settle their outstanding balances by April 25 or face the consequences.
The 'consequences' include the suspension of these clubs from all JHF organised and sanctioned activities, the removal of voting privileges at all JHF meetings, the use of the (JHF) facilities at a club rate and, very importantly, the enforced ineligibility of players representing these clubs in terms of their selection for national representation.
Interim president Dinsdale Laing, while agreeing that there were a number of players on these 'delinquent' teams that could be part of national squads, said membership to the association was recorded by team and not individually and, as a result, there was no way to separate the players from their teams.
"The bills are piling up," Laing said.
NOT FAIR
He said many clubs had paid their fees and it was not fair to have to suffer if utilities, for instance, could not be paid.
The four clubs which have been named as still having outstanding fees are Brave Strikers HC, Excelsior HC, Tropics HC and Circus Circle HC.
Fabian Stewart of Brave Strikes HC said that he did not attend the April 21 meeting and had not had time to examine the decisions taken.
"We haven't fully looked at the decisions and are unable to comment at this time," Stewart said.
Excelsior HC's Martha Desousa said: "My club has suffered because we are mostly filled with school children, with the onus being on the few adults to pay."
She said fund-raisers were normally held to make up for the shortfall but that over the past few months they had not been successful. Desousa said the JHF's decisions was surprising based on its recent highlighting of youth development
"Youth aren't able to play when the emphasis of the association has not been on youth development," she said.
