PORTMORE UNITED will have to do without five of their top players at the start of the Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) season, which kicks off on September 11.
Strikers Roen Nelson, Carlington Smith and Adrian Mitchell along with influential midfielder Wolry Wolfe and goalkeeper Jacomena Barrett presently ply their trade in Trinidad and Tobago's professional league and will not be allowed to play in Jamaica's top league at its start.
To make matters worse for the club, four of the five players started playing in Trinidad before being given clearance to do so by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF).
JFF general secretary Burchell Gibson shed some light on the situation yesterday and explained that: "You can go and try out for other teams but once you play in a competitive game you have to get international clearance from one country to another."
As a result, if the Trinidad League were to apply sanctions to the various clubs that the players suit up for, those clubs could lose valuable points from some of their games.
"That's a big breach and if the association over there knows that, the clubs can lose points," said Gibson.
When Jamaica's Under-15 team went to Trinidad to participate in a Caribbean Football Union tournament it was revealed that the five Portmore United players were making a living in Trinidad's pro league.
However, at that time only one, Mitchell, had clearance to do so.
Since that time the other four players sought clearance from the JFF and it has been granted.
NO SANCTIONS
Fortunately for the Portmore players, there are no sanctions that the JFF can bring against them for their actions.
"We at the JFF can't sanction Portmore United because they (the players) haven't played illegally in a JFF league. However, the onus is on the Trinidadian federation if they want to pursue any such sanctions," said Gibson.
In essence, the players have been loaned so their problem now lies with trying to return to the NPL before January as rules governing the competition state that a loan period cannot be shorter than that from one transfer window to another.
Since the players are currently playing in Trinidad and with the local season less than two weeks away, they will now have to wait until the next transfer window before they can play for the defending champions.
- P-A.W.
