LEFT: Boxhill ... It is becoming an annual affair. Burrell ... No comment.LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
A Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) source has named three former executives as the instigators of the rumoured no-confidence vote against president Crenston Boxhill.
Past presidents Captain Horace Burrell and Lincoln 'Happy' Sutherland and former general secretary Horace Reid are the masterminds behind the plot, according to the source.
"They have been calling parish associations and asking them to cast no-confidence votes at next month's congress," the source told The Gleaner on Tuesday, but would not name the parishes contacted.
According to the source, the presidents of the St. Mary, Manchester, St. James and St. Catherine Football Associations met two weeks ago to plan their plot against Boxhill.
Except for St. Catherine, all three associations' major football competition is sponsored by Burrell's Captain's Bakery.
Sutherland, president of the St. Catherine FA, and Raymond Anderson, president of the St. Mary FA, said they did not attend any meeting to oust the current regime. Dale Spencer and Lennox Wallace, presidents of the Manchester and St. James FA respectively, could not be contacted.
This is the second consecutive year rumours of a no-confidence vote have circulated prior to the JFF Congress.
Last year, Reid and Sutherland received death threats because their names were linked to the rumour. Both men have flatly denied conspiring to depose the president.
"I have done no such thing," Reid said. "I'm too busy to pay attention to these things. I'm not interested in rumours and these political games that are being played," he said briskly.
Sutherland, who served as JFF president between 1980-1981, was more subdued in his response.
replay
"I called no one. It's just a replay of the accusations last year. I was off the island for a week and only returned to the island Wednesday," he said.
"It was the same thing last year, only I haven't received the death threats as yet," he joked.
When Burrell was contacted he said he could not speak at the time as he was trying to meet the deadline for opening his new bakery.
Boxhill, while not declaring he believed the accusations, said "the three names" were associated with the rumour last year and this year.
"It is becoming an annual affair," he said. "I think it is a small group of so-called football loving people with a personal agenda starting this rumour.
"A no-confidence vote in a sporting body or government is usually reserved for when there is a crisis and there is no crisis here. Sure we've had our problems but we have been working through them."
Boxhill argued that his detractors are working to nullify the JFF's accomplishments under his leadership. He said except for the senior team failing to qualify for the World Cup, his administration has been successful.
"We won the Caribbean Digicel Cup, reached the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup and our Under-15 boys' team and Under-20 women's team are Caribbean champions," he pointed out.
Both Reid and Sutherland said they were annoyed by the constant bickering and accusations by the JFF.
"I want to discuss the issues of football. I am open to a public debate about the problems affecting football locally because there are many. I won't engage in rumours and innuendos," he said. "No one is benefiting from this."
Sutherland reasoned that the rumours keep coming up because there is some level of dissatisfaction with the administration. He said the administration should spend more time trying to win over its opposition.
"I'm sure the JFF know who is with them and who is not, so the smartest thing to do would be to encourage the latter come onboard instead of worrying about a no-confidence vote," he said.
