Western Bureau:

With Wray & Nephew NPL outfits Wadadah FC and Seba United poised to be left without a home venue when Jarrett Park closes for the ICC Cricket World Cup. St. James FA President Lennox Wallace is calling on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to keep her promise to develop the new Catherine Hall Stadium to facilitate the teams.

Speaking at Saturday night's St. James FA end-of-season presentation and awards ceremony in Montego Bay, Wallace said he was disappointed and frustrated with the news coming out of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) that the promised upgrading will not be done before Jarrett Park closes its doors on December 31.

"As a result of Government's tardiness, our two NPL teams will be forced to play a number of home games away from Montego Bay," said Wallace. "The agreement to give up Jarrett Park for cricket was tied to the upgrading of the Catherine Hall facility to be in a usable condition by January 2007.

Another level

"I do hope that the honourable Sports Minister and Prime Minister, through the SDF will not renege on this agreement, as to do so will only force our football clubs to take this 'broken promise' to another level," said Mr. Wallace. "For too long the government has pushed sports development in western Jamaica on the back burner and we are more than fed-up."

Earlier this year when the Llocal Organising Committee (LOC) for World Cup 2007 was seeking permission to use Jarrett Park as a practice venue for cricket, the chairman for the Jarrett Park Management Committee (JPMC) Adrian Grant stated adamantly that no such permission would be granted unless provisions were made to accommodate the two football teams elsewhere.

Many thought the problem was solved when an assurance came from the office of the Prime Minister that the SDF would upgrade the Catherine Hall Facility to facilitate the teams. However, shortly after Grant gave the requisite permission to the cricket authorities, news broke that UDC said the Catherine Hall Stadium would not be ready for January. In a general plea for more top quality playing fields in St. James, Wallace said the survival of the sports is being threatened as poor facilities were hampering the development of the game.

"Players, especially the younger ones, cannot enhance their skills on the uneven surfaces they have had to be playing on," Wallace said. "It is a fact that there are more injuries when players are forced to endure terrible surfaces."

- Adrian Frater