Over the past four years Crenston Boxhill has been head of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), but recent events have suggested this is a scenario that will no longer pertain.
I don't want to speak about whether Boxhill was a good president or not, whether he should be given a chance to bring about the changes he has promised, or whether Captain Horace Burrell (the man who is set to return to the presidential seat) is better for the JFF.
What I am interested in is the political process within the JFF. Do the present protocols make the JFF less effective or do they lead to the detriment of the organisation?
I should really narrow down the question to the timing of elections because that particular protocol has come in for some examination and recently, the JFF decided it would change the time of elections to coincide with the World Cup.
Over the last four years, the JFF has had a president whose support has dwindled everyday since the fateful moment he defeated Captain Burrell for the position in 2003.
LONG WAIT FOR CHANGE
That being the case, why did Jamaica have to wait all this time before a change could be effected?
Why did the football programme ('Back to Africa' campaign) and the various endeavours of the younger teams have to wait over three years before benefiting from potentially better management?
In my estimation, the timing of this change has wasted at least two years of potential growth.
The answer therefore is yes, there are aspects of the political protocols that lead to inefficiencies and the move by the JFF to change this at their last extraordinary congress is a welcome one.
ELECTIONS
It is quite possible that football would be better served were elections to take place right after the World Cup.
The revised schedule would do two things. Firstly, it would serve as a means of truly judging the progress of a given administration, and secondly, it would allow a new administration the time to fulfil its plans, which I am assuming, directly relate to the senior team's World Cup qualifying bid.
As a matter of fact, I am suggesting Mr. Boxhill's initial failure to qualify a team for the 2006 World Cup in Germany could have had its beginnings in the timing of his ascension to the post of JFF president.
That's over now, so let's look to the future.
Boxhill, by his own admission and strong claims by former JFF general secretary Horace Reid that he has not been nominated by any parish association for the upcoming presidential elections, is virtually out and Captain Burrell is almost a certainty to be the man at the helm once again.
Will Captain Burrell be faced with the problems of the poor timing of these elections?
For instance, let's say he is not satisfied with the progress of coach Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic.
Will there be enough time for him to replace him with another high quality coach?
Remember, good coaches would have already taken on various assignments in other countries.
Even if he (Captain Burrell) is able to weave his magic and employ the services of another top notch coach, there is the question of whether that coach will have the time to put together a quality team.
This is, of course, intermingled with the problems of finding sponsorship to pay that coach and, of course, the negotiation process that would have to take place.
Transition
I am getting ahead of myself though and it is possible for a seamless transition between administrations, this especially if the Captain, as the man in charge, sees reminders of Boxhill he likes and wants to keep.
The Captain will have to work quickly though, because he is short on time and this, his second coming, will be closely scrutinised by the public. If Captain Burrell can get the senior team on the right track and spark the change in this truncated term, he would have earned the trust of a nation.
