PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Jack Warner says the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) will be subject to sanction in its failure to send a team to the 2007 CFU Under-15 Youth Cup which kicked off Saturday.

Warner, also a FIFA vice-president, said "ultimate sanction will be taken against the JFF".

He did not mince words in highlighting his disappointment with JFF's failure to get the team to the tournament.

"My concern and grief really go out to those Jamaican kids though ... all of whom have now been denied a chance of a lifetime due, no doubt, to gross administrative bungling," Warner said.

The JFF general secretary Burchell Gibson said Saturday the matter "is now under the bridge", suggesting that the Under-15s will not be participating in the regional tournament.

The JFF saw its last ditch effort to send the nation's youngsters to the CFU Youth Cup in T&T evaporate after the football administrators failed to secure emergency appointments at the U.S. Embassy in St. Andrew so visas could be issued to facilitate travelling through Miami.

Having failed to secure seats on Caribbean Airways, the JFF was forced to resort to taking the delegation through the U.S.A., but hit a huge snag as they sought to acquire the requisite U.S. entry visas.

The earliest appointments for U.S. visas were in November, and despite several visits to the U.S. Embassy by the JFF hierarchy, nothing fruitful emerged.

Reaction of events

The JFF got entangled in a chain reaction of events after it was forced to give up seats originally booked for a direct flight on Caribbean Airways to Port-of-Spain, because it could not finalise a squad on time, and the airline needed to confirm bookings going into the present peak period.

The late appointment of a coach for the team triggered the delay in selecting a training squad, and ultimately the final squad, which was chosen late last week.

It was at this point that it was discovered that the majority of the players did not have passports, but emergency appointments were made at the Ministry of National Security and passports were issued earlier this week.

With one problem solved, another emerged as it was learnt that there were no available seats on other Caribbean flights to Trinidad.

Embarrassing blunder

The embarrassing blunder has dealt another massive blow to the embattled Crenston Boxhill-led JFF administration.

The tournament, which kicked off Saturday, had Jamaica scheduled to play their first match against Guyana yesterday.

Jamaica won the Caribbean segment of the inaugural Under-15 tournament in 2005, but finished third overall behind champions Canada and runners-up Guatemala, who were invited guest teams.

The CFU Youth Cu between Under-15 and Under-16 in preparation for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Finals.