Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

AUSTIN

IN THE wake of Stoke City-bound Reggae Boy Rudolph Austin being denied a work permit by the United Kingdom Home Office late last week, the president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Captain Horace Burrell, has once again lashed out at the previous administration for what he called "selfishness" and a "lack of understanding".

"It is a sad situation, just a huge disappointment for all that are involved," Burrell told The Gleaner.

Gross incompetence

"I believe that today our young talented footballers are paying the price for gross incompetence, a lack of understanding and selfishness during the previous administration," he said.

After pursuing the 22-year-old for more than a year, a transfer fee estimated to be somewhere in the region of £1 million (J$140 million) had been agreed to last month between the Austin's local premier league club Portmore United and the recently promoted Stoke. However, the completion of the deal was subject to the granting of a work permit and that was turned down last Friday.

Whereas on previous occasions, Austin's permit was turned down based on the fact that he had not taken part in the requisite number of friendly internationals, this time - having satisfied that requirement, Jamaica's falling outside of FIFA's top 70 on an average of two years, prevented the deal from going through.

According to Home Office stipulations, "a player must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of its competitive 'A' team matches; and the player's country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application".

Currently ranked at 94, Jamaica's average over the past two years stands at 82.

Austin, who has sparkled in the central midfield role for the national team, isn't the only player to feel the sting of Jamaica's lowly ranking. Just a few months ago, Jamaica's number-one goalkeeper, Donovan Ricketts, albeit under different circumstances, failed to secure a permit after attempting a move to Championship team Queens Park Rangers from League Two side Bradford City. Without the requisite documentation to stay in England, the player was later forced to return home.

"I can recall statements from former technical director 'Bora' Milutinovic to the effect that FIFA rankings were not that important and he was allowed to play against lowly-placed opposition with weakened Reggae Boyz teams losing heavily to countries who demolished us," Burrell said.

"Is there any surprise that our youngsters are now being denied the opportunity of attaining work permits to England, the most organised football league in the world?" he asked.

In 2006, under the tutelage of Serbian technical director, Milutinovic, the team plummeted a jaw-dropping 32 places from June-July.

Development

The period, which was labelled as an experiment geared towards fostering the development of local talent, saw the national team play without its overseas-based players. A tour of Asia saw the Reggae Boyz suffer losses to teams several places below them in the rankings, Indonesia and Vietnam, and then they were hammered 8-1 by Iran.

When contacted by The Gleaner, former president of the JFF, Crenston Boxhill, opted to comment on the issue at a later date.

While pledging that the administration would do everything possible to get the nation out of its current ranking plight, Burrell also pointed out that the onus was on the players.

"The current administration is determined to pull out all the stops in an attempt to correct the current ranking issue, but this will, by no means, be an easy task," he said. "Fortunately, the second round of the World Cup qualifiers begin on the 20th of August. All players are aware of the precarious position and we hope that they will give some excellent performances," he said.

Quality opposition

The current low ranking of Jamaica's national team is also reported to be a major cause in the team being unable to secure quality opposition, which is the best way to climb up the FIFA charts.

Jamaica has not been the only country stung by Home Office rulings in recent times. Recently, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was frustrated in a bid to sign Argentine winger Sebastian Leto and, closer to home, the United States have seen players like Cobi Jones, Brad Friedel, DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey all have permit issues.