The Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) will hold its annual general meeting (AGM) this Saturday, and president of the Corporate Area governing football body, Mark Bennett, said they are looking to recompose the membership and make amendments to the constitution.
Bennett believes the association has performed credibly under his stewardship, eliminating debts and trying to help clubs to improve their administrative operations. However, amendments to the constitution will be the main item on the agenda.
“There are a number of amendment that will be made to the constitution of KSAFA. We are looking at the membership role, the composition of the membership of KSAFA, to bring in line with what obtains at the JFF, with the pillar one, pillar two and pillar three situation.
“Also, we are looking at rights and obligation of the members. The current constitution does not speak in depth on that, so we are looking to include that in the constitution,” he told The Gleaner.
Three key pillars
The three key pillars structure of the JFF speaks to structured academies, professional governance and ethical leadership.
The pillars aim to mirror the global success of Jamaican athletics by strengthening infrastructure and fostering talent; and to do, that Bennet said they have to reposition the organisation to operate more like a corporate body.
“We can’t continue to rely solely on sponsorship monies to take care of competitions and administrative processes.
“In the past, that was how things operated, and we are trying to change that to where the members take care of the basic administrative needs of the organisations.
“Also, we are looking at other commercial events we can undertake to raise funds, and we have seen good signs,” he commented.
He noted that sponsorship remains their main challenge, but believes they have done a good job in getting most of their competitions sponsored.
“We always have sponsors for our senior competitions, the big part is really the junior competitions. Guardian (Group) have been good to us with the U10 to U11. H&L (Hardware and Lumber) came on for a year and supported us (U13 and U15). McKay Security is in the second year as sponsor of our U17, but there is much more needed to be done.
“The U13 and U15, there are no sponsorship. So, whatever funds we earn from the other sponsorships and gate receipts have to be channelled to take care of those competitions.
“The aim is to try to ensure that our organisation and clubs can provide value to the sponsors, that in itself will assist us in securing sponsorships.
“It’s really a challenge, and I hope those who can assist, assist; because we are all playing a part in the development of Jamaica football.”
He added that when he came in, the organisation was in a bad situation, with a $9-million debt, most of which was owed to the Government and clubs.
“And we have managed to take care of all government debts, and paid most of the debts owed to clubs. A number of clubs owe the association and have taken steps and are now in a much better position than where we were before. But there is a lot of room for improvement.”
Financial report for the year will be circulated to the clubs at the AGM on Saturday.
