Carvel Stewart unhappy with the stall of Jamaica’s Premier League

3 years ago

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Chairman of Jamaica Premier League football club Harbour View, Carvel Stewart, has blasted the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for the role it played in the failure to restart the local football league this year.

Jamaica’s Premier League had been scheduled to resume late last month, with the latest contingency date set for December 6th.  The proposal had, however, not been approved by the country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) who would later not grant approval for the league to resume until 2021.

The country’s major football competition was called off in May of this year, a decision that has left Stewart still seething over how the issue was initially handled. 

The Harbour View FC Chairman believes there were several factors at play that influenced the decision then, least of all the overall interest of the sport locally.

Stewart is convinced the development of a detailed plan to finish the season in May-June, which involved testing and careful coordination with the ministry, would have served as a blueprint to make it easier to restart the game now.  He, however, believes a lack of consultation with the game’s stakeholders and selfish motives on the part of some Premier League clubs had led to the quick cancelation.

The former Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) vice-chairman, considered the current situation a major blow for local football stakeholders and investors, and implied that the decision had come easily for the JFF because of its lack of direct involvement in the local game.

“The majority of them (JFF officials) have never invested in football. They are not invested in football, therefore, they can come and make decisions that will eventually destroy football,” Stewart said.

“Football, as we are now at this point in time in Jamaica, has been dealt almost a mortal blow by the kind of decision-making that was made then and continues to be made now. To me, it means nothing to them whether the game is played or not.”