Ready for the Premier League – The JDF Football Team.

As we head towards the year 2000, more and more we are hearing of bankruptcy, receiverships, mergers and downsizing. We now hear of the Global Marketplace, improving efficiency and having to make drastic changes to the way we do things, in preparation for the new millennium and our final absorption into the global marketplace. The focus is shifting towards leaner more efficient organizations, using the available resources to their optimum and thereby give reasonable tangible returns commensurate with the effort expended on them.

The management and administration of sports has not escaped the microscope as can be seen after the recent successes of the "Reggae Boyz", with calls being made from many quarters for Jamaica to create a business oriented sporting sector. The private sector, like government, is no longer prepared to accept mediocrity and inefficiency while supporting non-profit organizations. Declining resources have also forced some companies to withdraw their support for sporting organizations as happened recently with the regional cricket competition.

As with other organizations, the JDF is challenged to make better use of dwindling resources in carrying out its many and varied tasks. It is felt in some quarters that the high level of resources which are expended in supporting sports internally and externally, could be better used in other areas. Critics point first to the cost in manpower and equipment. Sports competitions are held at three levels of the Force. First at the Battalion/Unit level, then at the Force level where the best representatives of each Unit compete, and finally at the national level where JDF teams match their skills with other national teams. The net effect is that soldiers have to be taken away from normal duties for training and competitions, leading to a strain elsewhere. The many competitions which run on an annual basis make the cost of providing all the necessary gears prohibitive for some. Creative and innovative funding based on collective subscriptions and individual payments, is usually the only answer.

Other concerns are that soldiers who represent the JDF at the various disciplines are sometimes bypassed for promotion, not selected nor released for career enhancing training, not given the same advancement opportunities as others, and are generally not subject to the same rigid standards of discipline as others in the Force. The complaints are based on their frequent absences from their primary jobs while engaged in approved sports activities.

On the other hand however, competing in sports on behalf of the JDF is indeed a military duty. Careful planning and an active interest in those engaged in extra regimental duties will ensure that sports representatives are given the same opportunities as other soldiers. The administration of the Force sports programs is vested in the JDF Sports Board consisting of a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and an officer-in-charge of each sport in which the JDF participates. The Board has effectively carried out its mandate over the years, and the JDF has won major sporting competitions, while competing against the best that Jamaica and the world has to offer. In much the same way that the success of the ‘Reggae Boyz’ has given the nation a boost in morale, sports has helped to build esprit de corps among soldiers, and has helped at different times to ease the stress, intensity, and rigours related to the job of a soldier.

Being involved in sports is also one of the ways in which the JDF contributes to nation building and the development of its own members. Over the years officers and ex-officers of the JDF have served on the Boards of the, Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, the Jamaica Rifle Association the Jamaica Football Federation, the Jamaica Table Tennis Association and the Kingston & St Andrew Football Association, among others. The JDF assists the government and private sector to organize sponsored sports programmes in support of the youth on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, the Force has had a steady stream of soldiers representing Jamaica in the different disciplines over the years, and that trend is expected to continue.

Sports, with its natural interplay between teams, helps the JDF to develop better relationships and ease tension in communities where soldiers conduct operations. This long tradition of sporting links with external clubs and organizations should continue. The employment of resources to support sports in the JDF was considered necessary in the past, and is still necessary and relevant now and for the future. The benefits to the Force, and to the nation generally, from the JDF’s sporting commitment, outweigh the physical and human costs. Our high level of involvement in sporting activities both internally and externally should therefore continue way beyond the next millennium.