( L - R ) Speid, Burrell

burrell

The battle for control of the local telecommunications market has moved into the sporting arena with devastating impact for football in Kingston and St Andrew.

The Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) yesterday 'red-carded' all its competitions after failed attempts to settle an impasse over the use of the Digicel and Claro logos by referees.

The two cellular providers are good friends of the local sporting community but are involved in a bitter media war as Claro aggressively goes after the more than two million subscribers which Digicel claims it has.

Battle of the giants

This has left KSAFA and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) in the middle of the proverbial battle of the giants.

Claro is KSAFA's main sponsor in a deal said to be worth approximately $100 million while Digicel is also spending more than $100 million as the official sponsor of the JFF, the governing body of local football.

The dispute stems from the fact that part of the JFF's deal with Digicel is a $6.5-million three-year agreement to sponsor all referees.

That sponsorship includes an arrangement to foot the clothing demands of referees.

Against this background, the JFF has declared that referees in all competitions must wear gear branded by Digicel.

No benefit

But that is a no-no for KSAFA which receives money from Claro to provide gear and pay referees in its competitions.

"Our concern is that we are being prejudiced by a contract that does not benefit us in any way. If you look at the bigger picture, no parish association will be able to get sponsorship from LIME, Flow or Claro," Rudolph Speid, president of KSAFA, told The Gleaner.

"I can't understand the logic in this particular one. The fundamental point is that if somebody has taken away your ability to earn money, then they should pay for it. The referees are being paid out of the money provided by Claro, so there is no way that we could allow people with Digicel shirts to be running around in a Claro competition," Speid added before a late-evening meeting with his sponsors yesterday.

Leagues affected

Two of KSAFA's main competitions, the Major and the Syd Bartlett leagues, as well as women's league and youth competitions, have been affected by the suspension but the Claro/KSAFA Super League, which qualifies the winner for the play-off to enter the Digicel Premier League, recently ended.

The JFF yesterday issued a release saying the deal with Digicel was penned in July 2008, months before KSAFA made a deal with Claro.

In addition, the release contended that the JFF had responsibility for all referees and that KSAFA erred in adding that element to its sponsorship arrangement.

In a February 4 letter, the parish associations were reminded that all referees registered with the JFF are required to wear jerseys branded with the Digicel logo while participating in all levels of competition across the island.

That position is one which the Referees Association is not willing to challenge as it attempts to stay out of the dispute.

"The JFF licenses all referees so the referees will have to abide by its directive," Dave Meikle, vice-president of the JFF referees committee, said.

The release also suggested that the JFF position on the matter would not change, as it quoted its president, Captain Horace Burrell, as saying:

"KSAFA must fall in line with the other 12 parish associations and will not be allowed to use this issue to compromise the other 12 members of the JFF."