Jamaican Football Federation President Captain Horace Burrell has given in to demands from members of Jamaica's senior team which threatened to boycott yesterday's Digicel Caribbean Cup match against Guadeloupe unless certain financial requests were met. The "Reggae Boyz" did not train on Sunday and the players held a press conference at their team hotel where they outlined demands of US 1200 per diem and 80 percent of the prize money should they win the first prize of US 120,000. At a meeting on Saturday, the Federation offered US 500 but that was turned down, forcing a stand-off.
Senior players Shavar Thomas, Luton Shelton, Rodolph Austin and Jermaine Taylor insisted the stance was based on principle. They said the protest action was on behalf of players who previously represented the nation and ended up with not much to show for it and younger local players who are perhaps badly in need of the income. "We won't lace up our boots unless we get the full per diem and 80 per cent of the win bonus," Thomas told members of the media, at a meeting on Sunday. "We have often been playing underpaid and under compensated, travelling far and wide sometimes without per diem.
None of us do this for the money," he said. The team's participation in the tournament had been under threat from the start as the cash-strapped Federation struggled to find funds.
However, the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) intervened and provided $6 million, but Burrell explained that after having to pay for airfare, additional rooms and other expenses, enough was not left to make the per diem. Following a meeting at the hotel, the president promised to pay the remainder from his personal funds. "I was shocked when I got the news that there was a problem. Jamaica is a poor country but a proud people, there is lot of crime and football is one of the things that leads people in another direction," Burrell told members of the media.
"If they dropped out of the tournament it would exasperate such situations and make our people sad. I have instructed the head of delegation I will bow to your request for my country and I will get the money to pay the funds," Burrell added