PRESIDENT of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Dr Walton Small, has hit back at high-school athletics coaches, saying that proposed changes for the ISSA-Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Athletics Championships were based on their own complaints about watering down the event.

Small has also said that ISSA governs school sports, and that the issue of recruitment, as it relates to academics, is the purview of the Ministry of Education.

ISSA's Technical Committee will vote on Friday on several changes to the annual high-school track meet. One change would see track athletes being restricted to two individual events, as well as two relays.

The proposals have been met with opposition from the Jamaica Track and Field Coaches Association (JATAFCA).

Last week, a post on JATAFCA's Facebook page pointed out that despite adjustments to the rules, 454 fewer athletes competed in Champs in 2016 than in 2010.

"They (ISSA) are presiding over a period of decline. They need to pause and do the analysis in terms of the decisions being made," JATAFCA President David Riley told The Gleaner.

Small said coaches were instrumental in those changes.

"When I hear that, I wonder if they have memory lapse, because we made those changes because of their suggestions ... from the coaches and other experts in the field that what we were doing was bringing student athletes to Champs that did not merit the quality of the meet; that we should be displaying the best of the best. It was because of that suggestion why we increased the standards, and if we increase the standard for qualification, you are going to automatically get fewer people," Small said.

"Every year after Champs we do a review and we have a technical committee that is made up of very knowledgeable people and they advise us based on reactions, and one of our things is looking to just cutting down on the workload of students because one of our aims is to ensure that we do not expose our students to undue stress and pressure.

"These rules that we have made are because we are listening. It must not be said that ISSA was insensitive to the health of the students," he added.

Small conceded that Champs athlete numbers were getting smaller, but said that it was because the quality had improved, thereby weeding out athletes who were not up to scratch.

A bone of contention for Riley was that the practice of recruiting student athletes needed to be regulated.

Small, however, said ISSA has rules governing how recruited athletes can participate, but that he could not stop the schools.

"We are not into the business of regulating where students go. That is the business of the Ministry of Education. However, so as not to have wanton movement, we have put in rules. Yes, there are the pros and cons of transfer, (but) not all good athletes move from their school," Small said.

A number of student athletes, with and without Jamaican familial connections, have participated at Champs, and while the argument was made that they are being developed at the expense of Jamaican students, Small again said he had no control over their movements.

"If a child comes to Jamaica, we cannot stop them. Once you are a student you have a right to participate in ISSA sports," he noted.

Small said a clearing house system had been instituted with the intent of regulating how students are recruited.

The clearing, house, he said, prevents one school from recruiting a student without the knowledge of his or her current school administration. A registration system also identifies any student moving from one school to the next.

Former FIFA Development Officer Howard McIntosh has joined the chorus of those applauding the expansion of the FIFA World Cup to 48 teams, up from 32.

Though the new proposal will not come into effect until the 2026 edition, the Jamaican gave FIFA the thumbs up on the new move, saluting the game’s governing body for a well-thought-out structure, even in its embryonic state.

FIFA’s executive council voted last week to increase the number of teams by 50 per cent, winning praise for making the massive structural adjustment without having to add to the 32-day duration of its global showpiece.

Also, the teams going to the final will still play seven games in a clearly number-crunching master stroke by the FIFA thinkers. But there will be more matches, moving to 80 from 64.

As it stands, the proposal will see 16 groups of three teams, with the top two advancing to a knockout round of 32, then a round of 16, then the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then the final.

“On the format, I think FIFA has done an excellent job at looking at all the possibilities, all the options, and I think they came up with five options regarding the expansion.

“What is proposed now is that you will have 16 zones of three teams, with two teams advancing, giving everybody going to the World Cup a minimum of two games.

“The format they have developed does not increase the number of games as you still have to play seven games to win the World Cup. So that shows that a tremendous amount of thought has gone into it and this might be the best approach anyone could take in accommodating everybody, and, of course, you always have to look at television; and I know that television consideration would have been factored in greatly with regards to the format,” McIntosh said shortly after FIFA’s announcement.

With more slots expected to be allocated to all of FIFA’s six confederations — UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC, OFC — many countries perennially on the fringe of qualification can now dream.

And nations in the Caribbean, like Jamaica, can salivate at the possibilities that increased access would bring.

“The obvious and the immediate advantage is that more World Cup places will be made available, which hopefully will mean the possibility of more spots for teams from the region,” said McIntosh.

“The actual confederation places have not been determined yet, but the devil then is going to be in the details, because depending on the final structure on how one qualifies for the World Cup, that will determine how much of an opportunity and an advantage it (more spots) will be,” he said.

The new FIFA move is expected to bring broad-based benefits including financial inflows to member associations and confederations, big and small.

“On the question of financial gains to the Caribbean, I think this time around the FIFA president and the executive council spent a lot of time getting analyses and comparative studies done looking at revenues, the expenses and the savings.

“The fact that you are going to have more games would mean additional television revenues. I think the FIFA president has been consistent in ensuring and living up to his promise of getting more money in the MAs (member associations) and the confederations, so I would expect that a lot of the financial benefits would flow through to the member associations and also to the confederations,” said McIntosh, a banker by trade.

But while CONCACAF is expected to benefit from the bounty of the additional 16 places, the Caribbean is reminded that it must improve its standard if it hopes to take advantage.

“As it relates to the Caribbean, we now want to see the proposed Caribbean Professional League being funded, and I hope that is one of the benefits and that’s one of the things that the president (Gianni Infantino) committed to earlier.

“Part of what must happen in the region is that football must be played at the highest level throughout, and one of those things is to have this league, which will be expensive because of the geography of the Caribbean, but it’s a necessity in improving the game in the individual territory, to improve the players throughout the region and to continue to expose players at the highest level on an ongoing basis and providing proper opportunities for them in being paid,” McIntosh told the Jamaica Observer.

McIntosh, a former chairman of the Jamaica Football Federation Technical and Development Committee, said based on speculative figures, CONCACAF could get as many as three additional spots in the bonanza, up from the current three-and-half.

“Sixteen additional spots and that’s a significant increase, and I think all of the confederations will be happy for that as there are many countries in the confederations that are right there on the margin of qualifying.

“I think it’s a good number for CONCACAF, who now has three-and-half spots, and the hope is that they will go to six-and-half spots, which would be three additional spots, and I know that the performance over the years could merit that,” he said.

As FIFA works through the details in the months to come, and CONCACAF having to possibly change its qualification format, McIntosh hopes that any new structure could be crafted to guarantee qualification for at least one Caribbean team.

“My way of thinking, and I know that they are looking at the different combinations now, but I think one possible combination on board in the Caribbean that could be looked at is trying to determine how the Caribbean get at least one spot guaranteed in this whole mix, because this is part of the way of ensuring financial and technical commitment and to get everybody on board this tremendous goal (of qualifying), which few Caribbean nations have achieved thus far, but critically, want to achieve, but the hurdles are very high,” he noted.

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It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of New Kingston FC's President David Mighty who died on Saturday January 31, 2016 from a heart attack at the Kingston Public Hospital. David Mighty was a member of the KSAFA Secretariat serving in the current term.

On behalf of the President and Council we extend condolences to his family, friends and the football fraternity.

Anyone know who was the best school boy goalkgoalkeeper in St Ann between 1991-1994?