Editorial | Craig Butler and bullying narcissists

That this newspaper doesn't much like the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is well known. Like its global overlord, FIFA, it is, or, at least was, far too opaque. Further, it spent too much energy chasing international dreams rather than establishing a strong foundation for the game at home.

But neither do we like bullies. We abhor forcing consumers to buy products that they don't want merely because it has been tied to what is in demand. We believe in democracy and reject those who would seek ascendancy through coups and putsches rather than testing themselves before the will of the people.

Therein lies the reasons why we are not taken to Craig Butler. He appears to be a bully whose singular objective is, perhaps, to hijack the JFF.

To be fair to Mr Butler, he does appear to possess some talent other than the capacity for a little scrap. He seems capable of nurturing football talent, judging from some of the players who have emerged from his Phoenix Academy. And none more so than Leon Bailey, who is reported to also be Mr Butler's adopted son.

Leon Bailey plays in Germany's Bundesliga for the club Bayer Leverkusen, where he has been something of a sensation this season, having scored nearly a dozen goals and assisted with several others. He is the kind of player that Jamaica would like to have in its international squad, as would many other countries. But then there is Mr Butler and what he intends to extract if young Bailey is to wear the Jamaican colours.

CONTROLLING FOOTBALL

Essentially, Mr Butler's demand, or so it seems, is for control of Jamaica's football, with an overlay of nepotism. This is a saga that has been playing itself out in public for well over a year but was simmering before that. It started with Mr Butler's complaints against Vin Blaine, the former coach of the Under-17 team, ostensibly for failing to appreciate the talent of Leon Bailey, who didn't have a regular presence in the young Jamaican team.

Later, when Bailey began to play overseas and his talent as a potential senior had become apparent, Mr Butler insisted that his availability for Jamaica would be part of a package that included Mr Butler's biological son, Kyle Butler. Subsequently, that package was expanded to include other members of his Phoenix squad.

He went so far, in discussions on the availability of his players, to insist on having a role in the operation of the JFF, including team selection and his displacement of the federation's current technical director, Wendell Downswell. More recently, he has floated the idea of Leon Bailey shifting his national allegiance to England or other countries, all of which seems like fantasy.

"When the JFF is ready to talk to Craig Butler about football culture and a system of development for our country's footballers that will sustain development and offer players like Leon Bailey, Kyle Butler, Kevaughn Atkinson, Kemo Jackson, Chevaughn McLaren, Alex Marshall, and others a solution that gives them a chance to be able to compete internationally with some measure of success, then they will consider putting on the national colours," he told this newspaper.

Another time, he said: "Jamaica needs the full extent of what I bring, and it would have to be as JFF president."

Maybe beyond Mr Butler's narcissism and grandiosity, the JFF does need Craig Butler as its president, or as the loud eminence behind the throne, but he can't expect that the job should be his divine right. For, whatever limited value Michael Ricketts, the JFF president, may be perceived to bring to the job, he won an election for it. Craig Butler, too, should try his luck via the democratic process or form his own football body.