Tony BeccaCARL Brown is the Jamaica Football Federation's new technical director, and every Jamaican, football fan or not, sports fan or not, should be happy and should wish him good luck. A Jamaican, a home-grown Jamaican at that, is in charge of guiding Jamaica.
When the JFF, inspired by president Captain Horace Burrell, decided to make a bid to qualify for the World Cup finals back in 1994, Jamaica needed the skills of a good, experienced and strong coach, they had to go for a foreign coach, and there is no question that Rene Simoes did a magnificent job.
The smooth-talking Brazilian sold football to both the government and the private sector and got tremendous financial support; he sold the team to the fans, to all Jamaica, and it was well supported, match after match; and the Reggae Boyz went to the World Cup finals in 1998.
After Clovis de Oliveira, however, after one more foreigner, it was time to look for a leader from home, and whether they did so because they probably could not now afford another foreign coach, once that was the decision, the JFF, or Burrell, had the ideal man for the job.
Brown, a former national representative and captain out of Boys' Town, coached the national team before the arrival of Simoes, he served under both Simoes and de Oliveria, he is a student of the game, he is now experienced, and he is a hard worker.
Having a Jamaican guiding Jamaica's football as the technical director is one thing, however. What is important is how successful he will be - not so much in terms of winning and losing but in doing a good job.
Will Brown do a good job? It will partly depend on him, partly on other Jamaicans.
One of the reasons why many Jamaicans prefered a foreign coach, and why some still do, is the feeling that apart from the lack of international experience, local coaches always tend to favour the clubs to which they are attached, that because they usually come from the city they favour city players over rural players, that they are too weak when dealing with matters of indiscipline, and that in selecting players they are easily influenced because they are not strong enough to ignore, not only uninformed public opinion but also the abuse of partisan supporters.
In many respects that is true, and Brown's first task will be to convince his countrymen that he is big - that after considering everything, he will select the best players to represent Jamaica.
One of the reasons why Jamaican coaches have failed in the past is the lack of support from the Federation, the government and the private sector, and Brown's success, and thus Jamaica's success, will depend on their support.
Jamaicans have a way of believing in foreigners and supporting foreigners, Jamaicans have a way of making comparisons, and right or wrong, the performance of Brown, a Jamaican, will be compared to that of Simoes, a foreigner - especially if the team starts to lose.
For Jamaica to make it back to the World Cup finals, however, for it to be just to compare Brown to a Simoes, the JFF, the government and the private sector will have to support Brown as much as they supported Simoes and to a lesser extent de Oliveira.
The JFF, for example, will have to give Brown a free hand to make certain decisions and to select players, and the government and the private sector should come up with plenty money.
It may not be easy at this time to fund a football programme, however, certainly not to the extent it was leading up to 1998 and up to this year, and hopefully Brown will understand that.
It is important also, however, that Brown be given time to make his mark - especially if he is not as fortunate, as blessed, as either Simoes or de Oliveira.
