President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Captain Horace Burrell, has called for respect of protocol when differences arise, to ensure continued development of the sport in Jamaica.

The JFF boss was speaking in an address at the Digicel Premier League and National U-21 awards ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Tuesday night.

Burrell said good governance required that individuals in charge should be respected and protocols used in the appropriate way.

"Any other practice serves as an open invitation for anarchy. This will not be allowed in the JFF. If you have problems, there are channels through which you bring your problems," he said.

Burrell, who was recently returned as the Caribbean member on CONCACAF's executive committee, cited an incident earlier this week in which, following a meeting at the JFF offices, they were greeted by demonstrators. This, he said, was a sight he had never seen before.

"It was not very pretty," Burrell said. "I was very disappointed and I would hate to see Jamaica's football being brought to that level. I have only seen those kinds of crowds at political meetings or so. But certainly in football we are not used to that and we are not going to bring football to that level," he said.

He urged the football fraternity to respect the protocols and said that Jamaica is part of a global village and whatever was done in the country would be seen around the world.

Branding of gears

"If we do continue to behave in a particular way with football, then it would not be very pleasant," Burrell said.

"Football is a family. There are always going to be differences but let us remain as one family, solve our problems within, and let us respect each other," he concluded.

The JFF and the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association had been locked in an impasse regarding the branding of gears worn by match officials, which led to the suspension of KSAFA's competitions.

- Keisha Hill