Patrick Robinson | Track and field athletics is number one

Jamaica has been placed in what is, perhaps, the weakest qualification group – Jamaica, Bermuda, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago – ever created in the history of the World Cup. If the Reggae Boyz do not qualify from this group, they should be banished to the Pedro and Morant Cays, or to South West Rock, a part of the Jamaican archipelago, and exiled there for the rest of their lives.

But what explains this advantageous outcome? Did money pass? No! The Jamaica Football Federation does not have any money and in any event its President and members are all people of integrity. A friend suggested that the more likely explanation is that the JFF received help from our ever reliable brothers and sisters in St Thomas, who have never forgotten their African roots. This is the better explanation.

A comparative look at the three major popular sports in Jamaica – track and field athletics, cricket and football – shows track and field at the top and football at the bottom. It is true that Jamaica qualified for the 1998 World Cup, but we never went beyond the group stage, losing to Croatia – 3-1, to Argentina 5-0, and defeating Japan by 2-1. That qualification has been the single moment of glory for our football.

But there has been no improvement in our football since 1998; none at any rate, in comparison with Croatia for whom the 1998 World Cup was, like Jamaica, their first World Cup qualification.

Croatia is an apt comparator because its population of 3.6m is just less than a million more than Jamaica’s. In its debut in 1998, unbelievably, Croatia placed third with a bronze medal in the World Cup. Since that time Croatia reached the final and was runner up in 2018 and finished third in 2022. In comparison, for the first time since 1998 Jamaica is now fighting to win qualification from a group that is very weak.

So that globally Jamaica has no record in football to inspire pride and adulation amongst nationals. In the colonial era, one can only point to Lindy Delapenha who was the first Jamaican to play football in the UK professionally. He was excellent, scoring 93 League and FA Cup goals.

In the post-independence period, there is only Alan ‘Skill’ Cole who played for Nautico in Brazil and the Atlantic Chiefs in the US.

On the other hand, cricket has a long and glorious history from the colonial period with George ‘Atlas’ Headley carrying the West Indies team, was the first batsman to score a century in each innings of a test match at Lords and has a Test batting average of 60 runs. There was also Alfred Valentine who, with his left arm spin, played a significant role in the West Indies defeating England in 1950. In the modern era, Lawrence Roy, Michael Holding and Jeffrey Dujon, contributed significantly to great West Indies teams. But today, like West Indies Cricket, Jamaica’s cricket is in the doldrums.

A criticism of our football today is the high number of players from the UK who are members of the Jamaican squad and Jamaica’s team by way of parents or grandparents who were born in Jamaica. In selecting teams to represent Jamaica preference must be given to home-grown players. No more than two or three of these non-home-grown players should be on the Jamaican team.

Like cricket, track and field athletics also has a glorious history dating back to the colonial era.

In 1908, GC Foster ran 9.8 secs. for the Jamaican record in the 100 yds. The world record was 9.6 seconds. Regrettably, he was not able to participate in the 1908 London Olympics since Jamaica was not affiliated to the International Olympic Association. But after the Olympics, he defeated athletes who had performed well for their countries in the Games.

In 1948, Jamaica, a colony of the UK, won three medals at the London Olympics: Arthur Wint, gold and silver in the 400m and 800m respectively and Herb Mckenley, silver in the 400m. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics Jamaica won five medals, including the famous 4x400m relay, defeating the mighty US in a record time of 3:03.9 secs. In both the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, Jamaica placed third in the medal table in track and field athletics.

In the post-independence era we have grown appreciably. We have won a total of 93 gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympics and 127 gold, silver and bronze medals in the World Athletics Championships. Notably, a Jamaican, Usain Bolt, holds both the 100m and 200m world records and a Jamaican, Yohan Blake, is joint second fastest in the 100m and second fastest in the 200m. Moreover, Elaine Thompson’s times in the 100m and 200m make her, arguably, the world’s greatest female sprinter ever.

This analysis shows that in term of global impact track and field athletics is the number one sport in Jamaica. In relation to sports, it should receive the lion’s share of financial support from the Government and the private sector. In Jamaica, no sport has fostered national pride and self-esteem to the same degree as track and field athletics. Our athletes are so good that they are poached by other countries. More funding is needed to put our athletes in a better position to resist the poachers.

In 2003, the Venezuelan Government gifted the Montego Bay Sports Complex to Jamaica. It consisted of a synthetic track and a football field. Considering the special significance of track and field athletics for Jamaica, it is difficult to understand why this synthetic track, for which Jamaica did not pay a cent, was not replaced by the Government when its natural life ended in 2017.

If the Complex is to be leased, it must be a condition for the grant of the lease that the lessee must replace the old track with a new synthetic track within a year of the signing of the lease. The number one sport in Jamaica requires no less.

Judge Patrick Robinson is a former Jamaican member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). He is the author of ‘Jamaican Athletics - A Model for the World’ and executive producer of the documentary, ‘Jus Run’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com