Stadium lights set to get all clear from Concacaf
Published:Tuesday | July 30, 2024 | 12:11 AM
Following the upgrade of the lights at the National Stadium last week, Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) general secretary Dennis Chung says they have already received words of encouragement from the regional governing body Concacaf, and that he expects approval of the new lights to be granted sometime in August.
“It was last week Wednesday that we got the report and we tested it on Wednesday night and it (report) was sent to Concacaf for review and we actually got feedback from one person at Concacaf who deals with the Club Championship, as the clubs will be playing there as well, and he congratulated us on the improvement,” he disclosed.
He pointed that the only issue Concacaf have is they want the lights refocused to even the spread.
“So we see no reason why it should not be approved because it is definitely above the 1,000 lumens and in some places it is significantly above. Once it is refocused, we might have an average lumens of about 1,200.”
He added that with the problem sorted they are now just awaiting the final inspection from Concacaf.
“We are waiting on that final report to come but certainly we would have fixed that problem. So we are waiting for Concacaf to come back again because we had sent it (report) to more than one person (at Concacaf). So we are waiting on that but the initial response was good.
“The refocusing of the lights is being done right now as we speak. I expect to get that report this week as the Club Championship is going to be in August and we want to ensure that all of that is in place before,” he said.
Cavalier fined
In June, the JFF had to reschedule the time of their World Cup qualifying game against the Dominican Republic after the lights at the venue failed to meet Concacaf standards.
Cavalier were also fined after using the venue for the Concacaf Champions Cup game against Cincinnati in February.
However, Minister of Sports Olivia Grange recently announced that the lights have been significantly improved at a cost of $19.63 million and JFF president Michael Ricketts was grateful for the development
“I want to use this opportunity to express my regards to the stakeholders, headed of course by Minister Grange, who would have been instrumental in having this problem sorted out.
“So on behalf of the Jamaica Football Federation, I want to express our gratitude and say thank you,” the JFF boss said.