JPL helps MoBay, Treasure Beach to find homes
Published:Tuesday | November 25, 2025 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
WITH THE restart of the Jamaica Premier League (JPL) a little under two weeks away, the Professional Football Jamaica Limited (PFJL) is working to ensure that Montego Bay United and Treasure Beach have ideal venues to host home matches come December 7.
St Elizabeth Technical High School in St Elizabeth and the Catherine Hall Sports Complex in St James, the home venues of Treasure Beach and Montego Bay United, respectively, were severely affected by Hrricane Melissa, and both venues are expected to be out of commission for some time.
CEO of the PFJL Owen Hill pointed out that the organisation was looking at venues in the Corporate Area to facilitate home games for Montego Bay, who moved to Kingston and St Andrew not long after the passage of Melissa.
The PFJL has earmarked Stadium East and Sabina Park as the likely venues for Montego Bay’s home matches in the interim.
“MoBay are currently domiciled in Kingston and they are training at facilities within the ecosystem. But for the playing of their (home) games, strategically we will have to look at it. We will use centralised venues, such as the Stadium East and Sabina Park,” he declared.
While the PFJL is working on rekindling the relationhip between STETHS and Treasure Beach, that facility is still under reconstruction, but Hill said they are tracking its progress, with the hope that it will be available by the time the league starts.
However, if the venue is unable to meet the restart date, the PFJL will look at other contingencies.
“With Treasure Beach, we will be looking to twin that relationships with St Elizabeth Technical itself, and we hope that it bears fruit.
“It (facility) is not a hundred per cent reconstructed. So it’s every day checking in with the owners of the facility. Lucky for us, it’s a stakeholder with whom we have a pretty solid relationships, and they are also heavily invested in sports. So, hopefully, it not too much of an ask.
“But we have started looking at contingencies. We are looking at maybe the team has to travel out of parish to play their games in the first instalment.
“But we expect games to be back up and running on the western and southern ends of the island before the end of the league,” he stated.
He added that it is important that football is played across the breadth of the country, and that all efforts are being made to restore the league in the affected jurisdictions.
“The mandate is to make sure football is spread across the island. And if there are opportunities to do so, we will always facilitate that.
“We are mindful that there is a standard we need to maintain. It requires a lot of planning, adjustments and compromise. But the key is ensuring that nobody gets disenfranchised, and there is equal opportunity for everybody to succeed,” he said.