When frustration finally got the better of me just under two years ago and I took the decision to walk away from the St James Football Association (StJFA) as a board member, I did so because I was convinced that the administration had lost its focus and was engaging in a senseless farce.

Since I parted company with the StFA, I have had many quarrels with some of my former colleagues over what I considered the tame structure of the parish's football, which I felt was promoting mediocrity rather than positive steps to enhance a sport which has provided the western region with so many heroes over the years.

pleasantly surprised

I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised earlier this week when I got a fax from the StJFA stating that, come the start of the 2009-10 domestic football season, no teams will be allowed participation in any of the parish's senior competitions unless they have registered a team in one of the FA's junior competitions.

For once, I was pleased to recieve a hand-written fax from the StJFA because, while the contents appeared quite strange, based on the way the board has operated in the past, the fact that the fax was in the handwriting of Lilli-Mae Crawford, the FA's competition director, confirmed it was authentic.

substandard teams

Personally, the new position taken by the board is like music to my ears, because I ultimately believe it will lead to the fixing of one of the most serious problems facing St James' football, that is the vast number of substandard teams that have left the parish's football significantly strong in terms of quantity and exceptionally weak in quality.

Based on the fact that a large number of the teams in division one and two have no proper club structure, in many cases it is just a group of friends coming together to just 'kick some ball' for fun. I know the demand of fielding a junior team will force them back to where they belong, which is playing in the various community corner leagues.

line of demarcation

As I have stated repeatedly in this column, I believe there should be a line of demarcation between serious football and recreational football and, somehow, I believe the StJFA has got those lines blurred in recent years. Serious football should be the prerogative of the board, while that which is solely for recreation should be left to the organisers of the corner leagues.

I strongly believe that the way to put St James' football back on track is to return to the era in which strong clubs, possibly with strong community links, are the pillars on which the parish's football is developed. As far as I am concerned, without such a foundation, the glory days of multiple National Premier League (NPL) teams will never return.

functions as a nursery

Personally, I hope the next step the StJFA will take will be to move swiftly to transform the Guardian Life Division Two competition into an under-21 competition, which I believe would add much needed value. This competition could function on a similar basis to the national Under-21 competition, which functions as a nursery for the premier league teams.

While I am expecting much more from the FA in terms of additional changes to improve the viability of the parish's football product, I must commend them for this latest initiative. If we begin to rebuild with strong community- based teams, I believe in less than a decade we will once again have teams that can hold their own nationally, rather than the vast number of insignificant oddities we now have parading as teams.

Once we begin to have strong teams again, I have no doubt that we will begin to see fans coming back to games, which will, in turn, create a platform to properly market the game in the quest for sponsorship. Even a warped mind should know that good football, solid spectator interest and sponsorship is the key to developing a proper product.

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