Richard Bryan, Star Writer

The recent withdrawal of Leeds United from the South Central Confederation Super League, has once again put the St Elizabeth parish association, already considered to be one of the weakest in the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), in a negative light.

Leeds withdrew with a mere two rounds to be completed. To make things worse the club has declined to participate in the Confed's Under-20 competition, which merely involves playing five matches with no return format.

Understandably the South Central Confed hierarchy have expressed concerns and believe things have to be resolved between the parish FA and the club, sooner rather than later.

"We view the competition as a 12 team competition, and we have expressed our disappointment with the situation, since we want to preserve the integrity of the competition," Confed Chairman Dale Spencer told Star Sports.

"We have tried to work with them, we even said okay withdraw from the Super League, but at least play the Under-20 since that can benefit the development of the club but even that failed," Spencer explained.

club competition

Confed hearings organised to deal with club competition requires the appearance of both the club representative and local FA official. In the case of Leeds and the St Elizabeth FA, neither has appeared.

The latest developments follow a myriad of disturbing trends raising serious questions about the state of the club from the very outset. The club began the competition with a 0-3 away loss to Bodles, then a 1-2 home defeat from Hillstars, before they succumbed to a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of newcomer Meadows. In 10 completed games, they have only managed two points, scoring seven goals and conceding 27.

Manager of the club, Stephanie McKay, said the lack of financial resources were at the heart of the club's problems.

"It's financial," she said, when asked why the club failed to show for their own home encounter against Newlands of St Catherine. The game was to be hosted at Braes River, a venue six miles away from the clubs base near Santa Cruz. Their designated home at the start of the competition was the St Eizabeth Technical High School ground, but they lost it as the school made it unavailable due to their preparation for the athletic season.

It was the second straight week the club forfeited points, which is unusual since even most struggling teams honour home fixtures. In the case of the second forfeiture, a rescheduled mid-week encounter, Leeds claim they were not informed. The South Central Confed in this case lays the blame squarely at the feet of the parish hierarchy, since that body according to competition guidelines, has the responsibility to relay communication to Super League teams within its border.

possible suspension

There is a financial cost for withdrawal as well as possible suspension, a scenario that has already faced another St Elizabeth Cub, Valu P, virtually crippling their ability to get back into serious football.

President of the St Elizabeth FA, Patrick Malcolm, does not see any link between the problems faced by Leeds and the general situation with the administration of football in his parish.

"They are separate," Malcolm said.

" I can assure you that St Elizabeth football is in good hands."

Malcolm pointed to the recent successful start to the Division Two Competition, which has been sponsored by St Elizabeth Co-operative Credit Union for the last eight years.

Asked if the problems faced by Leeds would complicate the parish's intentions of getting a team into the Premier League, he was adamant that this was not the focus of his administration.

"That's not our objective at this time," Malcolm said.

"Our focus is on building teams into proper clubs." Malcolm suggested that the absence of proper management was the major problem facing football in the parish.