Jack re-appointed until 2008

REGIONAL football boss Jack Warner has been unanimously reappointed to the FIFA Executive Committee as vice president for another four years, it was revealed at the Caribbean Football Union Congress in Martinique on Tuesday. Warner, who heads both CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union, spoke glowingly of  his reappointment saying that he was prepared to serve. “I must thank the entire Congress for the confidence entrusted in me and I promise to continue serving  with the commitment and dedication that I have in the past. I am looking forward to some very interesting  months to come,” Warner said yesterday. Warner was also recently in the company of United States Vice President Dick Cheney for discussions on various matters.
  
The two vice presidents spoke at length on the role of sports and moreso football in influencing world peace and Warner pledged to use his influence in the FIFA to bring more football events to the US. “He was very receptive and as a consequence, the United States are now very strong contenders to host the FIFA World Club Championship in 2005,” said Warner. The decision on who will host the championship will be made in March. Warner described the Congress as “an extremely successful event” with 29 of the 30 countries present with Cuba being the sole absentee due to flight problems. Michel Platini represented President Sepp Blatter and also in attendance were the Director General of the French Football Federation, Gerald Enault; Vice President of the Regional Council, Michel Michaelon; and the Inspector General of Martinique, Michel Daudier. All spoke at the opening of the Congress, with Platini, the former French star bringing greetings from President Blatter. The President of UNCAF (Union of Central American Football Federations), Julio Rocha of Nicaragua was also present and brought greetings to the Congress.

The Congress approved the following Minutes of the 2002 AGM; the audited financial statement and balance sheet for the year 2002; and the Annual Report for the year 2002. The delegates witnessed two excellent presentations — one by Keith Look Loy, FIFA’s Development Officer for the Caribbean, on the successes of the GOAL Project in the Caribbean and another presentation from Mr Richard Braithwaite, CONCACAF’s Technical Director on CONCACAF’s work at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence in Trinidad for the year 2003 as well as the schedule of activities for 2004. Following the presentations the Congress then approved the following: To advise Ram Folkes of Grenada that his accusation against the Grenada FA’s General Secretary re-racial remarks being made against an official of the FA was frivolous in the extreme and that the matter will be declared closed; To fully support the decision of the FIFA to send, once again, a Committee into Antigua comprising Jack Warner (CONCACAF), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Jerome Champagne (FIFA) and Harold Taylor (CFU) to evaluate the work of the Normalisation Committee in that country especially their failure to meet anyone of FIFA’s deadlines.The Committee meets in Antigua on January 9 and 10; To establish a Marketing Division which will be temporarily housed in Jamaica and will be under the supervision of Captain Horace Burrell, Sr Vice President of the Union.

The president advised the Congress that the Marketing Division will in no way impact negatively on any marketing possibilities of the Jamaica Federation but, on the contrary, should complement their  work. The Division will be established on February 1; To conduct the 2006 World Cup Qualifying competition distinct and apart from the Gold Cup Qualifying competition, the latter will be conducted in groups to be determined by the CFU Executive Committee; To initiate in 2004 a CFU Under -14 competition for boys and a CFU Under-17 competition for girls on a two-year repetitive cycle (Under-15 for boys and Under-18 for girls in 2005). At the end of the boys’ competition, a 30-man squad will be selected to undergo intensive training at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macoya at the end of which an All Star Youth team will be selected to play a series of matches overseas. Richard Braithwaite has been put in charge of this project together with Lionel Haven (Bahamas) and Chet Greene (Antigua); To instruct the membership to participate in the Caribbean Workshop for grassroot football. The workshop is scheduled for Barbados on February 17 and 18 and is for young up and coming coaches. It is fully sponsored by the British Government;

To advise the CONCACAF, at their Congress on May 2 in Grenada, that the Caribbean’s representative as a member on CONCACAF’s Executive Committee will be Captain Horace Burrell who will now replace Anthony James of Jamaica. James has held the post for 12 years and was warmly applauded for his work during that period; Jack Warner has been unanimously reappointed to the FIFA Executive Committee, in his capacity as their vice president, for the period 2004 to 2008. Several countries made requests to hold CFU and CONCACAF Congresses in the future and they were all advised that they have until January 31 to formalise their requests.