‘Not so’

GENERAL SECRETARY of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Dennis Chung has expressed disagreement with former Sports Development Foundation (SDF) general manager, Denzil Wilkes, who wrote in a recent Gleaner opinion article that the Reggae Girlz are not receiving the treatment they deserve from the national federation in spite of their high-quality performances.

According to Wilkes’ article, while the Reggae Boyz games are usually easily accessible on cable or through free-to-air broadcast, the Reggae Girlz, in spite of making it to the second round of the 2024 World Cup after two successive journeys to the football showpiece and the general tenacity they’ve displayed over many years of challenging circumstances, do not receive similar publicity.

However, Chung retorted saying social media, and especially YouTube, has become the main source of information and for viewing content in recent years, and that the JFF’s YouTube channel will become the main broadcasting platform for the Reggae Boyz and Girlz going forward.

“I saw the article in The Gleaner re the so-called need to pay attention to the Girlz, which is primarily talking about the YouTube channel or social media broadcasting being insufficient. I don’t buy that argument and I tell you why.

“In 2016 a study was done by the PSOJ (Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica) that showed that 70 per cent of persons got their content from social media.

“In December we played two games against South Africa and with no notice. The same morning of the first game we announced that we were going to show the game on YouTube and we had over 120,000 views.

“Seventy-five per cent of that 120,000 views were actually from overseas and I want to remind everybody that Jamaica’s target audience is not just in Jamaica,” said Chung.

Wilkes argued that the failure of the JFF to broadcast the matches in Jamaica on both free-to-air and cable television could be seen as disrespect to high football achievers and a level of myopia that requires corrective surgery.

“The fact that the event passed without much comment could cause some to conclude that this is evidence that it is not of great importance,” Wilkes wrote.

Int’l brands

However, Chung was quick to highlight that the Reggae Boyz and Girlz are big international brands and that they must also look out for their international audience as well.

“We have a big diaspora that we have to cater for. I see eventually where we will be having maybe about 100,000 (international) viewers at any one time.

“Not to mention the views that are going to be done after the game. So it is the way of the future.

“We are going to see a lot more content coming out on our YouTube channel and I am sure that we will have a significantly increasing audience for persons to experience the games.

“But we are going global with this thing. Not just in Jamaica alone. We are not going to be naive and myopic and just think about broadcast in Jamaica.

“We know that many Jamaicans watch the YouTube and social media outlets and get a lot of information from there. So I think we are on the right track,” he said.

Wilkes also called the JFF a microcosm of the wider society and that it has not accepted women’s football as worthy of consistently high exposure. But Chung added that they only have the best intentions for the Girlz at heart.

“This thing about discrimination against the Girlz is not so. In fact, it is the upcoming games (versus Brazil) that we are talking about. We are making some huge marketing efforts around it. In fact, there are going to be three watch parties organised in New York for these games coming up,” he disclosed.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com