ZURICH, Switzerland, CMC – Well-known personalities Horace Burrell, Ronald Jones and Yves Jean-Bart were among nine administrators appointed to restore the Caribbean Football Union to normalcy over the next five months.
Burrell, the suspended president of the Jamaica Football Federation, who will regain his status on January 16 next year; Jones, the president of Barbados’ Football Association and Minister of Education; and Jean-Bart of Haiti are the three most recognisable figures on the nine-member Normalisation Committee appointed during an Extraordinary Congress of the CFU over the last two days at FIFA headquarters.
They have been joined by Luis Hernandez of Cuba, Victor Daniel from Grenada, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, Larry Mussenden from Bermuda, Everton Gonsalves of Antigua & Barbuda and Rignaal Francisca of Curaçao to execute a number of tasks to return the CFU to equilibrium following the fall-out from the cash-for-votes scandal that rocked the regional governing body earlier this year.
Several high-ranking officials in the regional game, principally CFU President Jack Warner, either stepped away from the game, suffered suspension imposed by FIFA, the sport’s World governing body, fines, or reprimands.
Jean-Bart, the chairman of the Congress, said in a media release yesterday: “I am proud to have been part of such a historical achievement and expect the decisions taken at the Zurich meetings will result in a brighter and better CFU.” The Normalisation Committee has a 10-point plan on which to work, leading to elections for a new CFU Executive Committee no later than May 15 next year.
The Committee will perform the functions of the CFU Executive Committee until elections are held.
It is also expected to appoint an interim CFU General Secretary and review new CFU statutes to be proposed by the CFU Legal Committee.
Preparing the 2011 Annual Report and setting a date for a CFU Extraordinary Congress to approve the new CFU statutes must also take place no later than 90 days from Tuesday this week.
The Normalisation Committee is also expected to appoint a Legal Committee, a Finance Committee and a Football Committee, while also making recommendations to the membership as to the legal domicile of the CFU.
Appointing two delegates to attend all CONCACAF meetings or working groups will also be a task of the CFU Normalisation Committee, as well as consulting with the Confederation on the appointment of a member of the Committee as the Caribbean zone representative to the FIFA Executive Committee as an observer.