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Interim president sets goals for St James’ football
February 20, 2026
For Gavin McNeil, football administration has never just been about meetings and regulations. It's about giving young players in St James a bigger stage to shine, noted the interim president of the St James Football Association (StJFA).
McNeil, who succeeded former president Gregory Daley - the now general secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), in January - has a clear, people-focused vision to establish club and schoolboy football partnership programme for the development of young talent.
"This year we also want to create more emphasis on the clubs developing the youngsters, instead of having the schools as the major development tool for them. Schoolboy football does take precedence in the parish, but you want the clubs to be the ones that are developing the kids.
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
"We want that to be also something that we put into play, that the clubs partner with the schools and start the development process there," said McNeil.
"It will be like a feeding tree, so clubs will have access to youngsters coming in and assist with the youngsters' development. That will also help the clubs to already have a relationship with youngsters, so that they can have talent to grow up in that regard," added McNeil.
When he first got involved in parish football administration years ago, his aspiration was to one day be president of StJFA.
The former Cornwall College old boy says after serving as administrator, treasurer, and vice-president in charge of competitions and regulations, the goal is clear. Beyond the standings and silverware, real victory lies in the creation of more opportunities for young footballers in St James to be seen, supported and celebrated.
EXPAND CLUB REACH
"My vision is to expand the reach of the clubs, and I'm going to do this by implementing a streaming initiative where we will be streaming most of our games, whether live or via rebroadcasting, based on the internet capabilities at present. In most areas the internet is very weak, so we would love to live stream most of our games," said McNeil.
"We are taking it one step at a time, and the cost benefits from this in terms of getting their players more highlighted, they can build their individual fan base and their clubs' fan base."
Continuing, he said: "The players can also attract sponsorships for themselves, because now people would be more connected to them via the social media streaming of the games. People are here locally or overseas or wherever can have access to seeing them play, which the clubs now can highlight their talents and the club itself. That is what I am bringing to the StJFA for this season," said McNeil.
The Sandals StJFA Major League will kick off soon, with 13 participating teams.
"We had 11 teams last season but I expect the competitiveness to be heightened this season. Three newcomers are in the league, which include Faulkland FC that was recently in the premier league, so you can see that more quality will be there. The other two newcomers are MBU Youths and MoBay City FC, led by former Montego Bay United owner Orville Powell, so we expect great things this year," McNeil added.
