Jamaica’s Under-17 football team was scheduled to depart the island for Guatemala on Thursday to begin their quest to qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

Unfortunately, this was not the case as, according to General Secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation Dennis Chung, 14 members of the squad were unable to get on the flight to Guatemala.

The reasoning given by Chung is because of a delay in receiving travel exemption letters for the players.

“An unfortunate incident happened today. The Under-17 boys who are on their way to Guatemala for the World Cup qualifiers. 14 of them did not make the flight today because, although they had received the exemption to travel, the exemption letter came in late so they did not get to make it on the flight,” Chung said.

The Concacaf Under-17 Championship gets underway on Saturday while Jamaica’s first match will be against Cuba on Sunday.

Jamaica is in Group G alongside Cuba, Costa Rica and Guadeloupe.

Chung noted that work is being done to ensure that the remaining players are on a plane to Guatemala on Friday.

“We are working assiduously along with our travel consultant and the airline to ensure that this is resolved. We are expecting most, if not all the players, on a flight tomorrow to get to Guatemala now that we have the exemption letters in hand so that we can begin our quest to qualify for the Under-17 world cup,” Chung said.

The young Reggae Boyz are aiming to qualify for the Under-17 World Cup for the first time since 2011. The World Cup will be held in Peru from November 10 – December 2.

Ever since COVID-19 took real effect on the Jamaican landscape around March 2020, the local sporting fraternity has taken a battering, with the vast majority of disciplines forced off the playground and their architects, the sportsmen and sportswomen, unable to parade their skills.

The Jamaica Football Federation and the Reggae Boyz made the first important move towards rapprochement and a unified, happy and prepared team leading into the World Cup qualifiers this September, said a statement from the JFF on Thursday.

The players are out of contract and both sides say they are willing to work as hard as possible to arrive at an agreement before the next FIFA window in March.

More than 20 players met with a committee put together by JFF President Michael Ricketts in what they described as a ‘very amicable atmosphere’ on Tuesday. 

The players agreed that the meeting went well and that it augurs well for future discussions.

"The players can confirm that we did in fact have discussions with the JFF on Tuesday,” the Reggae Boyz said in a statement obtained by Sportsmax.TV on Thursday.

“They have promised to share a draft contract, and we have asked that they give us two weeks after receipt of that contract for consultation and review. We consider this a step in the right direction".

The players, including captain Andre Blake and Damion Lowe, were presented with the current JFF financials and brought up to speed with the immediate to medium-term plans of the federation, the federation said.

“They were allowed as many questions as needed and then presented with documents which they will peruse among themselves for two weeks. Another meeting will be scheduled then.”

The JFF team was led by Head of the JFF Financial Committee Dennis Chung and was comprised of former President of the Cricket West Indies Dave Cameron, JFF Vice Presidents Raymond Anderson and Peter Reid as well as Technical Committee chairman and Chartered accountant Rudolph Speid.