JFF President visits football’s heroes

Photo: JFF President Michael Ricketts has committed to some resources to assist “fallen heroes”.

President of the Jamaica Football Federation, Michael Ricketts, accompanied by a group of JFF officers, visited with some of Jamaica’s “fallen heroes” of football on Tuesday.

Those visited included former General Secretary of the JFF, Bob West, who is now domiciled in Mandeville.

West, who has been at a nursing home for the past 15 years, was overjoyed to see the members of the entourage which included past national players Michael Tulloch and Neville Oxford.  

The tour then went to Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth and visited with former FIFA Referee Dwight Royal. Royal was left partially paralysed since 2017 when he was involved in a car accident. He too expressed joy at seeing the delegation.

The entourage then went on to Sav-la-mar, Westmoreland, where they were greeted with a wide smile from former national player and Reno stalwart Boise Nicholson who is stricken with Alzheimer’s disease.

The group also visited with former defender Robert Andrews at the offices of the Westmoreland Football Association.

All those visited were presented with care packages from Cal’s Food Products. The visits by the President is the start of an initiative to help as many past players/officials who have fallen on hard times.

President Ricketts has committed to some resources to assist while he spearheads a group to devise fundraisers.