Editorial | The Jamone Lyle affair

The Jamone Lyle affair at Jamaica College (JC) has reopened an old but unresolved debate over what should be the expectation of, and limits placed on, the student athlete and, therewith, the obligation and responsibilities of the school.

It is a question with which the Jamaican chemist and former footballer, Dr Lascelve ‘Muggy’ Graham, has wrestled in the columns of this newspaper for several years. The matter is worthy of a fuller national conversation. Dr Graham believes that while sport is important, school athletics should be part of a student’s rounded and balanced development, with academics/learning at the centre. The Gleaner’s Editorial Board agrees.

While the larger questions in this issue are relevant, the current controversy centres on what are the rules governing participation in football competitions organised by the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA); how these are interpreted and applied; and who knew, or ought to have known, what and when.

Jamone Lyle, 17, is a talented footballer who has been called to Jamaica’s national squad. Of greater relevance to this matter is that he has a professional contract with the Waterhouse Football Club, which plays in the Jamaica Premier League. On that, there seems to be basic agreement.

Lyle has also represented his school, JC, in ISSA’s Manning Cup and other competitions, including the Walker Cup, a knock-out competition. He recently played in the semi-final of the Walker Cup against Mona High School, which JC won.

However, Mona High subsequently protested its loss of the match, arguing that JC had, in Lyle, used an ineligible player, in breach of the ISSA rule that precludes professionals from playing in its competitions. Waterhouse officials publicly claimed to have told Lyle’s school about his professional contract. The school appears to be disputing that it was told.

NULLIFIED VICTORY

In the event, ISSA nullified JC’s victory in the Walker Cup semi-final match, thus sending Mona High to the final. ISSA also announced that JC would be docked points for Manning Cup matches in which Lyle played.

There have been hints of possible court action by JC over the decisions by ISSA’s disciplinary committee. There may indeed be legal questions in this dispute that can be resolved by the courts. But, more important in this newspaper’s view is the need for a deeper conversation among stakeholders to address the principle long advocated by people like Dr Graham: finding, and maintaining, the balance between sport and education.

Dr Graham has been concerned for decades about the system, in an environment of extreme institutional sport rivalry, of high schools with elite sport set-ups, ‘buying’ students in a way that mimics professional football clubs. This was particularly evident in track and field athletics, in which Jamaica is a global power.

ISSA has since put in minimum academic/school performance criteria for students to participate, as well as a cooling-off period between transfers before a student can turn out for his/her new school. But the Lyle affair has reopened a new front that pits the professional athlete against the pure amateur status that ISSA wants to maintain in its competitions. This first became an issue nearly a dozen years ago when a schoolboy track athlete at the national championships revealed clothing advertising a telecoms firm for which he had become a brand ambassador.

NOT UNIQUE

The issues being wrestled with in the Lyle affair are not unique to Jamaica, which can look to other jurisdictions for best practice. The default, generally, is to preclude or limit the participation of professionals in high-school sports.

For instance, the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA), for its age-group competitions up to age 16, allows schools to include up to three players who are registered with football academies in their match-day squads. Notably, the player, even if he is part of the academy of a professional team, can’t sign a professional contract until after age 16. Until that age, a child, under British law, is supposed to still be in compulsory education. However, there are ESFA Elite/Post-16 Cups, which mostly involve post-high-school colleges and specialised institutions, in which students may be registered with and train with top-tier football academies.

The logic of this system is clear. A system that allows players signed to professional clubs and/or their academies would possibly lead to the aggressive recruitment of such players. Winners of that arms race would likely dominate competitions while ‘normal’ schools are left behind. Standard student athletes would be sidelined.

Significantly, too, there is the Muggy Graham ethos: that school sports should be co-curricular activities founded on critical values such as a sound education, teamwork, physical development, teamwork and pride in the school being represented. A professional contract shifts the centre of gravity. The primary focus is the commercial arrangement, not the social and educational values of student sports.

In the face of the Jamone Lyle matter, Jamaica shouldn’t squander the opportunity for a fulsome dialogue on the issues that surround and underpin it.