Equal pay for equal (coaching) work?

By Kayon Raynor

The disparity in what national sports organizations such as Netball Jamaica and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) are prepared to pay qualified local coaches in comparison to their international counterparts has been exposed once more, with the JFF serving up the latest case.

News started circulating last week that two former national coaches, Carl Brown and Theodore "Tappa" Whitmore had been approached by the Captain Horace Burrell led JFF.

The veteran, Carl Brown, who is currently based in Florida, told TVJ Sports on Sunday that he had turned down the offer to take charge of the Reggae Boyz for a sixth time in his career due to his commitments overseas.

Brown, who had a stint with The Cayman Islands, is currently involved with the Pines F.C. in Forida. 

While Coach Brown did not disclose the figure which was offered by the JFF, the former vice president of the national federation, Michael Ricketts on Sunday made it clear  that Brown would "certainly not" receive anything close to the monthly salary that German-born Winfried Schaefer was collecting.

It has been reported that Schaefer was being paid US$50,000, or J$6.3 million monthly.

Last week TVJ sources revealed that Schaefer had been offered a severance package of three months salary in addition to two months already owed by the JFF.

With Carl Brown turning down the job, it is being suggested by sources that Theodore "Tappa" Whitmore is tipped to accept the call by the JFF to take back the reigns of the national programme, ahead of the October 5 start of the Caribbean Cup qualifications.

We've also seen the disparity in pay in netball recently, with the case of Oberon Pitterson-Natty receiving a fraction of what Australian Jill McIntosh was collecting for her service.

One can only hope that at some point the value of local coaches, who are highly qualified, will be reflected in the same level of compensation as that received by the foreigners.