Jermaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

THE 2008-2009 Digicel-sponsored National Pre-mier League (NPL), which was originally scheduled to begin last Sunday. but had to be postponed due to Tropical Storm Gustav, has been pushed back another week due to logistical issues concerning venue inspections and sponsorship of the Under-21 league.

According to Horace Reid, general secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), the league will instead get under way next week Sunday, September 14 as there remain some outstanding issues between the JFF and Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA) that need to be sorted out before the league can go ahead.

Issues

"The position is: One, there are still a few points to be finalised between the JFF and the PLCA," Reid said last night. "We are expecting that we will finalise those points within the next several hours.

"Two, there are four re-inspections of venues that are taking place that will be concluded tonight (last night) and a final report will be submitted in the morning.

"And, three, there is the matter of sponsorship of the Under-21 league that is to be confirmed. We are expecting a resolution to all of these matters in the next 24 hours," said Reid.

"Because of these outstanding matters, and given the time of the delay and the time the clubs would need to be formally advised to put their logistics in place to stage the games, Sunday, September 14, looks the likely date for the start of the NPL and Friday, September 12, the start of the Under-21 league," he said.

Joint venture

Meanwhile, Edward Seaga, president of the PLCA, said he was pleased with the way the JFF was handling the matter of negotiations with the PLCA and that efforts were being made to get the NPL up and running in a smooth and timely manner.

He said a meeting was held between himself and officials of the JFF, including president Captain Horace Burrell, yesterday and a decision was taken to form a joint-venture company which will, in the future, oversee operations of the NPL.

"A lot of matters we dealt with today (yesterday) and we are pleased about what has taken place," said Seaga."What is left to be dealt with in relation to the start of the league are minor matters. In fact, it has to do more with the JFF, which is taking care of procedural matters," he said.

Official launch

The proposed joint-venture between the JFF and PLCA is expected to come into being shortly, with details to be announced at an official press conference. It is expected that this press conference will coincide with the official launch of the league next week.

Champions Portmore United, who are again favourites to take home the title, were slated to face parish rivals Rivoli United at Ferdie Neita Park in the feature match of the opening weekend.

Other matches slated for Sunday were last year's runners-up Tivoli Gardens against newly-promoted Meadhaven at the Edward Seaga Complex, Boys' Town versus Arnett Gardens at Collie Smith Drive, Harbour View against Reno at Harbour View, St Georges away to Waterhouse and Sporting Central hosting Village at Brancourt.