The executives of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) have called on the world governing body FIFA to conduct a comprehensive investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against its Senior National Women’s Team Head Coach Hubert Busby.
The JFF has also provisionally suspended the embattled Busby, relieving him of all contractual obligations with the JFF, without pay, with immediate effect following a meeting of its executive on Tuesday.
The local governing body added that a final decision will be made on Busby’s future with Jamaica’s women’s football program at the end of the FIFA investigation.
The allegation broke in the British tabloid, The Guardian, last Thursday when Malloree Enoch, an American female soccer player, claimed that Busby, then head of the Vancouver Whitecaps Women’s program, made sexual advances during her recruitment in 2012 and 2011.
In a media release yesterday, the JFF through its president Mike Ricketts, said inter alia, “we will await the results of this FIFA investigation. We do not want to make a permanent decision until we have the facts. At the same time, we have to ensure that our women and girls are protected by those who lead them.”
Meanwhile, an interim coach has yet to be announced and the Reggae Girlz continue their preparation for World Cup qualifiers starting early next year.
According to the report published by The Guardian, Busby, who has denied the allegations, contacted Enoch regarding an administrative job at the Canadian club.
She told the newspaper that she was invited by Busby to instead join the club as a player. He gave her Adidas sports equipment as gifts, flew her across the country on multiple occasions to attend events with him, took her to restaurants for meals in one-on-one situations and asked her to stay with him alone in his hotel room while working in his role as the Whitecaps coach.
Enoch added that on one of those occasions she spent three nights in his hotel room, but said no sexual advances were made toward her at that time.
However, on another occasion when they roomed together Enoch claimed the coach was “on all fours fully on the bed and totally aroused.”
Enoch also said that at the time, she shared her concerns with team owner Gerg Kerfoot and club executives, but no action was immediately taken. Other players had also raised concerns about Busby and their overall treatment as players to management. After the club hired an ombudsperson to look into player complaints, Busby’s contract was not renewed.
The head of the Vancouver Whitecaps, CEO Axel Schuster said he fully supports an investigation into the allegations. He said he also hopes to learn “what kind of mistakes happened” after allegations first arose.
“I can only say there are a lot of concerning things that happened around the club that really have to be looked into,” Schuster said in an interview with CBC News. “The club is willing to do whatever is necessary at the end of that to clean it up.”
After Busby left the Whitecaps, he signed on as Head Coach and general manager for the Seattle Sounders Women in 2013. In 2019, Busby served as an assistant coach with the Reggae Boyz, before becoming head coach.
The Major League Soccer said it plans to hire independent counsel to oversee an investigation into the allegations.
