Reggae Girlz head coach Hubert Busby Jr has been summoned to a meeting with the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) next Tuesday (November 2) after allegations emerged that he made repeated unwanted sexual advances to a former Vancouver Whitecaps player between 2010 and 2011.

Busby Jr, who was appointed head coach of Jamaica’s Women’s team in January 2020, has denied the allegations made by Malloree Enoch.

“The JFF is aware of allegations surrounding National Women’s Head Coach Hubert Busby. The executive of the JFF will convene next Tuesday to discuss the matter with Mr Busby,” the JFF said in statement today (October 28).

Enoch, in a report published by the Guardian newspaper in England, alleged that between September 2010 and October 2011, Busby, then the head coach of the Whitecaps, wined and dined her as well as offered her gifts after she had made it known she was seeking employment in the club’s administration.

Busby, she claimed, assured her she could play for the club instead. Subsequently, he made several overtures including inviting her to stay in his hotel room on several occasions. On one of those occasions, she said she stayed in his room for three nights but he did not make any sexual advances.

However, on another occasion, she told the Guardian: “When we got back to the hotel he again didn’t have a room reserved for me. I had to stay in his room. This particular night there were two beds and I laid in my own bed and he made his way to my bed and at some point was standing over the top of me.

“He was on all fours fully on the bed. He was definitely aroused. He tried to kiss and touch me. The light was not on but I don’t think he had his shirt on. I had to negotiate to get him off the bed. I told him I wasn’t interested.

“He was using this power because he had something that I wanted. I was very uncomfortable. I was resistant to it and he tried to pursue it and pursue it and then he got pissed off and went over to his own bed and went to sleep.”

She said she did not report the matter to the club because she was embarrassed and did not want to compromise being able to play for the club.

Enoch was eventually signed by the Whitecaps but, in October 2011, the players sent an email to club officials detailing a list of complaints concerning inappropriate behaviour by Busby and the coaching staff. The club hired an ombudsman to interview the players and, in October that year, the club sent an email to the players stating that it was in the best interest of the club to make a change in the coaching staff for the women’s team programme but indicated that the players not speak on the matter publicly.