Lumumba blast GFF over stance on Inter-Block

Oct 25, 2009 Sports

President of Alpha United Odinga Lumumba has said that the Guyana Football Federation’s decision to sanction some of its members and withhold its support for the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport Inter-Block Football tournaments as foolish.
Speaking with the media recently, Lumumba pointed out that the inter-block was an activity which enhances football as a whole, bringing in many persons not regularly involved in the sport and giving them good exposure.
He said that it was the right vehicle to build more spectator support for the game. “My understanding recently is that a football game at GCC had about 50 people…if you have a national tournament and you have about 50 people it tells you something is wrong…”
“For marketing sense you have to use your popular teams at grounds that will attract bigger crowds, because at the end of the day this is business.”
He further stated that, “You can’t be antagonistic to the government then at the same time want to use the government facilities…you want to get tax waivers, departure tax and ticket taxes, you want to bring things in, you want to have duty free. You have to co-exist. Unless you have your own facilities and even if you have your own it doesn’t make sense.”
He sited tiffs between the Trinidad football federation and government from time to time but noted that things are worked out for the good of the game. He pointed out that, “The government of Trinidad put a lot of money into football.”
Looking at their (GFF) systems he noted that it was unheard of that amateur teams had to pay levy fees for a fund raiser.
He said that if clubs are raising funds to buy gears they should not have to pay those fees, calling on the GFF executive to be more creative in earning additional money and if they don’t have the capacity to raise funds then demit office. He said it was foolhardy for the GFF to take on the government and not work in tandem with them. Lumumba mentioned several persons including referee Mark Young, Coach Joseph Wilson and GFF Vice President Franklin Wilson, who have all been reprimanded for making positive comments on the inter-block. He pointed out that there are some constitutional issues in question, asking whether the GFF can muzzle a person from making positive comments or endorse something.
He said if the tournament is not within certain guidelines then the GFF should try to nudge the ministry into getting things right and support.

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Lumumba blast GFF over stance on Inter-Block

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