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President Jagdeo leads Government’s presence at football
– Seen as a positive sign
President Bharrat Jagdeo seems to be in an upbeat mood along with GFF President Colin Klass and Patron of Women
By Rawle Welch
The presence of President Bharrat Jagdeo at the GCC ground last Friday to witness Guyana’s Lady Jaguars and Suriname battle in the CFU World Cup qualifier must be seen as a positive sign for sports and more directly football.
It was indeed good to see President Jagdeo take time off his usually busy schedule to attend such an important sporting event and judging from his remarks during his interaction with the team and those he made at the National Sports Awards, the notion one gets is that he intends to spend more time and become more acquainted with what is going on in sports.
His attendance at those two significant events may not be coincidental, but rather deliberate, especially if he is contemplating getting first hand information about what is required to lift Guyana to the standards of our Caribbean counterparts.
This could also mean that President Jagdeo is seriously thinking about going beyond the usual rhetoric and offering direct assistance to those disciplines that could make us competitive among the rest of the Region.
He was seen locked in an extensive conversation with President of the Guyana Football Federation Colin Klass and from all indications, the exchanges seemed to be constructive. President Jagdeo is known to have displayed his munificence in the past to this same sport, having injected a sizeable sum to individual clubs for their development sometime ago.
The Lady Jaguars have now made it to the next round of qualifiers for the 2011 World Cup slated for Germany, but for us to give them the best possible preparation, a national support aided by the intervention of Government is the only means of ensuring such opportunities are afforded.
Sports and Culture received huge funding in this year’s budget and that may be symptomatic of Government’s thinking which is to bring us on track in terms of infrastructure and personnel development with the rest of the Caribbean.
The Lady Jaguars’ journey to make the finals in Germany has just started and judging from their performance where they topped Group ‘A’ to advance to the next round, it therefore provides an opportunity for President Jagdeo and his Government to show that they are serious about sports development and our athletes.
It is an opportunity for him to make a statement that goes beyond the frequent expressions (not essentially from him), but from those charged with the responsibility of creating the environment for the development of sports.
Too often, we hear about the grandiose plans that never seem to materialise, while everyone else in the region is moving in step with what obtains in the international arena.
The construction of an Olympic-size swimming pool, Squash facility and tennis courts are all good moves, but many feel that more could still be done to fast track our athletes competitiveness on the regional and international stages.
We must strive to give our girls the best possible chance of making history for us and we all know the cost attached to do so.
No team in the past has been able to make it to the latter stages of what is aptly described as the biggest sporting event on Planet Earth, the World Cup finals.
Its magnitude is incomparable, and if we do reach the finals, it could be a glorious occasion for us to showcase our country and culture free of cost.
Apart from President Jagdeo, the team was blessed with the company of recently appointed Patron of Women’s football Dr. Jennifer Westford, who accompanied President Jagdeo and Ministers Dr. Frank Anthony and Robert Persaud and that too signalled some positive vibes for the sport.
It is now up to the Administration of the sport here to make the most of those visits.
To many those stopovers were instructive and the GFF need to take advantage of them.
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