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No word on Golden Jaguars land promise
– team offered $2m for topping group
By Edison Jefford
There was no word on the land promised to each member of the Guyana senior men’s football team, the Golden Jaguars, if they topped their group but it was revealed that the team will get a $2m payout for their historic efforts against Trinidad and Tobago.
The Golden Jaguars was promised land titles if they were successful at advancing to the next round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, which they all but secured with a 2-1 win against the Twin Island Republic Friday night at the Guyana National Stadium.
However, adviser to the President of Youth Empowerment, Odinga Lumumba, who represented Government at an official luncheon for the team and officials yesterday at the Water Chris Hotel, made no mention of the land title promise, committing to $2m for the team.
Technical Director of Guyana’s Golden Jaguars, Jamaal Shabazz makes one of his many points at the Water Chris Hotel yesterday afternoon.
He said that initially they had mulled $1m but will increase the contribution to $2m.
Lumumba said that the money was a reward for the team winning the group and when the team get back from the return game in Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, there will be further talks on their reward package. Kaieteur Sport was apparently informed that President Bharrat Jagdeo would have been present at the occasion, but he was absent yesterday.
“I want to make this very clear that I am acting on behalf of my boss,” Lumumba said, alluding to instructions, he said, were given by Jagdeo to ensure that the Golden Jaguars get everything they needed to prepare for the game against Trinidad and Tobago.
“Football has come of age in Guyana. In all societies, it takes something historic to do so. We’ve have a host of Technical Directors here and they have failed but (Jamaal) Shabazz has succeeded and we want to thank a true CARICOM citizen for that,” he continued.
Lumumba said that Franklin Wilson, who is the current acting Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President, took charge of the federation “when it had its problems” and has been doing well in the job. He also thanked Kashif and Shanghai for their role in helping to promote the ‘wear yellow’ campaign to support the team.
Shabazz made many references to history in a pragmatic address, but his most important point was that Guyana should feel a part of the process of building a successful team and if Guyanese, as legitimate stakeholders, hold on to nationalism, the Jaguars’ roar can echo beyond the Caribbean. “It was not the Golden Jaguars or Shabazz that qualified it was a country that qualified. So often we in the Caribbean focus on building dictators and when the dictator fails, we kill him,” he said before highlighting the importance of the corporate community and the media in helping the unit on its journey toward the next FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Guyana will face Mexico, Costa Rica and El Salvador in the next round of the qualifiers, and the Technical Director believes that “if stakeholders hold a piece of the (Guyana) flag, we (Golden Jaguars team) will put it together.” He said that conditions need to improve.
“We have guys coming from England, they need to travel Business Class; we have guys living in Tiger Bay, do we know how they are living, we need to be professionals from here,” the eloquent Shabazz indicated yesterday. He added that all need to be involved.
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