Aubrey Major sets the record straight, makes a case for GFF Presidential bid

Apr 01, 2013 Sports

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I felt compelled to respond to what, evidently, is a patent attempt on the part of Mr. Rawle Welch to falsify resume‘ of me (Mr. Aubrey “Shanghai” Major) as a Guyana football official. Mr. Welch’s offering amounts to a ridiculous attempt to dismiss my candidacy for the presidency of the Guyana Football Federation.
Frankly, I ponder the correctness of having our national newspapers used to openly promote one candidate by simply denigrating the others, though my primary concern is with correcting the impression that might be created by Mr. Welch’s ‘fairy tale.’ Indeed, truth be told, of my contribution to national football is as impressive (more impressive, in many instances) as any of those who have held office or been otherwise involved in local football.
“Shanghai” is what one might call a ‘roots man.’ Intimately connected with the game at the grass roots level as I managed the Eagles United Football Club for five (5) years beginning in 1986 rising to prominence with my vision in 1990 of creating an event for Linden economic benefit by collaborating with Greg (Kashif) after some amount of years visiting Georgetown on Boxing Day to view Boxing night fights at the Sports Hall.
On Boxing Day of 1990 we collaborated and had a four (4) team tournament under the name Greg & Shanghai that has grown beyond our imagination that led to us forming the Kashif & Shanghai Organization, of what has been, by far, the most successful football tournament (some say the most successful and longest sporting event of any kind, 24 years old this year) ever to be held in Guyana.
Between 2001 and 2003 I served as Vice President of the Upper Demerara Football Association and it was in 2002 that I was asked to fill the vacancy of Organizing Secretary of the GFF and was elected to the executive of the Guyana Football Federation as its Organizing Secretary the following year 2003.
My election as Organizing Secretary of the GFF was not accidental. As an official of the UDFA I have distinguished myself by the energy and my informal yet highly effective style of getting things done. It was this  approach that caused me to come to be seen as the Federation’s ‘go to’ man, local football’s unassuming, but highly effective envoy and unorthodox, but  yet thoroughly engaging style accomplished much for Guyana’s football.
For Mr. Welch’s edification I tender the following:
As early as 1996 I negotiated the opportunity for Keith Goppy to try out for the Trinidad and Tobago Professional League, where he gained a contract.
In succeeding years I negotiated the opportunities for Collie Hercules, Andre Trotz, Randolph Jerome, Jermaine Scott and Charles “Lilly” Pollard to ply their trade in the Trinidad and Tobago Professional League. All of these players enjoyed lengthy contracts that Pollard still earning a living from to date.
In 2002 I played a key role in negotiating the first professional contract of Mr. Ivan Persaud, one of the candidates in the race for the GFF Presidency, as Head Coach of T&T professional Club Doc’s Kawallawas.
2003 – I was responsible for the visit of the FIFA Development Office in the Region Mr. Keith Look Loy, who was Head Coach of Joe Public TT Professional club, who also scouted a few players namely Cary Harris among the few for tryouts with Joe Public.
In 2004 I served as the lead negotiator in discourses that led to Mr. Jamaal Shabazz first visiting Guyana to attend the Kashif & Shanghai Tournament to scout players for overseas tryouts. It was that initiative that led to Guyanese footballer Walter Moore benefitting from an ongoing international career that lead to him now being contracted in Kazakhstan plying is trade.
Players would recall that I took an All Stars Kashif & Shanghai representative team to St. Lucia under Head Coach Gordon Braithwaite that won the Blackheart Production International KO Tournament 2006.
In 2009 I was responsible for the visit of the then, Caribbean Football Union President, Concacaf President and FIFA Vic-President Mr. Austin “Jack” Warner, to visit Guyana for the Kashif & Shanghai Tournament.
The following year Major was to far exceed even his earlier significant achievements by negotiating the visit to Guyana by the Brazilian legend King Pele as a guest of the Kashif & Shanghai Organization.
While this verifiable synopsis of my resume‘ is merely intended to put Mr. Welch’s misleading offering into perspective, what it also does is to make an eminent and unchallengeable case for my election to the presidency of the GFF. Who amongst my competitors comes even close in terms of experience in the administration of football?
No less significant is the considerable experience I have secured through my attendance at over twenty (20) CFU, CONCACAF and FIFA Congresses over the years  and three Football World Cup Tournaments in Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006) and South Africa, (2010)
If this information comes as a surprise to Mr. Welch that is only because over the years I remained a modest and unassuming person, who generally avoids media publicity while Welch, it seems, has little if any appetite or aptitude for research. He should allow this experience to be a lesson to him.
Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major
GFF Presidential Candidate

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