Letter to the Sports Editor...What are the reasons Linden is not being afforded football on January 1

Letter to the Sports Editor…What are the reasons Linden is not being afforded football on January 1

Dec 24, 2013 Sports

Dear Sir,
Football still continues to be shrouded in controversy in Guyana. Different people yet the same stuff continue. New Elections, new executives but nothing changes or maybe it is even worse.
Greg ‘Kashif’ Charles and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major, two (2) humble individuals of Linden had a vision and that vision was to enable us Lindeners and by extension all Guyanese to have an outing for year end, hence the birth of the Kashif & Shanghai Annual Football Tournament played during the Christmas Season twenty four (24) years ago. After the tournament grew in popularity, the crowd also grew and the venue purportedly became inadequate to accommodate the quantity of people that comes from all over Guyana and overseas to attend the finals on 1st January. As such the organizers reluctantly but rightly moved the traditional finals to the National Stadium so as to accommodate the masses.
For some reason, greed and jealousy started to step in and other persons wanted to get a piece of the action. So three (3) years ago the Georgetown Football Association, headed by their then General Secretary and present GFF President, Mr Christopher Mathias, after falling out with the GFF decided to defy protocol, decency, tradition and the rule of law to stage a rival Xmas tournament, not considering the consequences. Hence we had two major finals on the same day. So why it is now wrong?
Meanwhile, football in the mining town continued to suffer with less organised football to eventually none at all due to the lack of vision of the Upper Demerara FA Executives and by extension sponsorship.
Come 2013 Ansa McAl, a Good Samaritan to us Lindeners who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to refurbish the MSC Ground, offered millions of dollars to the UDFA to recommence football in the mining community during the Xmas season with the traditional final slated for New Year’s Day. But lo and behold Banks DIH got wind of the move by their beverage rivals and sent a team of executives to Linden offering more dollars, for some reason UDFA accepted Banks DIH offer and football was again slated for Linden.
People became excited and anxious, businesses started to replenish stocks, activity stepped up and all were preparing for a fine and exciting football season. Lo and behold the GFF decided that with the advice of the Sponsors that Linden cannot play the final on the lst January 2014, because they are claiming that two (2) major finals cannot be played on the same day. They are claiming that the decision was made at the GFF Congress, how can people become so ludicrous?
Questions:
Why did the GFA play their finals when Kashif & Shanghai also had theirs in the same jurisdiction in the past?
Do the respective Associations have to seek the permission from the GFF when they are conducting tournaments in their area of jurisprudence?
Who or what determines the magnitude of a tournament to say it is a major tournament?
What is the reason the GFF is stopping the UDFA from playing the final on the 1st January in Linden when the GFA has theirs in Georgetown?
Do the GFF have to inform or seek permission from FIFA, CONCACAF and CFU when they are having tournaments in Guyana because it may clash with a Major Final in USA, Mexico, Trinidad or Cayman Islands?
Is there some form of victimization being singled out for Linden and its people?
Are these decisions being made for political, personal or economical reasons?
Until someone can answer these questions with some form of justification then and only then we Lindeners will bow to the pressure of the imperialist regime and that will take some doing.
In closing I would like to caution Banks DIH and the GFF that we Lindeners will react in a manner that will have long term effect on the business community and football in general. We intend to carry out a vigorous campaign of boycotting all Banks DIH products and mind you we know how to do we thing. Please be reminded. Politicians and political parties please take note and get involved in trying to rectify an avalanche in waiting.
So if Banks DIH and the GFF needs to have some form of decency come year end, please reconsider the high handed and dictatorial decision and let us have our final on January 1. Remember is a Linden thing and we are not in anybody’s way.
Thanks for your understanding in this regards.
Yours truly,
Mark Grant.

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Letter to the Sports Editor…What are the reasons Linden is not being afforded football on January 1

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