Letter to the Sports Editor Is Administration harming Guyanese football?

May 03, 2014 Sports

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(Continued from yesterday) Finally in January 2014 the GFF announced a 50 man squad of young players to begin National Team training, however this decision by the GFF was baffling: aside from Vurlon Mills, why were none of the players who featured in Guyana’s historic World Cup Qualification run in 2012 called up? Players such as captain Christopher Nurse, Leon Cort, Carl Cort and Trayon Bobb all played against Mexico in the historically volatile Azteca Arena; surely their experience of such a game and their knowledge of the sport would benefit the younger inexperienced players.
Whilst the aforementioned players currently ply their trade in Europe and as such would not be able to begin immediate training in Guyana, no indication or assurances were made by GFF President Christopher Mathias that they would be called up for future games, they have virtually been left out in the wilderness for the foreseeable future.
Christopher Mathias also declared during the squad’s announcement that “The national criteria and policy for selection will be made public shortly so that everyone will know what they need to work towards in order to make the respective national teams,” a rather vague and ambiguous statement that falls in line with current GFF policy and will provide little comfort to players not selected.
Furthermore, the National Team is yet to be assigned a manager, the most crucial aspect of any footballing team: the person who organises and motivates players, yet no manager has been announced for the Golden Jaguars as of yet. There have been a few rumoured names, yet surprisingly Jamaal Shabazz, the man who led Guyana to their furthest ever position in World Cup Qualifying in 2012 is not one of the names being thrown about as rumoured manager. Shabazz has held two successful stints with the Guyana National Team and both have seen him push the nation to new heights, yet his reward for such achievement was being forced to hastily leave his position due to backroom issues in November 2012.
In essence, the GFF has dismantled the formula which took Guyana in 2010 to its highest ever position of 86th in the FIFA Rankings and consequently started from scratch, for no apparent reason, by selecting a 50-man squad with little international experience, administration has ignored logic by choosing to start from scratch rather than building on the significant progress made over the past few years. Administration has halted the potential of the Golden Jaguars by casting aside the experienced campaigners who took the team to previously unseen heights only two years ago.
In January 2014, matters also began to affect local football, as chaos ensued between federations when the GFF took the unprecedented step of imposing bans on members of the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA), including their very own GFF Vice-President Collie Hercules, for staging the GT Beer Knock Out final on January 1st, a date allocated exclusively for the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Banks Beer Final. Matthias at the time was quoted as saying ‘’The GFF feels that it would be unfair to both tournaments because they share the same sponsor (Banks DIH)’’, so despite the GFF being made up pre-dominantly of former GFA members, the Georgetown Finals were given priority and Linden was punished for holding an ‘’illegal’’ final on January 1st.
This was a new low for Guyanese Football, federations quarrelling and facing unnecessary divisions at a time when unity is needed to aid the development of football in the country. UDFA President Sharma Solomon was given an eight year suspension and Collie Hercules banned for five years, both ironically were given more significant penalties than that given to Colin Klass by FIFA for allegedly accepting bribes.
However, the UDFA has refused to accept these suspensions, labelling the ban as unconstitutional and illegal due to the fact that the extraordinary congress which dished out the suspensions had not been formally requested by anybody, and thus had no right to have taken place. Rawle Adams, another GFF Vice-president, tendered his resignation due to the events, and Collie Hercules labelled Matthias as ‘’dictator’’ , declaring ‘’that being elected vice-president under Matthias, I have seen clearly his dictatorial attitude and it is not good for the sport’’.
Vice-President of the GFF, Ivan Persaud, consequently penned a letter, formally asking for Matthias to resign, citing some extraordinary allegations within the letter, such as Matthias lying about attending a FIFA meeting in Zurich in September, and citing that as the GFA did not have a legal contract to host the Banks Final the banning of the UDFA was therefore unconstitutional.
Matthias has yet to come out and publically refute the claims made in the letter, which instil little confidence into the public. The only remaining Vice-President of the GFF (Persaud) has asked for Matthias to resign, and former members of staff have displayed little confidence in Matthias as a leader. A no-confidence motion was held at Congress against Matthias on 26th April 2014, and in dramatic circumstances Matthias survived as President, amidst members of the electoral committee walking out and congress being scheduled to reconvene in 45 days.
In conclusion, when federations such as the UDFA are being suspended for simply holding football tournaments it becomes apparent that football is not the priority here, politics is, and this lack of unity and transparency within Guyanese football is what has frustrated the fans for many years, petty disputes are being used to hold football back, and it is this lack of vision for the greater good which needs to end.
Administration within football has never been an easy job, but for too long the focus has been on money and personal gain in Guyana rather than developing football within the nation, and this is something which needs to stop if we are to ever see Guyanese football prosper.
Santokie Nagulendran

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