Letter to the Sports Editor…Football doesn’t need another Christopher Matthias – beware of Sharma Solomon

Nov 06, 2014 Sports

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Dear Editor,
Football is a game that gets people into a frenzy which if not controlled will become disastrous and catastrophic. Administrating football becomes tedious when you do not have the required infrastructure or the competent persons to do so.
Disgraced Immediate Past President Mr Christopher Matthias was voted into power in April 2013 by the Congress of the GFF. Suspended President of UDFA Mr Sharma Solomon was the man who ultimately made that possible.
Prior to the GFF Elections in April 2013 when everyone was in campaign mode, Mr Solomon was the person who had initiated the regular Presidents Meeting (Presidents of the Associations met regularly) to discuss strategies and tactics on who were to fill the vacancies.
At the election itself, Mr Solomon was the person who was lobbying strongly for Mr Matthias to be elected as President. He was seen conversing and wooing the electorates to vote for Mr Matthias. After the 1st Round of voting when Mr Persaud was eliminated, another round had to be contested between Mr Matthias, Mr Major and Mr King, and Mr Solomon was busy lobbying. After that round, Mr King was eliminated hence Mr Matthias and Mr Major had to contest a final round and Mr Solomon was at his busy best lobbying and openly supporting Mr Matthias.
I have lived in Linden all my life and have been closely associated with football. We Lindeners have resilience, strength and unity and for someone to sway the thoughts and views of us folks that person has to have persuasiveness and gumption to change that. Our Regional Chairman did just that, this persuasive gentlemen told us that Christopher Matthias is the man to lead Guyana football out of the wilderness, he told us that Matthias was responsible for the ousting of Mr Colin Klass and Mr Franklin Wilson regime and we fell for it; we agreed with him and we gave him the mandate to ensure that Mr Matthias got in front of our local boy Mr Aubrey Major. A mistake we are regretting to this day.
The result is now history; Mr Matthias won over Mr Major, since then there has been chaos and confusion. Politics is such a funny thing when you look at all its angles.
Ungratefulness is an unpardonable sin that has serious repercussions especially for those who have pledged loyalty to God. Mr Matthias’ first sin was when he denied our Linden based Beach Soccer team to travel overseas to participate in the CONCACAF Beach Soccer Tournament. What manner of man is he, who is or was a senior member of the Seven Day Adventist Church?
Georgetown Football Association was given the green light to playoff a tournament year end involving all the affiliated associations. Upper Demerara Football Association decided to playoff a tournament of their own involving teams from that location. They also had their final slated for Jan 1st the same date as the approved GFA date. There was lobbying again for both finals to be played at the same date from some quarters whilst others said that both could not be played on the same date. A number of meetings, emails, phone calls etc was the order of the day. Mr Solomon promised Mr Matthias that no finals would be played on 1st Jan. Mr Matthias promised a few that he could influence the General Council for them to allow both finals be played the same date. Lies, deception, skullduggery, fraud, confusion and backbiting prevailed during the period. This was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back (Mr Matthias short and tumultuous reign).
UDFA and GFA played their finals simultaneously. Mr Matthias the shrewd and supposedly wise politician he thinks he is, called an Ordinary Congress which persons were saying was illegal because there was no authorized body in place to call a congress and dished out bans to his loyalists, Mr Solomon and Mr Hercules. He was insinuating for these persons to be banned for in excess of 20 years.
Both of these gentlemen were his allies, they helped him to be elected and he destroyed Guyana’s football, especially Mr Solomon; what happened to him was what he deserved. He is deceitful and slick. He is very ambitious and will do all within his power to achieve his goals if it means getting rid of enemies and friends.
Quite recently he called a meeting with clubs in Linden and deceived them by telling them that with Mr Matthias ousting the ban has automatically been lifted and they will be taking over the running of football in Guyana. Well if we could be duped and hoodwinked so easily by this sly and smooth talking Mr Solomon, then we are in dire straits and we need do some serious soul searching.
Guyana’s Football doesn’t need another Christopher Matthias in the form of Sharma Solomon. They are like Peas in a Pod, lies, deception, ruse and sham are part of their repertoire of talent that mankind should be wary of. Thank You.
Respectfully Yours,
Gerald Archibald Smith
Football Supporter

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