GFF NC Update Media on a number of issues

Jun 04, 2015 Sports

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The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Normalisation Committee (NC) yesterday rapped with the media on a number of issues relating to the game on and off the field of play. NC Chairman Clinton Urling was joined by General Secretary Richard Groden, Technical Director Claude Bolton and Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz among other officials.

Head Coach Jamaal Shabazz on Senior Men’s & Olympic squads
The senior National team he informed has been training for 10 days as of yesterday which was a rest day as they continue preparations for the CONCACAF leg of World Cup Qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.
Guyana will play its first game away to St. Vincent & the Grenadines next Wednesday with the return game on Sunday June 14 at the Providence Stadium.
Shabazz said that the UK based players were still getting used to the change of weather here. “But all in all the effort by all the players has so far been good and very competitive. In each position now I’m happy to say that we have a player to replace every player.”
Given the competitive nature of the battle for places on the team, Shabazz said that he has asked the GFF not to release the players until Saturday noting that they had to submit the list of players to travel since Monday but even though that was done, it was not the final list given the high level of competition for places.
“Most importantly, the camaraderie among the guys have seen them going at each other then picking each other up. The mixture between the experience and the inexperience, the foreign and the local, the young and the old is a part of the team building process. A lot of the experienced players are sharing a lot of their thoughts and the things they have learnt in the game with some of the younger ones.”
Shabazz posited that the focus is on getting the best possible squad going into the game and all the players have accepted that. Sharing a bit on St. Vincent, Shabazz said that they have improved quite a lot from February to present.
“Two weeks ago I was in St. Lucia observing them win the Windward Islands tournament and for sure they will be a formidable opponent. We take these two games very seriously because we understand that it is a big step in the future of Guyana’s football.”

Under-23 Olympic Squad
Due to the lack of funds, camping has been a challenge for the Technical Staff in bringing the players together for any extended period. Shabazz reported that they have held two weekend camps so far.
“We are still at the trial stage with the squad, not finalized a 30 or 20; what we have done is keep the coming in. they train four days a week and two days in eth week we incorporate them into the senior team where we play against each other.
Luckily for us, because there was no football playing we were able to include a lot of these boys before in the senior team programme. Because of that we have a nice base of seven or eight players who have been playing consistently.”
The Technical staff is aiming to cut the squad down by this weekend to forge ahead with preparations. Shabazz said that they are lucky to have the services of Coach Joseph ‘Bill’ Wilson who is more experienced than himself {Shabazz} and Coach Wayne Dover as someone in education who has worked well with the U23s.
“Competition in the U23 team is also very good and we think that there is a good possibility for team. Unfortunately we are going to this tournament short of international match practice but I think that it is a good pool for Guyana football; they are a lot of youngsters in the team who should be in the U20 and U17 team.”
The English based players who have been lending support to the U23s Shabazz noted have been very impressed with the level of talent and skill levels seen. Among those assisting are Jamaal Smith, Neil Danns, Briggs and Ricky Shakes among others.
Guyana has been drawn in Group 2 of the Caribbean Football Union Men’s Olympic Qualifying competition along with Aruba, Antigua & Barbuda and Cuba. The venue for the matches to be played on June 24 – 28 is Aruba.
Technical Director Claude Bolton updated on the Elite League and Women’s Football
Eight clubs have received the thumbs up from the GFF NC and will compete in the Elite League which will kick off in August. Bolton informed that this league will compliment the National programme.
The Elite clubs; Alpha United, Slingerz FC, Pele FC, GFC, Monedderlust FC,GFD, Fruta Conquerors FC and Buxton United FC have already met and are slated to meet again shortly as a working group to further crystallize plans for the league.
“It’s the vision of the NC and the Competitions Committee to make sure we find out what will work and what will have longevity.”
Bolton too, alluded to the challenge of adequate finances not being available for the women’s programme, stating that a camp would be held in Toronto, Canada later this month to assess players. Guyana will also host a Camp in July.
Guyana will compete in the CFU Women’s Olympic Qualifying Group 4 with hosts St. Kitts & Nevis and Cuba from August 21 – 25.
Players from North America who are playing at a high level would also be targeted according to Bolton. A mini camp before the July camp in Guyana would be held to assess the level of local players who can be part of the Lady Jags.

Providence High Performance Centre
Plans are progressing with the FIFA Development Committee to see the realization of this facility in the near future. Urling informed that local architects are working on the design at the moment.
The GFF and the Eccles /Ramsburg NDC recently inked a 30-year lease deal to develop the Providence ground into the home of football in Guyana. It will include an artificial synthetic field, dressing rooms, spectators stands, beach soccer pitch at the basic, Urling noted.
“Currently we have engineers doing the topography of the area. The first step would be to raise the ground level to ensure that we have adequate drainage systems so that the facility don’t flood easily. Once we have the holistic vision of what we want for the facility, FIFA’s Development Division is going to start to allocate funds under the various programmes available.”
The GOAL Project and Challenger Project will be areas under which the GFF will draw down monies to develop the Providence facility Urling noted. He also said that the federation would also be pursuing land in other parts of Guyana with the aim of building more facilities.
“All those teams or anybody interested, if you can get someone to donate land to the GFF or lease for at least 20 – 25 years minimum, we can start to talk about utilizing some of the funds available from FIFA to develop those facilities around the country.”
Linden, Rupununi and Berbice are areas that are being targeted. Government would also be targeted Urling said with regards to obtaining land to develop facilities.

Constitutional Reform
Copies of the drafted/amended constitution have been sent out the affiliates of the GFF with a view to reviewing and subsequent adoption. An Extra Ordinary Congress has been fixed for June 26 where the new constitution will be up for adoption.
Urling also touched on the recent developments in the world of football which saw a number of high level officials of both FIFA and CONCACAF being arrested for corruption, racketeering and other illegal activities.
CONCACAF President Jeff Webb has been the highest ranking official arrested. Subsequent to the official’s arrests, there was the FIFA election which saw Sepp Blatter being re-elected but he subsequently indicated his intention to resign.
“For us though, at the federation, all the allegations especially the ones relating to CONCACAF officials came as a huge shock and surprise for us and then yesterday’s (Tuesday) announcement was prodigious that was a colossal surprise for anybody.”
“All these actions reinforce to the GFF and to all the arms of FIFA the need to ensure that there is high ethical practices at all the federations of FIFA and there is clear guidelines and policies implemented for transparency and accountability throughout the FIFA system at all levels.”
Urling noted that at the level of the GFF the financial systems have been strengthened and would be able to withstand scrutiny from any stakeholder at anytime, once so requested.

Voting at FIFA Congress
Questioned on who Guyana supported, this was Urling’s response: “We made it public, we supported Prince Ali’s candidacy.”
Quizzed on who made the decision, Urling said, “This was a decision taken by the Chairman of the Normalisation Committee. We held our discussion, at the end of the day I could have said I supported anybody under the sun but at the end, the decision for us came down at the time, who we felt best could take global football forward.”
“I’ll say this, Mr. Blatter, while I don’t believe and maybe investigations might disprove this, I don’t believe Mr. Blatter is corrupt. I don’t think the institution called FIFA itself based on my observations at the congress is as corrupt as the media is portraying it to be. But Mr. Blatter being the president of FIFA, we felt that him moving forward as president would have created or send mixed signals and also presented an ominous situation for other MAs where we would have been judged harshly in terms of being perceived as being part of this corrupt organization that was led by Mr. Blatter. To say that we wanted to start anew at the FIFA level and Mr. Ali being the only other candidate, we felt that he or somebody else other than Mr. Blatter at the time would have been the best candidate. That’s how the decision was arrived at.”

Eric Phillips replaces Stuart May on NC
Academic, Business Manager and Consultant Eric Phillips was introduced as the replacement for Stuart may on the GFF Normalisation Committee. May served the FIFA appointed Committee which has a life until September of this year, for seven months.
Phillips, a former sportsman, former White House Fellow and lecturer at the University of Guyana in the Department of Business and Technology, played and captained teams in seven different sports including cricket, football and table tennis.
The current Executive Director of the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) said that he is pleased to as a member of the GFF NC.
“What I hope to bring to this team is to support the normalization process so that Guyana becomes more prominent in soccer. I plan to bring my management skills, my access to corporations because funding is critical and I look forward to also bringing other leadership skills that I have gained experience in over the years.”
May in brief remarks thanked the other members for their support whilst wishing them all the best going forward. Chairman of the GFF NC Clinton Urling noted that one of May’s main areas was helping to attract corporate support and will continue to serve the federation as Chairman of the Women’s Football Committee.

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