Let’s end the foreign vs local debate in football

Jul 06, 2015 Sports

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Dear Sports Editor,
Social media erupted recently when our hastily-assembled men’s national football team featuring a significant number of overseas-based/born players was eliminated from World Cup 2018 qualification by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which, by the way, also included a number of foreign-based/born players. The old/divisive argument, condemning the use of “foreign” players as anti-developmental, spilled effusively from the twiddling thumbs and index fingers of a stubborn few, onto the virtual spaces of Facebook and Twitter. Thankfully, these comments were effectively countered by lucid arguments from a progressive majority of bloggers.
Mr. Sports Editor to further elucidate the pros and cons of the ‘FOREIGN vs LOCAL’ debate, and hopefully end it, I created the following scenario:
“In this modern era of globalization, where the world’s resources are available and accessible to competing organizations seeking the best and most cost-effective raw materials for their production plants, it is just plain dumb, to put it mildly, for any organization to limit its source of raw materials to the national/local level; the competition would eat their lunch”!
To which advocates of the “local” paradigm (let’s call them them ‘PRO-LOCALS’) would respond:
“Our organization and the nation’s interests would be better served if we invested in developing and utilizing the best and most cost-effective raw materials locally for our production plants.”
The ‘PRO-FOREIGNS’ would counter:
“But we lack the expertise, technology and funding (ETF) needed to develop the best and most cost-effective raw materials. If we invested our limited ETF, our raw materials would be inferior and/or inadequate, thus decreasing the quality of our final product and our competitiveness on the global market.”
The ‘PRO-LOCALS’ final stance would then be:
“Development is more important than winning. Our organization’s (and the nation’s) long term interests would be better served if we invested wisely at the local level, thus creating more jobs, increasing literacy and technological capabilities, and decreasing truancy and crime. We may lose to our competitors over the near term, but over the longer horizon, we will gradually increase our capabilities and the quality and quantity of our raw materials will be upgraded significantly.”
This cryptic analogy captures the essence of the FOREIGN vs LOCAL debate on social media regarding the composition of Guyana’s senior men’s and women’s national football teams.
Mr. Sports Editor, our competitors in the CONCACAF region are all using their best/eligible foreign-based professional players to complement their locally-based talent, many of whom also play in local professional or semi-professional leagues.
Without a competitive professional football league, Guyana’s best amateurs produced via the ‘PRO-LOCAL’ developmental channel would not even be on par with a Division III professional team!
Did someone say: “Hull City”!?  [*1]
Additionally, subsequent losses in FIFA-sanctioned games by our all-amateur local squads would negatively affect our international ranking and the professional aspirations of our most talented amateurs (and previously-capped professionals).
In contrast, if we were to field a well-prepared national team comprising an optimal mix of our best eligible overseas-based professionals and local amateurs, our chances of winning these FIFA-sanctioned games and tournaments (World Cup, Gold Cup and Olympic Qualifiers) would increase exponentially. So would the financial rewards to the GFF, and the professional opportunities for our best local amateurs and professionals.
That’s a WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN situation for the federation, the players, the sponsors and the fans of jaguar football, respectively.
It would then be up to the federation to wisely invest this windfall of funds into local developmental initiatives such as all-weather football-specific stadiums and training/housing facilities, video analytics, nutrition, equipment, advanced training of football stakeholders (players, coaches, trainers, referees, administrators, etc), and maybe even to launch a professional league in Guyana.
Winning national teams would also attract more deep-pocketed sponsors, increase demand for team-related merchandise and the federation’s leverage in negotiating lucrative TV/radio broadcasting and licensing deals.
Did someone say: “CHA-CHING”!?
Empirically, there are several precedents in both World Cup soccer and the major professional soccer leagues, of the direct benefits of player selection from a wider more diverse pool of talent, on the team’s bottom-line: i.e. winning games.
The 1995 Bosman ruling [*2] effectively gave all European club teams license to import the best talent their money could buy, from anywhere in the world. FIFA allows national soccer federations to use foreign-born professional players with at least one parent or grandparent who was born in the nation being represented.
The success of the first English-speaking Caribbean nation – Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz – to qualify for the World Cup finals in 1998, would not have been realized without the inclusion of 7 UK-born professionals, each of whose parent (or grandparent) was born in Jamaica. Jamaica instantly became a “Powerhouse” in the CONCACAF region and won the FIFA Best Mover award in 1998.
In 2011 (11/11/11), Guyana’s national men’s football team – our Golden Jaguars – climbed the highest peak in the team’s history of World Cup qualification by defeating Trinidad & Tobago 2:1 at the National Stadium and advancing to the third round of World Cup 2014 qualifications – for the first time ever!
And guess what Mr. Sports Editor?
This history-making Golden Jaguars’ roster comprised a well-coached blend of FOREIGN and LOCAL players.
Finally, all of the 22-man rosters of national teams that qualified for the 2014 World Cup Finals were made up of a blend of LOCAL and FOREIGN-BASED talent – from eventual champions Germany, to upstarts like Belgium, Costa Rica and the USA.
So, considering all of the foregoing, the PRO-FOREIGN and PRO-LOCAL arguments should not be viewed as mutually-exclusive tenets i.e. one or the other; but as complementary propositions in need of a national policy clearly highlighting the advantages of an optimal mix of foreign-based and local players, as well as setting maximum and minimum limits on the numbers of each group (foreign, local) that can be included in Guyana’s national football squads (men’s and women’s). Furthermore, opportunities can be created via football clinics and other community outreach initiatives, for the more experienced FOREIGN-based professionals to mentor and pass on valuable tips, techniques and best-practices to our young amateurs at the school and club levels, to help them maximize their potential as footballers.
It is time to shift the paradigm of what defines Guyanese beyond the traditional geographical boundaries, to embrace and include the rich, eclectic and talented pool of pedigreed Guyanese in the diaspora.
It is time to end the FOREIGN vs LOCAL debate because….. “ALL AH WE IS WAN FAMILY”!
By James G. Paul – MBA
Small Business Consultant
Published author of Under The Neem Tree

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