Football on right track as GFF establishes Judicial Committees

Nov 18, 2015 Sports

The raging hostilities and indifferences that characterized football administration had been the sole

Clinton Urling

reason for FIFA’s intervention a year ago with the installation of the Normalization Committee (NC) to charter a foundation of stability and harmony for the sport to grow and develop.
Chaired by businessman and former President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Clinton Urling, the five persons committee worked assiduously with FIFA, CONCACAF and other stakeholders in examining the old GFF constitution to ensure it was transformed to provide greater accountability, transparency and integrity in the way in which the game is administered in Guyana.
Activities climaxed last Saturday morning when delegates convened at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston, and elected an executive body to manage the affairs of the sport. The self-titled “Team Integrity”, headed by businessman, Wayne Forde, prevailed over the team led by prominent attorney Nigel Hughes by a margin of 12 votes to 10.
The cynical, questioning the thoroughness of the input of the NC and the possibility of a return to football’s former unpalatable state may feel heartened to know that oversight systems are now in place to reduce the likeliness of such an environment reoccurring in the future; this after the GFF Congress on Saturday voted unanimously to ratify the appointments of members of the GFF Judicial Committees. The establishment of these committees was part of the robust amendments made to the GFF Constitution at the Extraordinary Congress held in May this year. The Constitution caters for three judicial committees (JC), namely the Disciplinary, Ethics and Appeal.
These committees are appointed for 4-year terms and are totally independent from the GFF Executive Committee. Each JC can have up to a maximum of 5 members. Currently there are 2 members apiece in the Disciplinary and the Ethics Committees, while the Appeal Committee comprises 3 persons. Attorney Sanjeev Datadin is the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee with

Wayne Forde

support from fellow attorney Natasha Vieira. The Appeal Committee is chaired by attorney and former Women’s Lawyers Association President Ms Simone Morris-Ramlall and includes attorneys Michael Shahoud and Marcel Bobb as members. Attorney Nikhil Ramkarran is the Chairman of the Ethics Committee and Pastor Wilbert Lee is the other member of that committee.
“The establishment of the Judicial Committees is one of the most significant and important development in the administration and history of the GFF,” says former Normalisation Committee Chairman Clinton Urling. “We have seen the power and efficacy of the FIFA Ethics Committee recently with the body suspending the sport’s governing body’s most senior officials, including President Sepp Blatter and Secretary General Jerome Valcke,” added Urling.
Mr. Urling is adamant that the installation of the committees will facilitate greater transparency and accountability, two components that will define the course of the sport. The Committees will comprise two coercive arms, investigative and adjudicative and would be governed by the FIFA Ethics Code.
While the skeptic remains apprehensive of the authenticity of this initiative, Mr. Urling is adamant that football will be the winner. “Only with time will we be able to definitively ascertain the effect of these new bodies on the sport in Guyana,” he maintains.