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Forde urges patience for national programme
– Shabazz wants time spent on improving facilities and less infighting
By Rawle Welch
President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde in a move that can only benefit his Organisation, promised to have more frequent interaction with the media in an effort to keep all stakeholders apprised of the work they are doing for the holistic development of the sport at every level.
President of the Guyana Football Federation Wayne Forde (centre) addresses the briefing along with Technical Director Jamal Shabazz and PRO Debra Francis last Friday.
Forde, who admitted that the summoning of the media last Friday was essentially to bring stakeholders up to date with the work being done at the Federation level and to moderate the negative comments that emanated after the 5-1 drubbing by Canada Under-23 national team, was accompanied by Technical Director Jamal Shabazz and PRO Debra Francis.
Speaking at the occasion, the President revealed that he usually makes a concerted effort every week to spend at least one hour on the social Network Facebook and was somewhat disappointed by the unhelpful comments by some who expressed disgust at Guyana’s performance in the match.
He pointed out that while it is the right of the commentators to express their views of how they saw the game, it is also important that they understand the developmental plan of the Federation.
“It is extremely important for the nation to understand that the outcome of the game is not what we designed for our national programme, what is important for us is that our fans, sponsors and management staff are cognizant of what we are trying to achieve,” Forde stated.
He said the plan to put ourselves (national team) against top flight opponents it is the only way to demonstrate our seriousness about development.
“We have to see this as a developmental pathway, we have to demonstrate patience, a lot of time was spent on infighting now we are at a point where we must move on,” the GFF Head urged.
He added that while the TD had taken the blame for the poor display, the ultimate responsibility rest with him.
Quizzed on whether the assertion by some that Guyana showed a level of disrespect to the visitors for fielding such an inexperienced team was accurate, Forde refuted the claim, informing that had they sought to bring back the more established members of the team, the undertaking would have certainly been beyond their financial capability and most definitely placed them in the Red.
Shabazz, who was quoted in several dailies of his intent to experiment with the young players, accepted blame for his action and offered his apology to the nation.
“This is sport and the whole feeling of disappointment that was felt by the nation must give rise to us getting more serious about its development,” Shabazz noted.
The TD spoke of the need to secure improved facilities which according to him is a definite setback for the players who have to make the necessary adjustments whenever they travel to play abroad.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on infighting how much time have we spent on facilities,” Shabazz asked.
In response to the question of why players from the other associations are being overlooked, Shabazz said in his opinion they lack the necessary intensity to play at the international level, adding that it is the reality of the situation and nothing else.
Meanwhile, Forde in giving an insight into the future plans of the GFF spoke of an arrangement to upgrade at least one ground in every member association, but cautioned that other stakeholders will be approached for assistance in those projects.
He reminded that FIFA’s annual financial assistance cannot be diverted into those areas, but rather is to be used for their technical programmes as mandated by the world governing body.
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