Guyana is on the horizon of a transformation in local football

Jun 01, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I am not certain if anyone in the local football fraternity has taken time out to chronicle and document the recent historical challenges and progress made by the local football fraternity. It goes without saying how important this is for the reading public especially fans of the sport and those who are involved in football in one way or another to understand and fully appreciate what has and is happening. We have seen that negative politics and self interests in football almost resulted in our disaffiliation from FIFA and we certain do not want a recurrence of this. In this vein I submit my position which follows.
Guyana’s has a proud football history; ask any of the old players and members for Pele, Santos, Camptown, etc, and they will all tell you how proud and excited they were to play and be a part of football. Today Guyana’s football development is getting back on track; we’ve had visits by none other than the President of FIFA – a first for Guyana the President of CONCACAF as well as FIFA Development Director, all of whom publicly expressed great confidence in the work of the current GFF administration and the progress of football development over the past 18 months and counting.
In 2012, just 5 years ago FIFA – football’s international governing and highest decision-making body signaled to Guyana that it was prepared to disaffiliate our football programme due to poor administration, governance, corruption and mismanagement. Save for the actual disaffiliation itself or a temporary ban, this is arguably the most disgraceful situation a FIFA affiliated programme can find itself in. Some of the pitfalls experienced over the 2011-14 period are highlighted below:
1. The GFF President in 2011 was fined and banned for “having breached various articles of the FIFA Code of Ethics” according to FIFA.
2. In 2011 FIFA suspended the then GFF General Secretary for 30 days for what it reported as his involvement in a bribery scandal during a meeting which took place in Trinidad and Tobago.
3. Numerous national players went on strike in 2012, protesting owed wages for matches, continued mismanagement of football development investment resources, corruption and governance of the sport. Things got so bad that from November 2012 to September 2014, Guyana did not play any international matches.
4. In 2012 the rights of Guyana’s home fixture against Mexico were sold; the match venue was moved from Providence on the East Bank to Houston, Texas. The decision to sell our home rights did not go through the proper decision-making protocol, neither is there documentation to show that a vote was taken by the then Executive Committee nor that there were minutes of the meeting. The financial details were not documented and the transactions were not recorded. If this was in the best interest of our players and local football, and was above board why it was shrouded in so much secrecy, and further why players are still owed remuneration? The current GFF administration has launched an investigation, into what might actually result in the investigation going in a direction.
5. Although FIFA earmarked Guyana for the Goal project in 1999, which if implemented by the then and subsequent GFF administrations would have improved playing and training facilities and realized a modern football stadium for Guyana, this project has never been implemented. It was only in April 2017 that the current GFF administration and President of FIFA, participated in a ceremonial sod-turning to signal the commencement of preparation for the new GFF National Training Centre at Providence which is now part of the FIFA Forward project.
Fast forward to October 2014 when FIFA and CONCACAF announced that a Normalisation Committee (NC) would govern Guyana’s football programme until September 2015. The NC’s primary responsibilities were to (1) manage the day-to-day activities of the GFF, (2) adopt a new constitution and (3) lay the groundwork and host elections for a new executive.
While the NC successfully completed the foregoing tenure, its work led by its Chairman, who only a few months prior to overseeing the GFF elections publicly declared his allegiance to a national political party and whose name was listed as a member and candidate of said party contesting the national elections, was besmirched by concerns about lack of financial transparency during the NC’s tenure. There were also allegations about questionable commercial contracts and concerns about the Chairman’s neutrality following the institution of last minute requirements for contesting teams and candidates. The latter perception was fuelled by alleged and arguably continued public affiliation to the runner-up faction that contested the 2015 GFF election.
Although football development has seen considerable progress and the encouragement of FIFA over the past 18 months or so, a new controversy has emerged. This time it purportedly has to do with a decision taken by the GFF in 2016 to expand the Elite League from 8 to 10 teams, the two additional teams being Top XX of Linden and Victoria Kings. Coincidentally most of the members of Team Unity that contested the 2015 GFF elections but lost 12-10 to Team Integrity whose elected members comprise the current GFF Executive Committee have collectively put forward a case that the GFF acted outside its constitutional mandate and infringed on the Elite League original contract signed by the Normalisation Committee. I will have more to follow in a follow-up letter, Mr. Editor.
Mike Archer

Editor’s note; In a response to the queries on the moving of the Mexico-Guyana match to the US, Mr. Franklin Wilson has provided a detailed statement which was carried in the Wednesday edition of this newspaper under the caption; “All Relevant Info on Guyana-Mexico match in Possession of GFF- Wilson.”

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