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Hudson takes aim at GOA Vice President – AAG president ‘upset’ with Munroe’s comments on S/A Games team
By Rawle Toney
Kaieteur News – President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hudson, recently took aim at Vice President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), Godfrey Munroe, for his comments made in the Kaieteur News regarding the country’s track and field athletes missing out on competing at the October 1 – 15 South American Games in Paraguay.
Guyana will be represented by 16 athletes and six officials from the disciplines of boxing, squash, table tennis and badminton.
Godfrey Munroe – GOA Vice President
Munroe, who is also the president of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), had labelled Hudson as “disrespectful” for ignoring the GOA’s request, on five instances, to submit a long-list of athletes for track and field.
Hutson had admitted to Kaieteur News that he was aware, since April, of his association’s notice from the GOA to present a ‘long list’ of athletes for the South American Games.
Hutson also admitted to the AAG’s failure to acknowledge the GOA’s request for the submission of athletes, but had told Kaieteur News that he would’ve reached out the South American Congress in Brazil for a late-submission case for Guyana.
Munroe had stated, that “The delinquency of these associations should not fall on the GOA,” while sternly pointing out, “No member of the GOA Executive Committee is anti-sport.”
However, on Monday, Hudson, at a press conference to launch the South American 10K in Guyana, said he did not receive a response from the GOA, and only learned of the country’s contingent for the games in Paraguay through the media.
“I am really grieved by the comments made by Vice President Godfrey Munroe. I would like to start from the position that both Mr. Munroe and I are heads of our respective associations and I am certain that, pound-for-pound, athletics has done much better than Table Tennis locally, regionally and internationally,” Hudson said.
Aubrey Hudson – AAG President
He added, “Not only from results earned in competition, but from the number of national competitions held and international competition attended over the year. Secondly, my attendance record and tardiness at GOA meetings is much better than his, even though he is a Vice President of that body.”
The AAG, Hudson said, was late in its submission of names to the GOA due to their own internal issues which are being addressed.
“While some of our athletes opted not to be a part of the Games because of the time of year, we did have quite a few who showed interest in going. Realizing that our 4X100m male team was the highest ranked event for us, there was much deliberation on who should be on the team of four males and four females, as offered by the GOA,” the AAG president said in a statement.
Hudson said while attending the South American Athletics (Atletismo Sudamericano) congress in Sao Paulo Brazil on September 12, he had requested from Paraguayan Athletics President, the opportunity for athletics to be accepted into the Games.
“He immediately called the authorities in Paraguay and got a favourable response. He then told me to get in touch with the GOA in order to submit the list of athletes and it will be accepted. An email was sent to the GOA on the morning of September 13 with the required information for the athletics team entry for the Games,” Hudson explained.
Munroe referred to the AAG’s lacklustre approach as “Poor governance, it is dysfunctional, unethical, disrespectful, contentious, an unprincipled recipe for disrepute, a recipe for poor relational dynamics and recipe for poor performance. I am hopeful sometime in the future we can address the same in view of improving our performance all-round.”
According to Hudson, “For the GOA to sink to the point of Mr. Munroe’s utterances regarding a member federation in the daily newspaper as a response to a request is really appalling.”
Hudson added, “I am very scared for the future of Guyana sporting fraternity, if this is the new means of engagement. Or is it just for the SILLY SEASON (elections time). I have requested in the past, and I will continue to implore that the GOA should be more accommodating and offer more assistance than to be punitive to member federations.”
“The AAG is really trying to do better and instead of assisting us, they choose to deny us the opportunity when they know they (GOA) could have helped. They have access to much more resources than any of its members,” Hudson said.
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