Latest update April 12th, 2025 5:05 AM
Golden Jaguars home games set for Edinburgh return
The football pitch at the National Track and Field Centre. (Rawle Toney photo)
– Minister Ramson pleased with work done on pitch
By Rawle Toney
Kaieteur Sports – The National Track and Field Centre in Edinburg will be ready to host the Golden Jaguars’ home games in the CONCACAF Nations League and the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, following an assurance by Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr.
The West Demerara facility boasts the country’s only FIFA-approved pitch for international matches outside the Guyana National Stadium.
While the Golden Jaguars will kick off their World Cup qualification campaign on June 6 in Panama City against Panama, the Jamaal Shabazz-coached side will play their home game against Belize on June 11 in Barbados.
This decision came after the Edinburg venue failed to meet FIFA’s basic requirements for hosting international football.
During their previous Nations League campaign, the Golden Jaguars were able to play only one home game in Guyana, against The Bahamas.
Consequently, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) was fined by CONCACAF due to the inadequate conditions of the facility, and as a result, Guyana’s home games have been relocated to venues in Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr
“It came as a surprise to me, the excoriating comments being made about the ground. I don’t think that the way a decision is made for hosting an International match is just, is the facility available and just book it, and turn up and play; I don’t think that’s a sensible way for anyone to run an International match programme,” Minister Ramson said.
He added that while understanding the facility’s importance to both international and domestic football, a decision was made to close the field to allow for necessary work to be done.
Since then, remedial works were done to the pitch, “We still have some top dressing to get done here so that it’s flat and we’re now going to pay a lot more attention to it, so that in a next month or so, it’s going to be a perfect location to host matches.”
According to Minister Ramson, “From a system standpoint, it’s no longer that we are going to facilitate a request; the request must be that you come in for an examination, you must be satisfied that the venue is suitable for us to host and if it’s not, how long will it take to be ready because this field is used constantly, it will get damage.”
“We’re not hosting parties here; the field is being used but for constructive purposes. But if we’re hosting an international match it’s not for an assessment to be done after the match,” Minister Ramson said.
The Minister of Sport said he was irked at a painted perception that his Ministry and the Government of Guyana were reluctant to host International matches “The impression is created as if we don’t want to host matches here, as if hosting matches here would not be beneficial to our team…of course we want our team to play in front of a Guyana crowd.”
Minister Ramson said the investment has been made to get the ground ready, pointing to earlier challenges caused by the prolonged dry spell, “But now, thankfully the rain is coming in and that’s going to help in getting the ground ready.”
The remedial work on the ground could mean that the Golden Jaguars will play their opening CONCACAF Nations League match against Suriname at home on September 5.
The Golden Jaguars are in Group A of League A in the CONCACAF Nations League, alongside Suriname, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.
Group B of League A includes Jamaica, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Nicaragua, and French Guiana.
Since Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson netted a double to lead Guyana to a 2-0 win over Suriname at the Guyana National Stadium in 2016, the Golden Jaguars have lost back-to-back games against their South American neighbours, with scores of 2-3 in the 2016 Caribbean Cup and 1-2 in a friendly match in 2022.
Following their match against Suriname, Guyana will travel to Fort-de-France to face Martinique on Monday, September 9.
Guyana moved up to League A of the Nations League after going undefeated in League B, where they won matches against Antigua and Barbuda (5-1, 6-0), Puerto Rico (3-1, 3-1), and The Bahamas (3-2).
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