President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Colin Klass told a media conference yesterday that the planned Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Futsal qualifying football tournament was cancelled owing to Guyana’s lack of a security guarantee for the visiting teams.
Some six nations including Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Haiti, St Maarten, Suriname and hosts Guyana were scheduled to participate in the competition that was set to commence tonight at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. Trinidad will now host the tournament next month.
“The Suriname Embassy had indicated to their Sports Ministry not to send their national team to Guyana due to the unrest that had taken place here recently and after some consideration it was decided at a CFU Congress held recently in Guadeloupe to reschedule the tournament and give the hosting of same to Trinidad after the executives felt that Guyana was not in a position to host the tournament and guarantee the safety of the teams. We only learnt of Suriname’s withdrawal at the Congress,” said Klass, speaking yesterday at the GFF head office, Section ‘K’ Campbellville.
“A number of persons had volunteered their services to assist us with the preparation for this tournament which we felt would have been an excellent opportunity for tourism. Apart from that, we believe that it was opportune for Guyana to host this indoor tournament of such a magnitude which has been attracting a large following over the last couple of years.”
Klass who also holds the portfolio of Chairman for Futsal in the region, further stated that although Guyana would not be hosting this qualifying tournament, the executives of CFU had guaranteed that Guyana can host the next tournament once the situation in the country has improved.
“The GFF and the CFU felt that Guyana was still in a position to host this tournament based on the fact that where the tournament was scheduled to be held was miles away from the villages where the necessary outburst took place. However, that did not deter the minds of those concerned who wrote to the CFU and the GFF asking for assurances and as you are aware, the GFF manages and oversees football and such assurances we cannot give,” Klass further stated.
On such a note, Klass was quick to point out that no consultation was done with the security forces prior to the departure of the GFF executives to Guadeloupe for the CFU Congress.
“Crime is an issue throughout the entire region and we at the executive level of the GFF did err by not consulting with the security heads prior to our departure for Guadeloupe due to time constraints and even if time did permit for such a meeting to be held, any guarantee given by the security forces would have had to be in writing as such proposals would have been placed before the CFU,” Klass continued.
He further stated, “In the event of any mishaps taking place if Guyana were still hosting this tournament, the GFF would have been held liable for such and the penalty that would have befallen the Federation could not have been paid by the GFF which would have caused football in the country to suffer in the long run. Also FIFA, CFU and CONCACAF would not permit teams to travel to countries that are under security scrutiny.”
Amidst rumors that finance was the reason for the relocation of the tournament, Klass emphasized that this was not the case.
“The GFF had already sought and received commitments from corporate Guyana in terms of sponsorship for the tournament from businesses such as Banks DIH, Guyenterprise, GT&T and White Castle Fish Shop, Hand in Hand, Demerara Mutual and Life Insurance, amongst others, while CFU was prepared to assist us with some finance in ensuring the tournament was a successful one.”
“We will now have to go back to the drawing board with those sponsors with regards to offsetting the expense of the team that has been training for this tournament to play in Trinidad. The cost for such would be in the region of US$20,000. The CFU did stand the expenses for the hosting of the teams in Trinidad the last time the tournament was held there, but this time around it is a different situation,” Klass stated.
Other matters that were discussed at the Congress include Guyana being chosen to host Group B of this year’s Digicel tournament from 3rd-10th August, providing that all security concerns are addressed by the relevant authorities.
Guyana will be grouped with Suriname and Aruba. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the second round that is scheduled for October/November with the final slated for December in Jamaica.
“We have written the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport for the use of the National Stadium after March. We are also looking at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground. We held a meeting with the executives of GCC with regards to the use of the ground along with some recommendations FIFA made on the facility. Should the GCC executives fail to comply and we receive a negative on the Stadium, then the group matches will be shifted from Guyana.”
Meanwhile at the Congress Guyana’s Dianne Ferreira-James was adjudged best CFU Female Referee for 2007 and she received a trophy in that regard. Enrico Wingande won the Best Male Referee prize and Haiti was the winner of the Best Performing Country prize.
