By Donald Duff
Vice-president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Winston Callender yesterday said he was unaware of any issues affecting the training camp of the national football team known as the Golden Jaguars.
The Golden Jaguars are encamped in Trinidad in preparation for their upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifier against Suriname in just about two weeks time.
Callender said he too was hearing rumours that all was not well with the camp but said he had had no official report on the matter from the management team in the Twin-Island Republic.
Stabroek Sport learnt yesterday that there were issues involving food, stipend for players, and playing gear.
“I have been getting the same information but nobody has informed me,” Callender said in an invited comment yesterday.
Callender, who is acting president of the GFF in the absence of Colin Klass, who left Guyana last week to attend the FIFA congress in Australia, said he tried getting Klass yesterday but apparently the GFF head had not arrived in Trinidad.
Klass is expected to watch the Trinidad and England International scheduled for today in Trinidad before returning home.
Callender also said he was unaware that the friendly international engagements for the Golden Jaguars had been cancelled.
“I’m not aware of that,” he said.
But a source yesterday told Stabroek Sport that the matches against Barbados had been cancelled.
The source also said that food was a problem at the camp and that the groceries were constantly running low.
Callender said he knew that the training party had walked with foodstuffs from Guyana, “A lot of foodstuffs,” he added.
On the subject of stipend for the players Callender said he was unaware as to the situation.
He acknowledged, however, that the players were supposed to receive a stipend and said that there was a meeting before Klass left that dealt with that issue.
“Last Friday afternoon there was a meeting among the manager of the team, Klass, Charlene Best and Aubrey Henry,” he said.
The source said he was told that despite the GFF being in possession of lots of gear the Golden Jaguars were using gear with the English FA logo on it.
Callender said he knew nothing about that.
“I don’t know anything about that. They have a set of uniforms which they use during training or dinner or if they go out together. There is a Digicel uniform and a grey uniform with the GFF emblem on it,” he said.
Callender said when he went with the U-20 team to Grenada, the team had two different types of uniforms grey jerseys with dark blue trunks with red stripes and a red jersey marked Digicel.
Efforts to get Shabazz or the manager of the Golden Jaguars team yesterday proved futile.
