President of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Bissoondial Singh yesterday said that the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) has to shoulder the blame for its disqualification from the recent DCB organized W and H Rambarran/ German Restaurant-sponsored U-19 cricket competition.
Responding to a news release in yesterday’s edition of the Stabroek News which stated that the GCA was seeking to have dialogue with the DCB and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) with respect to their disqualification, Singh maintained that the association was disqualified on the grounds that it had played an over-age player.
“The playing regulations of the DCB are in keeping with that of the GCB and are therefore non-negotiable; hence I maintain my position in saying that they were disqualified for playing an overage player.”
Singh made reference to two years ago when West Demerara was found guilty of playing two over-age players in a competition and the then DCB executives disqualified the association, along with imposing a one-year ban on both players. “In this case, we asked the GCA to investigate this present issue and carry out whatever punishment they thought was fitting enough to the respective personnel. We did not want to do what the last DCB administration did with regards to West Demerara,” said Singh.
He added that Carl Rambharose, the player in question, escaped any form of punishment as it was alleged that he submitted his birth certificate as required but according to the DCB, the GCA should have taken action against the manager and coach of the team.
He said also that the DCB found themselves concerned over the quality of the verification process carried out by the GCA which ensures that all players meet the necessary age qualification to participate in any DCB competition that has an age barrier.
According to Singh, the GCA, under the pretext that the player involved was qualified to compete in the tournament, went ahead and selected him in their squad, either because they did not verify his age; or they knew of his ineligibility and went ahead and played him; or they paid no attention to the consequences of playing an over-age player. “What if there were more than one player in their team who had not met the age requirement process?
“They left us with no choice but to carry out a thorough verification process when it comes to any age requirement tournament being run under the auspices of the DCB,” Singh stated.
Meanwhile, while the GCA claims that they did not receive any official notice on the disqualification and moreover no team had lodged any protest against the inclusion of the player, secretary of the competitions committee of the DCB Samaroo Jailall begged to differ.
“The competitions committee of the DCB held a meeting and the protest which was brought before us by the East Coast team whose secretary signed same, was on the agenda for discussion.
“The matter was thrown to the floor which included GCA’s competitions committee chairman Shawn Massiah by chairman of the competitions committee Christiandat Mangal wherein the GCA was found guilty.
“Furthermore, Massiah admitted there and then that the GCA was in default and the manager and coach of their team would be held accountable for this, after which he affirmed that whatever punishment was meted out to the GCA was just,” said Jailall.
The matter will be up for discussion at the next meeting of the DCB’s competitions committee which is set for some time next week.
