President of Alpha United, Mr Odinga Lumumba, who continues to display arrogance in relation to the coordination and successful staging of a football tournament, has once more bitten off more than he can chew by publicly advocating that the co-directors of the Kashif & Shanghai knockout tournament should increase the winner’s prize money to $4,000,000 and give each team a preparation fee of $400,000. He had indicated in your newspaper of November 21 that the organizers had received over $35,000,000 in sponsorship from corporate Guyana, and had gone a step further by naming companies and the amount they had contributed. This was a claim that was labelled untrue by the organizers in the following day’s publication of your newspaper.
While there is more in the mortar than the pestle, from a simple calculation standpoint Mr Lumumba’s exorbitant claim would result in an additional $9,200,000, taking into consideration the eighteen teams participating in the competition.
However, with sport no longer being sport, but rather a business, at the end of the day, the investment of time, energy and money equals profit.
And who wouldn’t want to venture down the road of profitability? Mr Lumumba’s own Alpha United Summer Festival KO, was initially intended as a profit-making venture, but didn’t live up to the desired expectations. Was any clarion call made publicly for a preparation fee by any club and an increase in prize monies based upon the amount of sponsorship Mr Lumumba received?
By comparison the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is in receipt of close to US$150,000 annually for the National League competition, which is in its second year.
Why has Mr Lumumba not publicly advocated a significant increase in prize monies for this competition in addition to preparation fees? Compare the amount that FIFA has doled out and arrive at your own conclusion. Compare the cost of the rental of venues with the National Stadium. Compare the number of matches in the National League in pursuit of winning $2,000,000, and probably playing 22 matches, as against 4 in the Kashif & Shanghai.
Additionally, the Kashif & Shanghai Tournament is saddled with an astronomical sum of $1,000,000 in levy fees by the GFF, the largest of all invitational tournaments, which is more than the others combined. This is compounded by other expenses within a budget – meals for example, for the distant matches which are provided by the K&S organization. In the National League, clubs have to foot the bill and pay for their own advertising when hosting home matches.
In the final analysis Alpha and Mr Lumumba have three options at their disposal: (1) Withdraw, seek corporate sponsorship and run their own tournament; (2) advocate that all other tournaments increase their prize monies and give preparation fees; (3) simply shut up and put up.
Mr Lumumba’s tunnel vision for football will not be able to lift the sport’s standard.
Yours faithfully,
Julian Smith
