The recent decision by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) not to approve voting rights to the Linden and Georgetown Sub-Associations before the upcoming congress is cause for concern and must be denounced in the strongest possible terms.
The GFF met this week with its affiliates and told the Georgetown and Linden Sub Associations that the matter would be dealt with at the upcoming congress.
At this juncture one must ask what are the real reasons for the fact that the two strongest sub-associations under the umbrella of the GFF are unable to cast a vote come April 16.
If one can recall the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) under then president Odinga Lumumba suffered a similar fate and to the best of knowledge the Lumumba led GFA was unable to exercise its franchise at GFF elections.
All affiliates including sub-associations have an undeniable right to participate in the GFF Annual General Meetings and subsequent elections.
According to a GFA official, the body was promised that voting rights would have been automatic once it held elections.
However, once those elections were held the royal runaround started and has not stopped despite the GFA’s determined efforts to become legally, members of the family of football.
What can be interpreted from the denial of voting rights by the GFF to those affected sub- associations/organizations is that this seems to be nothing more than a ploy to alienate them from the voting process for reasons that are so obvious, there is no need to spell them out here.
Attempts to get at the sins of the two sub associations from the GFF have been futile.
There is a reluctance by associations (and the GFF is no exception here) to deal with matters that tend to put them in a bad light.
The general modus operandi is to sweep everything in and out of sight, under the carpet.
Well, that method has proven to have long term implications which often redound to the detriment of the very associations/federations.
And, while it is often the thinking that associations/federations are the preserves of those who are elected to head them, let us categorically state that incumbent Colin Klass has no divine right to the GFF presidency.
If there are those who aspire to challenge for the right to become GFF president then those rights should be respected, certainly not denied. Fair play is not only for on field games.
Even Sepp Blatter,’s position is being challenged by Mohamed bin Hammam and Blatter has been president of FIFA for the past 13 years.
So why not Klass?
And it is not that there are not persons around who have aspirations and the required credentials to become GFF president.
There are!
It is just that the process used by the GFF does not seem to allow its affiliates the chance to play meaningful roles in the elections, much less allow for presidential challengers to come forward.
For too long those concerned with football locally have sat idly by and allowed the GFF to seemingly manipulate the constitution to its own advantage.
First elections were held annually; then bi-annually and now; every four years. Not content with that, the GFF introduced staggered elections where three positions are voted for one year and the remaining positions the following year. No can one say why and if all of these gimmicks are absolutely necessary but it does seem as if the ends justify the means.
The last person to challenge Klass if one can recall correctly was Attorney-at-Law Joe Harmon who lost by a mere one vote.
After the narrow defeat of Harmon, the GFF introduced staggered elections which only served to strengthen Klass’s hold on the local football fiefdom.
Given what has taken place and the fact that clubs can write FIFA on issues, one wonders why have there been no attempt by the clubs or even the sub associations to write FIFA on matters where they feel their constitutional rights are being withheld.
What is obvious though is that there are those who are willing to support Klass’s nomination as president for an unprecedented 22 years at the helm not for the good of the game, but for their own personal welfare. Is there a parallel to politics here?
But while Klass does have his supporters, there are others who have seemingly grown disenchanted with the lack of growth, including current GFF vice-president Franklyn Wilson who has decided not to seek re-election.
Wilson, in a recent interview with this newspaper, said he felt that Klass could be voted out of office if the sub associations were to become more proactive.
Lumumba had made a similar claim a few years ago when he accused the GFF General Council of being weak.
In the interview with Stabroek Sports’ Marlon Munroe, Wilson had called on the sub associations to stop bickering and unite for the common good of Guyana’s football.
“The associations have to get their act together; the continuous stone throwing needs to stop and the larger associations have to encourage the smaller associations. If this is done then they can become a potent force if they are vying for higher office,” was his assessment of the situation.
Wilson spoke out about the lack of development despite the fact that the GFF has, over the years, received at least $600m from FIFA from its yearly allocation of US$250,000 which it began receiving in 1998.
According to Wilson there should have been “more infrastructure, more intangibles.”
Additionally Guyana is probably the only country that does not have a completed FIFA-funded Goal Project a fact that disappointed even FIFA’s vice president Jack Warner.
“I must be disappointed… Guyana was one of the first countries where we had initiated this programme,” Warner told Stabroek Sport’ at the last FIFA Congress in the Bahamas.
In 1999, Guyana, Belize, the Bahamas, Nicaragua and St Lucia were listed as countries to benefit from FIFA’s new initiative, the ‘Goal Project’. Fast forward to 2011 and the Goal Project is yet to be completed though other countries have completed two and three other projects.
Warner was forthright in his views on the situation. “One would have thought by now [Guyana] would have been on their third goal programme as many other countries have been and therefore there is some disappointment,” he told this newspaper then.
Recently, a number of disenchanted football officials were ruing the thought of Klass serving another four year term at the helm of local football.
According to the group they would prefer “a one eye, one foot, one hand man,” to take over football.
Declaring that they were “fed up and frustrated” with the lack of development, the officials added: “For 22 years he lacks vision and he has no mission to elevate the sport.”
While a lot of money has been pumped into the coffers of the GFF over the years, the wealth has not amounted to an improvement in the standard of the local leagues or the standard of the senior national football team known as the Golden Jaguars.
In fact, the Kashif and Shanghai Xmas extravaganza remains the biggest and most lucrative football tournament in this country’s history, a tribute to the pioneering sprit of two entrepreneurs namely Aubrey `Shanghai’ Major and Kashif Muhammad.
A few years back, the Golden Jaguars football team’s frustrations reached intolerable levels and to a man they waylaid Klass in the wee hours of the morning as he was attempting to depart a hotel in Trinidad.
The members of the team vowed not to play for Guyana ever again as long as the diminutive Klass remains in power.
Some of them are of the firm opinion that there needs to be a change in the leadership of Guyana’s football if the game is to progress.
Guyana’s football is at the crossroads. Much can be achieved with proper leadership. One needs only to look at Trinidad and Tobago which has already named a Technical Director, Otto Pfister, tasked with the responsibility of trying to get the Soca Warriors to qualify for Brazil 2014, to see what vision for football is like.
In contrast, although the Digicel Caribbean Cup has been brought forward this year, there is no evidence that the GFF has commenced preparations for a successful competition.
Probably for the GFF, success in football is not measured by on the field results but by the perks the GFF executives enjoy from an organization that seemsto demand no accountability for its largesse.
