It can probably be termed an own goal but skipper of the Golden Jaguars football team Chris Nurse has taken aim at the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) accusing two of its members of gross incompetence alleging that the incompetence resulted in some members of the national football team losing their jobs.
Nurse, widely regarded as Guyana’s most successful football captain with wins in four World Cup qualifying matches, yesterday sent out an email to media operatives here calling for the removal/resignation of the two GFF officials.
Nurse’s salvo follows on the heels of four members of the Golden Jaguars team pulling out from the team currently contesting the Caribbean Football Cup Group Grenada leg over the amount of the stipend offered them.
The resulting fall out of that dispute saw Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson, Ronson Williams, Konatta Mannings and Dwight Peters declaring their unavailability to represent Guyana over the stipend offered them by the GFF. Not surprisingly, the team lost its first two matches to Haiti and host Grenada and will not advance to the finals.
Nurse, yesterday, laid most of the blame of the problems affecting the sport, squarely at the feet of the two officials.
“Two paid personnel (names given) are responsible for the stagnation of the game in Guyana. They have shown gross incompetence in their duties, causing players to lose their jobs and risk their contracts,” Nurse wrote.
“As players who have made tremendous sacrifices to represent Guyana we feel that the time has come for changes to the executive of the Guyana Football Federation,” he added.
In Nurse’s opinion, the two officials are seemingly at sea when it comes to matters of football administration.
“They are totally disconnected from the modern game and the administrative needs of modern football not to mention the huge sums of money they receive for being incompetent.
“They have no understanding of what is required for success from a performance perspective neither from an administrative perspective in today’s game,” he argued.
According to Nurse, the two officials were also responsible for reneging on a written agreement between the players and four members of the GFF prior to the Golden Jaguars return World Cup fixture against Mexico at the BBVA Compass Stadium in Texas on October 12.
“As players we met with four members of the GFF EXCO in Houston, Texas prior to the Mexico game. The players refused to play the game based on numerous issues. A written agreement was reached which enabled the fixture to commence. However, behind our backs the two officials vetoed the agreement with little regard for how it will look in terms of their integrity and decency as men,” Nurse wrote.
He also claimed that the two officials are effectively running the operations of the GFF.
“These two men receive fat salaries off the efforts of the players and cannot send letters to clubs and employers in time. What are they being paid to do? Shawn `Bubbly’ Beveney has lost his job in England, the Newton brothers (Jake and Howard) have lost monies and they have not had the decency to call and even ensure minimum compensation is meted out to these guys,” Nurse fumed.
He went on:”Players have gotten injured and paid medical bills out of their pockets. These two men are the same men that were used by former President Mr. Klass (Colin) to frustrate us. It is clear that the agenda for these two men is not for Guyana to win but to merely participate,” he alleged adding that it seemed to be in the interest of the two officials for the GFF/Georgetown Football Association issue to stay unresolved and drawn out until Klass returns from his suspension by FIFA.
“On November 11, 2011 the Golden Jaguars defied all odds and defeated Trinidad and Tobago and made a historic entry in the semi-final round of the CONCACAF, FIFA World Cup Qualifying tournament. Large sums of money was received in sponsorship that should have been invested back into benefits for the good of the game,” Nurse wrote.
“Aubrey `Shanghai’ Major is the hardest working member of the GFF EXCO and has demonstrated a commitment to taking the game to another level, but his efforts and all reach to nought because of the incompetence of these two men.
“Major should not have to be running around begging for financial support for the national team today. It shows a total lack of vision, planning and poor execution,” he pointed out.
Nurse said the players no longer wanted to play under the current executive.
“In this regard the current crop of players do not want to play under the GFF that continues to employ officials who are totally incompetent at their jobs. These men have lived their lives, retired and now come as retirees to bleed football of its little benefits,” Nurse, who played two seasons with the Puerto Rico Islanders in the North American Soccer League added.
Nurse recalled that in 2008 the players performed a similar withdrawal from participating in international matches and requested the resignation of Klass.
“Instead Klass reversed the protest and banned all of the playing staff,” he recalled.
“Now is the time to remove the remnants of Klass’ administration completely and begin fresh. Four years later the players are staging the same action for the removal of the same staff from the Klass administration.
“This is yet another occasion to rid ourselves of incompetence and put sport in Guyana on a solid footing,” Nurse declared.
