Athletics in Guyana has had its fair share of underdevelopment and maladministration over the years but the recent action taken by immediate past President Colin Boyce to file an injunction against the new executive of the Athletics Associations of Guyana (AAG) is a first for the sport.
For many years track and field athletes have been on the receiving end of inept administrators who believe that the national athletic body belonged to them and their cronies.
There have been situations where officials have put themselves before athletes to attend overseas engagements while some have vowed to see the world through athletics and have achieved that feat while the athletes languish behind in their forward thrust.
From the Olympic Games to the Junior Carifta Games, athletes have all suffered due to favoritism in the selection process of sports disciplines in Guyana.
In fact, there have been instances where persons selected to accompany athletes have no clue in coaching or sports administration.
The AAG yearly programme is predictable and very little is done to deviate from the monotonous schedule.
Many felt that the election of Colin Boyce two years ago to the post of AAG president would have changed all that.
Being a former national athlete (one of the nation’s top sprinters in his heyday) who, over the years had voiced his concerns about these very misdeeds, Boyce’s presidency was viewed by athletes and officials alike with great anticipation.
But like his predecessors Boyce’s presidency took on a similar pattern.
In fact, athletes and officials alike have complained about Boyce’s leadership style and one of his missions seemed to be wanting to see the nation’s best athletes come under the stewardship of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) where he holds the position of Sports Officer.
Who can forget Marian Burnett who won a bronze medal in the 800m at the Central American and Caribbean games in Puerto Rico in 2010 later declaring that while she was killing herself to represent Guyana local AAG officials seemed indifferent to what athletes go through.
Burnett who fell ill at the CAC games later told Stabroek Sport that local officials did not contact her to find out how she was doing.
“They didn’t call me concerning my health or nothing. They don’t know how you eating, sleeping, drinking, nothing. And this has been going on for years,” she stated.
Since then it seems as if Burnett has called it a day. She was not on the team to the London 2012 Olympic Games where Boyce was the manager of the athletics team and Lyndon Wilson, the coach. Wilson is the coach of the Police Athletics Club.
Boyce’s court action is surprising since he presided over the Annual General Meeting that he is now stating is not only ultra vires but invalid as the elections were flawed.
Papers filed in the High Court against newly elected president Aubrey Hutson and his executives, states that the elections were unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, ultra vires, null, void and of no effect.
The question to ask here is didn’t Boyce know that at the time? If so did he in fact plan to use this knowledge only in case he was defeated? Is Boyce clever or just incompetent in allowing clubs that were not in good financial standing in the AAG to participate in the elections?
There are a lot of questions that need answers.
Prior to the elections, Boyce had indicated that he was only going to run one final term but the electorate had had enough and he was convincingly defeated by six votes to two.
Boyce is claiming now that three clubs, Bedford Allstars Athletic Club, Royal Youth Movement and Rising Stars Athletic Club were not in good financial standing, a situation that could have been challenged even before the elections took place but Boyce apparently was confident of victory until the results were announced.
Hutson, like most sports loving Guyanese sees the injunction as having a negative effect on the sport as athletics may be dragged through a long legal battle similar to what is happening to cricket and what happened to football before the intervention of FIFA/CONCACAF earlier last month.
If Boyce really has athletics at heart he would use his better judgment and have the court injunction withdrawn. But then again, his actions may be more of a selfish nature since he has played a prominent role in the President’s/Jefford’s Classic, a meet staged in Linden during his term of office which seems to have immense commercial value.
With the recent decision by Boyce, the Huston administration now face an uphill task given that the former president controls the main athletic venue, Police Sports Club ground and could deny the AAG the use of the facility.
With a new athletics stadium currently under construction at Leonora, West Demerara the sport will need sports administrators with the fortitude and love to propel it forward.
Boyce, apparently, does not possess those qualities.
