Dear Editor,
First I would to congratulate the coach staff and players of the Golden Jaguars for securing a draw in the just concluded friendly international soccer match against Barbados; it is a positive start to the year.
However, as a keen observer to the happenings of the game in Guyana, one just gets the feeling that administratively, soccer in Guyana lies like a dormant volcano just awaiting to erupt come September 2015.
If we are to be honest with ourselves, what you have in Guyana is basically two factions going against each other. There are those who are the traditionalists, who walked the halls of power and wielded authority over all for in excess of two decades, and have basically left us with nothing to show; and the others who came, but departed in the twinkling of an eye, unable to achieve much due to a multiplicity of judgmental and administrative errors and an unrelenting media blitz campaign bent on having the administration removed at all costs.
But the irony in it all is that if we take a critical look at what has occurred over the last few months, persons have all felt slighted one way or the other in being omitted from the Guyana Football Federation’s set up. A few have been professional and have refused to air their discord in the press while others have ‘rained’ comments in the press.
How hypocritical have we been as a nation; let’s take a candid look and I challenge anyone to go the archives and check the papers for a historical analysis.
Last year the GFF assembled a squad of their choice under new leadership and a bit of old management to represent Guyana at the CFU championships. The majority of players selected were under twenty-three years of age and had no international exposure, other than Walter Moore. The preparation time was short, to be precise ten days; and no monies were available, so there was no camp prior to leaving. (The players are yet to be paid fully for that tour.) The outcome was that they drew one game and lost two.
The critics went to work and with guns blazing, and maybe rightfully so, they established all that was totally wrong with the squad and were critical about those who were left out of the squad. The coach was nailed to the cross and condemned; he was described as being out of his league, being inept and not qualified enough.
Fast forward January 31, a squad is assembled under much hype and fanfare; the old guard is reassembled; there is the much anticipated return of the most successful captain; we have a number of seasoned international and local players within the squad, with a sprinkling of a few others. The result was that the game ended two goals all. When asked to comment on the game, the magical number of ten, yes, ten came up. Ten days were too few days to get a team adequately prepared and ready.
I would not even dare to compare the make-up of the two Golden Jaguar squads, but shall leave that to the critics and let those who know football decide. But without a doubt, one squad was far more technically superior, much more seasoned much more gifted and experienced so what we got was a draw.
My only little wish and advice for Coach Shabaaz and Dover is to start visiting our other regions. Guyana is eighty-three thousand square miles; check out Linden, check Berbice, check out the youths in Region One, those close to the Brazilian border. Football is played throughout the length and breadth of Guyana with maybe not too much hype and fanfare, but just ask the community and all the fans of the kids from Waramadong Secondary School. For four consecutive years they won the regional title for the Digicel Inter-Schools Football Championship. Yet in all those years we have never ever called any of their talented, gifted players for a ‘look-in’ on the senior team, and I ask the question why?
And so as the GFF contemplates a return match against Barbados my wish would be for them to assemble and bring new players into the fold, so hopefully the Guyanese public would get a chance to see a new breed of players. It’s not a matter of winning or losing, but how you play, and I add, develop the game.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Thomas
