Former Guyana u17 Boys Assistant Coach Vurlon Mills has declared his sudden axing from the setup by the GFF as wrong and he has yet to receive any official correspondence from the entity stating the reasons for the dismissal.
Mills who at the time was the coach of Chase’s Academy, was axed from the national junior setup by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) for allegedly competing in a schools match on Monday July 11th despite supposedly being instructed not to participate.
In the match, Chase Academy fielded seven players from the final roster of the Guyana team. For his action, Mills was subsequently replaced on the management squad by Sampson Gilbert who will serve as a Youth Development Officer.
Asked if his termination from the setup was the right decision by the GFF, Mills said “No because the players have the right to represent their school, they never came to me and said the players can’t play”.
Mills indicated that no official letter from the GFF was presented to him stating that the players should not participate in the event, adding “No such thing was said”.
According to Mills “I saw in the article written in Chronicle that I was informed the players couldn’t play, that never happened. I also saw that I have to go to a disciplinary committee, once again I was not informed of this and have not been before one. So unless (GFF President Wayne) Forde can tell me what I am being disciplined for then I am not attending any hearing”.
He declared he has never received a correspondence from the GFF highlighting the reason for his dismissal from the team, declaring it was the Team Manager Carlos Bernard who told him he should leave the hotel immediately.
According to Mills, the federation has no control over whether the players participate in the event or not, noting that decision rests with the team coaches. “Not even the manager of the team can make that decision” he said.
However GFF President Wayne Forde in an invited comment said while Mills was not directly informed of such a decision, other members of the staff inclusive of the head-coach Anthony Stephens were.
He noted “These are children that were called into the camp, we are responsible for them during the period of encampment, any activity outside the of rescheduled training sessions needs to be approved by the executive of the GFF”
“The total investment is US$68,000, why would I risk injury to players two days before they embark on important FIFA sanctioned international engagement of which the travel arrangement requires a United States visa” he added.
