With only a few days remaining in October, the commencement of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Stag Elite League’s second season is still up in the air.
This scenario was highlighted by the Communications and Public Relations Officer of the GFF, Debra Francis, who revealed in an earlier interview with Stabroek Sports, “We don’t have a resumption date as we speak. Discussions have been ongoing, and I am waiting on a pronouncement from the President”.
The statement only serves to highlight the administrative pitfalls that plague the sporting landscape in the nation, and clearly places the federation in a rather poor light. The most important stakeholders of the discipline, the players, would have certainly lost some faith in this august institution, which has often been saddled with deficiencies and controversies.
How can one explain the failure of the event to resume? The inaugural season was concluded in May, almost five months ago. The traditional and often tumultuous, Christmas period is almost upon us. This season often signals the start of the knockout tournaments by the various associations, and as such, the federation often relegates itself to a spectator’s role, meaning football from their end is halted in favour of its membership. For the record, the main issue looming over the situation like a dark cloud, is the GFF’s decision to increase the membership to ten teams without any consultation with the incumbent teams.
While Topp XX of Linden and the East Coast of Demerara side Victoria Kings were positioned to enter the league, four of the eight clubs presently argue that the original contract signed under the Normalization Committee’s tenure does not allow for either relegation or promotion until the end of the second season of the League The argument being put forward is that the process of increasing the number of teams is in fact, an act of promotion. It is from this standpoint that one must ask if the GFF is on the correct legal footing to make such a decision, without consulting with the participants, who are essentially constitutional members. The matter wasn’t discussed with the key stakeholders, and as such, a unilateral decision was made by the GFF can be viewed as heavy handedness.
In any major league, the acts of relegation and promotion are clearly understood, and are standard rules of the FIFA statutes [article-9 Principle of Promotion and Relegation] that govern the game. Interpretation of the statutes by some legal minds affiliated with the sport have declared that the acts of relegation and promotion are basically mandatory.
While it does not exist everywhere, one must receive special exemption to pursue this course of action. For instance, the Australian A League was given a special pass by the Asian Football Confederation not to employ the regulation rule, owing to the lack of the teams in the tournament.
Did the Normalization Committee, [the entity which commissioned the championship] receive any special exemption to apply such a rule, from the powers that be CFU, CONCACAF or FIFA; or was it done without consulting with the aforementioned trio?If the latter is the case, why doesn’t the GFF pursue their course of action of increasing the membership knowing that their position is legally correct? Why did the Normalization Committee adopt this approach without the proper guidance?
If an exemption was never granted to the League, then “nature should take its natural course”. If this is the case, then it means that the bottom two teams, the Georgetown Football Club and Monedderlust FC would have to be relegated, thus providing the avenue for promotion. What would be the position of these two teams if this was deemed legally correct by the world governing bodies? Would they simply accept that decision or seek redress in some other forum, at the expense of the event?
The ramifications of the delayed start also have financial implications. With the league initially slated to commence in the latter stages of August, teams would have invested significantly in their preparations.
Will these monies be refunded by the federation? Similarly, will clubs be compensated after entering into contractual obligations with sponsors for the duration of the event? Will the GFF allow the teams to participate in the traditional yearend events to recoup their losses if the matter is not resolved?
This might be viewed as a means of appeasing the players, since they are still to be paid for eight match days from the inaugural League campaign. With $3500 for match day fees, this translates to $28,000 still owing to every player.
It is yet to be decided, if or when the League will kick -off. The hope here is for common sense to prevail since at the end of the day, the sport will be the loser. After months of inactivity, let the games begin!
