Former Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Christopher Matthias says the current impasse between the federation and Elite League clubs Alpha United, Slingerz FC, Pele and GFC is purely based on preserving power at the level of the congress.
The GFF and the aforesaid four clubs are at loggerheads following the former’s decision to expand the Elite League to 10 teams from the original eight clubs. Topp XX of Linden and Victoria Kings are positioned to participate in the event.
The disgruntled teams contend that the GFF’s move infringes on the original contract signed with the Normalization Committee (NC), as well as the federation’s constitution. According to the clubs, the original contract said that relegation and promotion will not occur until the end of season two, and that expanding the league is an act of promotion.
The clubs further revealed that unless an arbitration process is commissioned or the tourney is contested using its original rules, they will not compete in the event which is set to kick-off on November 13th.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports, Matthias said, “The current impasse is not about development of football in Guyana. The current impasse basically has to do with maintaining the balance of power at the level of the congress. There are always two reasons for any issue, the immediate issue which people present to you, and the underlining one which is the real one. And so we need to examine what the issue that is presented is”.
According to Matthias, “Only last evening members of the aggrieved group indicated they had no problem with the two teams becoming a part of the Elite League, so then what is the issue? If you have no problem with the teams becoming part of the event, then what really is the issue? It goes right back to the electoral segregation of Team Unity versus Team Integrity”.
He added, “All the aggrieved members are members of Team Unity and it is evident of having failed at the last election [2015], they are attempting once again to do what was done to the past administration, to destabilize, disrupt and disturb the smooth development of football in Guyana once they are not in charge”.
Matthias noted “If the issue is about consulting, the verb consult does not mean to seek approval, and their posture suggests that the GFF, the local governing body, needs to seek their approval of how the league should run. Unthinkable”.
Asked if the federation has infringed on the constitutional rights of the clubs, Matthias said, “The constitution vests the authority to make rules and regulations and to alter the rules for any event with the executives”, noting “They had dialogue and it is basically to tell them what the rules are going to be, the clubs don’t decide the rules they are going to play under”.
He declared, “When CFU, CONCACAF and FIFA have a tourney, the member associations don’t decide rules they play under. We are attempting to set a precedence, and it comes back to the question, what is their understanding of the meaning of the word consult? This happens when the tail wags the dog”.
Matthias posited, “They fought against democracy when it was being established and unwitting allowed themselves to re-establish an institution where the authority was vested in the executive. In doing so [they] shackled themselves with an entrenched constitutional dictatorship”.
Asked if arbitration is the course of action to pursue given the circumstances, Matthias said, “It is folly to think about arbitration because everyone who is playing football would have accepted that the hierarchy of the governance of football administration is CFU, CONCACAF and FIFA. If FIFA and CONCACAF have already pronounced that the men signed to merely rules and regulations and not a contract, which arbitration committee can rule against what the highest decision body has pronounced [on]”.
Matthias opined, “It is alarming that a Lindener is being used to frustrate the presence of a team from Linden in the Elite League, and it is even more disturbing that the President of the Upper Demerara Football Association [Sharma Solomon] another Lindener, has not voiced his concern over this matter”.
“I had reason to say in 2013 that these are confused men with not so hidden agendas. What is even sadder is that the election is three years away and it seems the men are making power plays right now. They are too many jockeys for one horse”, he added.
