Several players from Den Amstel FC have threatened to boycott the Stag Beer Super 16 Year-end Football Championship if they are not paid monies and matchday stipends owed by the Guyana Football Federation [GFF} for the concluded Elite League.
This was disclosed by a member of the club, who spoke to Stabroek Sport on the condition of anonymity.
According to the source, “The players have said they will not be playing once they don’t receive their monies from the GFF. They are already planning to strike, Christmas coming and some of them have families to look after.”
Despite concluding the ‘Elite League’ on September 23rd, the GFF has failed to pay the top four finishers their respective prize monies and the players, their match day stipends.
The GFF owes the top four finishers in excess of $8M in prize monies. Fruta Conquerors, the league winner, is owed $5M while the Guyana Defence Force, Den Amstel and Western Tigers are awaiting $2M, $1M and $500,000 respectively.
With regards to the match day stipends, each team is owed a total of $648,000. Each player from the 10 competing clubs’ 18-member roster is owed $36,000. This equates to $4,000 per match per player over the course of the nine second round fixtures.
In total, the GFF owes a mammoth $6,480,000 in match day fees. Overall, the Elite League top four finishers and clubs are owed in excess of $14M.
The source further disclosed, “The management staff and the executive committee of the club does not support this decision, we want them to play and be able to win more monies but this is a decision that the players said that they will make once they are not paid.”
According to the source, “The players are very serious because the GFF is stopping them from playing in other tournaments where they can make a money and they [GFF] are not playing them up to date.”
The source further said, “The GFF are taking advantage of the situation and the players, and honestly I am tired of the double standards they are creating. They don’t want other people to host tournaments and owe the players and they are doing the same exact thing.”
The aforementioned incident is a continuing issue for the Federation which has owed the competing clubs, millions of dollars in prize monies and match day stipends in previous football tournaments for several months.
