Despite the inactivity of the Beach Football Association for more than two years, the Guyana Football Federation [GFF], has selected a Men’s National Team to compete in an invitational championship in Argentina during the month of March 2019.
This was disclosed by several sources close to the federation. According to the sources, several players that were members of the 2016 CONCACAF Beach Football Championship squad are making their return to the programme.
They are Kenard Simon, Deshawn Joseph, Jermin Grandison, Ethan Sparman, Cordell Johnson, Jamal Haynes, Jahshaun Moore, Michael Wilson, and Trevor Archibald, with Shayne Haynes the newcomer to the 10-member roster slated to travel to the South American nation.
On the management side, Abdulla ‘Zico’ Hamid will once again serve as the Head-Coach following his 2016 stint. The competition is the first for the Beach Football programme since the 2016 regional championship in Nassau, The Bahamas, where Guyana finished 12th out of 16 participants.
Efforts to contact GFF President Wayne Forde for a comment were unsuccessful. An electronic mail [email] was sent to Forde on Sunday February 24th.
Among the questions posed to Forde were “It is alleged that the GFF has selected a national squad to compete in a Beach Football Tournament in Argentina. Could you state whether this is true or not?”
“Similarly, can you state why the GFF would participate in the Beach Football Tournament, despite the fact that the discipline does not have a structured program and has not been played in more than 2 years locally?”
“Can you also state whether trials were staged to select the squad and who were the individuals that administered the trials? If not, why weren’t trials utilized to select the team?”
“Could you also state if the GFF is funding the trip? If not, who is funding the team’s sojourn?” Up to press time, no response was forthcoming.
Meanwhile, the members of the squad that competed in the 2016 CONCACAF Beach Football Championship in The Bahamas, are yet to receive their remuneration from the federation. This was disclosed by members of the team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to the players, the squad which consisted of 12 members, are owed thousands of dollars. The Beach Football Association is headed by Lindener Rollan Tappin, who is presently residing in the United States of America.
