The FIFA 2022 World Cup qualifiers have commenced and the attention-grabbing headline story in the CONCACAF zone has been the ongoing squabble between the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and their players over match fees. Currently occupying the 47th slot in the FIFA world rankings, the Reggae Boyz, who have threatened not to play, last week lowered their initial request from US$7,000 to US$3,000 per match, in response to the JFF’s counteroffer of US$2,000, while staving off public opinion that their demands are unfair to the JFF.
Whilst the two Jamaican parties negotiate their remuneration differences, local football fans have been scrutinizing the recent Guyana Football Federation (GFF) World Cup qualifiers media releases, especially with regard to the financial disclosures. Guyana’s qualifying campaign kicked off last month with two matches in the Dominican Republic (DR). In their first match, on 25th March, the 167th ranked Golden Jaguars succumbed 3 – 0 to the Soca Warriors of Trinidad and Tobago (103), who won their first game in 17 international meetings. In their second game, five days later, Guyana kept a clean sheet while disposing of the Bahamas (196) by four goals to nil.
Prior, to the team’s departure for the DR, GFF President Wayne Forde held a press conference on 9th March, where he announced that owing to the pandemic, it made more sense, from both logistic and financial viewpoints to let the DR host the two matches.
“It is obviously disappointing not to be able to host a home match this time around, but we are hopeful that conditions will allow this in the next window in June. Travelling to the DR does come at an additional cost, with the overall operating costs for this window coming in at $27 million plus a further US$10,000 fee payable to the DRFA for hosting the game against The Bahamas. Because of the dates involved and ongoing travel challenges, we have had to charter a flight to and from the DR at a cost of $12 million [which is included in the operational cost],” the GFF President stated. He added that training was progressing well, and that the squad showed professional commitment, discipline and passion. The domestic training programme was incurring a cost of $3.3 million a month, which included travel, meals, medical, equipment and staffing.
On 17th March, the day of the team’s departure to the DR, the GFF released the names of the squad which comprised 23 players (11 overseas-based and 12 locals), and 12 support staff (four technical, three medical, one sports science, one recruitment, and three operations). On 30th March, the GFF posted a statement on its Facebook page clarifying international match fees for the senior men’s national team, following what they said was the circulation online of gross inaccuracies.
“Within the FIFA structure, international match fees are set at the discretion of the GFF, according to its Congress-approved budget, which allocates its limited resources to football development, competitions, administration and national team programmes each year,” the statement said. “At all times, the GFF strives to provide a fair, transparent match fee structure and to treat its national squad members with respect and professional courtesy. The Federation believes its match fee structure is balanced, appropriate and prudent in the context of the long-term financial stability of the organisation and the high cost of participation in international competition.”
According to the post, each player on the starting team is paid US$350, while any player making an appearance as a substitute receives US$250. Unused substitutes are compensated in the sum of US$150, while every player in the squad receives a bonus of US$100 for a victory, and US$25 for every goal scored to a maximum of four goals. The players had been given a per diem of US$50 for the first four days, despite being in the DR for 14 days.
The GFF also stated that local players received reimbursement for transportation for training sessions [at the National Training Centre at Providence] during the preparation phase, with Georgetown players receiving $300 per session, while those from the East Coast Demerara and West Demerara received $400 each. Players hailing from Linden and Berbice were reimbursed the sum of $3,000. A GFF bus had also been made available for pickup, with some players using the bus to return to Georgetown.
While the Golden Jaguars are not ranked anywhere close to the Reggae Boyz, the
GFF’s expenditure of $27 million for this year’s World Cup qualifiers, appears more to be in line with the budget of the Jamaicans who were runners-up for the 2015 and 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments, and most certainly is not reflected in the results returned so far.
The pittance handed out to the local players, most of who reside in southern Georgetown, is just enough to get them to the practice sessions, and begs the question as to how the GFF arrived at the monthly figure of $3.3 million during the preparatory stage? Bear in mind also that the local players received no monthly stipend during this period. What were the sums paid to medical and technical staff not on the GFF’s monthly payroll? What were the sums expended on meals for the players? It appears that the money was spent everywhere else but on the most important component, the players.
How much money was spent on airfares for the overseas-based players to the DR? Are they receiving international standard reimbursements for their expenses in getting to and from international matches, while local players are handed mere crumbs? This leads to the inevitable question: are the overseas-based players being compensated at a different rate to the local players? Are the overseas-based players, who enjoyed eight and nine starting spots in the two games, delivering the results expected from their inclusion? It is noteworthy that three of the more promising younger players, including our last two Under-20 captains, of whom much is expected in the near future, were the only players not to experience one second of play.
Why did the touring party to the DR include 12 support staff for a 14-day trip involving two games? What kind of practical joke is this? Seven of these passengers, or should we say tourists, were disguised under the titles of head of sports science, head of recruitment, equipment manager, assistant operations manager, physiotherapist, goalkeeper coach, and assistant coach. Why couldn’t the handsomely compensated Technical Director perform the latter two roles, and the four other officials, head coach, medical doctor, lead physiotherapist and operations manager suffice for this trip? What was the additional cost of taking these unnecessary officials? Does the GFF need to be reminded that the Golden Jaguars are ranked 167 out of 210 territories? Why does the GFF feel the need to splurge on a support staff worthy of a team in the top 25? Surely, this money would have better spent on developing the local game across the board. The squandering of the annual FIFA allocation of US$250,000 appears to be continuing unabated.
Former Guyana National Captain Chris Nurse was extremely vocal in his criticism of the team’s alleged transition period and the treatment of the local players.
“In Guyana we still view football as a ghetto sport and as such we feel comfortable to present sub-par remuneration and feel the players should be grateful for what they are receiving and the public will agree,” he told this newspaper. “Not one of those figures is acceptable for international football. In the professional world of football it’s actually shameful!
“In addition, we have witnessed nothing spectacular that warrants having a foreign coach at the helm of the senior national team. [Neither] the performance nor the results have represented anything a local or Guyanese coach could not have achieved. Maybe the narrative of opportunity and exposure should be deployed to the coaching positions.” Nurse appealed for local coaches to be given a shot at leading the team.
The Golden Jaguars have two more games to play in this group round, away to St Kitts and Nevis (140) on 4th June, and home to Puerto Rico (179) on 8th June. Only the group winner advances and with Guyana currently in third position it’s unlikely we will qualify for the next round. If that is the case, then we expect the GFF President, the Technical Director and the Head Coach to perform the honourable act of handing in their resignations.
