Guyana Football Federation (GFF) boss Wayne Forde has welcomed the launch of the Rupununi Football Association (RFA) Academy Training Centre (ATC), describing the platform as an important step in the pathway for hinterland players to gain selection to the national programme.
“It is my solemn hope, with the support of the wider community, the village leaders and other stakeholders within the region, that more young boys and girls will make it to the national teams of Guyana and go on to represent their country, region and villages with honour and distinction,” Forde said in a release to the media yesterday.
“We are handing over full ownership of this ATC to the Executive Committee of the RFA. Through M-FAP, the GFF will continue to pay the ATC staff, and provide all the equipment and funding necessary for our forthcoming inter-academy tournaments. We will also be conducting quality control visits along with child protection training. I would like to wish the RFA family every success in growing the ATC programme in the coming years by opening up more centres across the region,” he added.
The RFA is the sixth GFF regional association to relaunch their respective ATC programme under an improved structure, following financial aid and resources provided by the federation. The other five associations are Upper Demerara, West Demerara, Georgetown, East Bank Demerara and Bartica. The aim of the GFF funded programme, which implements the requisite CoVID-19 guidelines and regulations, is to create a national developmental network and pathway for youth players to enter the national setup. Also attending the restart of the Rupununi ATC were GFF Youth Development Officer Bryan Joseph, U20 Men’s Head Coach Wayne Dover, and association President Rayan Farias. Meanwhile, GFF Youth Development Officer Joseph, who is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the ATC programme, said, “The Executive Committee of the RFA has shown great commitment to take on the significant challenges posed by the geographical make-up of the region, but we’ve seen the passion of the people and their communities.”“The technical team at the RFA will continue to fine tune the operations of the academy as they work towards ensuring that the best players in the region benefit from this programme. The RFA has a good compliment of equipment to execute the work of the academy and significant strides are being made to ensure that we build up coaching capacity to make full use of that equipment”, he added.
RFA President Farias said, “I would like to express my deepest appreciation to President Forde for empowering the RFA’s Executive Committee and the wider Rupununi football family with the much needed financial and material resources which will allow us to accelerate the growth and development of the beautiful game across the region.”
He added, “Our members and all stakeholders across the region will continue to work very hard to ensure that many more boys and girls from Region 9 will be given the best possible chance to make Guyana’s national teams and represent our Rupununi at the international level.”
