The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) recently held two press conferences in order to declare that it was partnering with the Kashif and Shanghai (K&S) Organization for the staging of two football tournaments at the end of this year.
In the first instance, on the 3rd November, at the GFF Headquarters in Campbellville, it was announced that the Super 16 Championship will be held in December, with the final scheduled for New Year’s Day at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora. The teams drawn from the various associations and districts will face qualifiers, following which the final 16 will vie for the honours. GFF President Wayne Forde stated that all participating teams, match officials – “all those who serve the game” – will have to be vaccinated; likewise those fans who wish to attend the games at the various venues.
In the second, last Friday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the GFF and K&S Organization launched their “Year End Futsal Champion-ships”. It was announced that 32 teams had signalled interest in participating in the event, but it was not disclosed whether the participants would be drawn from clubs or street/community teams or a combination of both. Once again, the GFF reiterated the need for everyone entering the venue to be vaccinated. As on the previous occasion, prize money for the winner and runners-up was not disclosed.
With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, local football, like everything else, was forced to grind to a screeching halt. In the last year, only one senior football tournament was granted permission to be staged, the GFF – K & S Bounce Back Classic. The four-team, non-spectator event, which was held between 29 December and New Year’s Day at the National Stadium at Providence was the source of much heated debate. Concerns were raised at the time as to whether the decision by the Ministry of Health to grant permission for the competition was reckless, since at least 88 footballers would have been involved in a contact event. Meanwhile, in early December, the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation was refused permission by the same authorities to stage practice sessions for the 13 players selected to represent Guyana at the FIBA World Cup 2023 Pre-Qualifiers scheduled for El Salvador in February of this year.
The Annual Kashif and Shanghai Football tournament commenced as a four-team competition in Linden in 1990, organized by Mr Kashif Muhammad and Mr Aubrey Shanghai. As the event grew in size and popularity, it attracted teams from Georgetown and other districts, and later, even teams from the Caribbean. The annual fixture became a magnet for very large sponsorship fees from some of the biggest local business entities, thus making it a highly profitable venture for the organisers. The tournament which was revived last year, having experienced a hiatus since 2015, seems destined to return its previous standing, as the premier sporting event for the holiday season.
At the launch of the Super 16 Championship, Mr Muhammad noted the damper that the pandemic had put on everything, adding that now that places were opening up, “we are happy to work with Mr Forde.” The K&S Co-Director was further quoted as saying, “The bottom line is that it’s a rebuilding process and this is the beginning of it and we will be heading there because football, we think, is in safe hands and this type of collaboration can only do well for football.”
In May this year, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jnr announced that Mr Kashif Muhammad had been appointed Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC). As the holder of such a position, Mr Muhammad should be demonstrating neutrality. Yet, here he is having his personal business interest partnering with a national sports federation to organize, not one but two sporting events. The important details of the two tournaments, like which companies are providing sponsorship and the purse(s) for winners, are still to be disclosed, but we need not worry about such minutiae, since, as the NSC Chairman had stated, “football, we think, is in safe hands.”
How on earth is Mr Muhammad going to serve his personal interest and the national interest simultaneously? Obviously one will have to take precedence and we need not wonder which it will be.
Nary an eyebrow was raised at the preposterousness of the above nor it seems could the Opposition’s Shadow Minister of Sport be bothered to issue a statement of protest, despite the red flag of conflict of interest being waved here in the face of all Guyanese. One would have expected to hear him express concern at the apparent subtle attempt by the powers that be to gain control over the organization of football, the prime sport of his party’s grassroots supporters.
Football fans are well aware of the quagmire that can fester here; they have already seen this scenario play out on a Caricom neighbouring island. Just like Nero fiddled as Rome burned, men quibbled with each other as to who was in charge, while others grasped control of their supporters’ destiny.
