Sanctions loom for organisers of the recently concluded Futsal Finals as an investigation is underway by the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) to determine the factors that led to the breach of COVID-19 protocols, Prime Minister Mark Phillips yesterday said.
“We have our work to do and if it involves sanctioning so be it… it is most unfortunate that we granted approval with the understanding that they will follow the guidelines. The fact that they would have breached that, we will now have to investigate, which is in progress. The reports when submitted will be reviewed and if there are to be sanctions they will be sanctioned…”, Phillips yesterday told Stabroek News when approached for a comment on the major breach of protocols during the hosting of the event.
When probed as to what the sanctions might be, he responded by saying “There are other sporting organisations that were sanctioned in the past and you have the information because you would have reported on that.” Phillips is the Head of the NCTF.
The Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc and the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) were debarred for a period from hosting events. These organisations were required to write for approval from the task force showing necessary protocols and measures would be in place to facilitate the hosting of events.
In an audio recording leaked from the NCTF statutory meeting on Monday, Phillips could be heard lamenting “The reality and the fact is… the Futsal we had complaints about. The organisers must take responsibility for that… Yes the Kashif and Shanghai have failed us all and we have to take corrective actions for that.”
From videos and photos seen by this newspaper, the arena for Saturday’s final, the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, had far more in attendance than its capacity. Many of those present were without masks and there was no social distancing.
This newspaper was told that the event also ended after 12 am, thereby breaching the national curfew.
Stabroek News learnt that there was a rush at the doors which became uncontrollable, thereby overriding all precautionary measures in place.
Phillips in the audio could be heard repeatedly saying that the organisers had “failed us.”
The organisers, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Kashif and Shanghai (K&S) have faced criticism over the breach of health protocols.
During a press conference yesterday afternoon at GFF’s headquarters in Section K, Campbellville, the President of the Federation, Wayne Forde said the organisers “take full responsibility” for the breaches and have also launched an independent investigation to understand what went wrong and why, and how it can be addressed in the appropriate way.
“Let me be clear that the GFF and its partner Kashif & Shanghai take full responsibility for this outcome,” he said, noting that they greatly regret what took place during the finals.
“…Despite the obvious difficulty of controlling such a large, unexpected number of people in a small space, it was clearly wrong and unacceptable that an over-capacity crowd was allowed entry into the building. This created an unnecessary hazard to public health and runs against everything we stand for at the GFF,” he said in his remarks.
He refused to answer follow-up questions. He dismissed two sets of questions posed by journalists stating that he had addressed those issues in his opening remarks. The head of the federation stated that the organisers have not received any notification of them committing infractions during the hosting of the finals.
Forde stressed that during the course of the three year-end tournaments all games were held in full accordance with the regulations and in a safe and secure environment.
Prior to the event he said that K&S and the federation held successful vaccination drives among associations and implemented the rule that only people who could show proof of vaccination would be able to participate in or attend matches.
He said that the GFF will continue to work with the authorities and task force to host football tournaments in the safest environment possible.
Phillips in his brief comment stated that there had been some breakdown of protocols during the hosting of the finals as other games were held without hiccups.
According to the Prime Minister the government is not against the hosting of events once all COVID-19 protocols and guidelines issued by the task force are observed.
“We are not in favour of lockdowns, we are in favour of everybody being responsible, the government the private sector and each individual and sports organization be responsible for when they are granted approval for an activity,” he stated, when asked if the breaches that occurred last Saturday will prevent future events.
He stressed that organisers should not “just say you are going to follow the guidelines but should enforce the guidelines,” before pointing out that sporting activities such as cricket are currently being hosted and so far all protocols are being observed.
Meanwhile, Director of the NCTF Colonel Nazrul Hussain yesterday told Stabroek News that from the approval request submitted by the GFF and K&S there was a comprehensive plan in place to conduct the games. It was noted that it was one of the key elements that led to approval.
The organisers were also asked to keep attendance capacity at 50%, patrons subjected to temperature checks and require proof of vaccination.
Stabroek News understands that at previous games announcers would also remind patrons to keep observing the protocols in place.
From the audio of the meeting, Public Relations Specialist Kit Nascimento sought to question whether government should take some blame for the breaches at the event. However, he was not allowed to fully ventilate his opinion and when contacted yesterday he declined to comment stating that it was a private meeting and the audio was leaked to the public.
This newspaper gathered that the comments were made in light of the fact that the event was heavily supported by the government through the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and saw the presence of the Minister Charles Ramson and Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill.
