Dear Editor,
The Rupununi Football Association (RFA) is by far the biggest of the Regional Member Associations (RMAs) currently affiliated to the Guyana Football Federation, with a total of thirty-two clubs registered with the RFA. A further extrapolation would reveal that with an approximate membership of one hundred and twenty persons registered with each club, from the grassroots to the senior level and consisting of both males and females, there are currently close to four thousand persons actively playing the sport in villages spread across the length and breadth of the Rupununi. Football therefore continues to positively impact communities across the Rupununi, transcend political differences, and helps to generate socio-economic opportunities in villages. Unfortunately, the actual standard of football in the Rupununi remains quite low despite the best efforts of the Executive Committee of the Rupununi Football Association to ensure that football is organized and run in a structured manner. As a matter of fact, kudos must be given to the RFA and the clubs themselves in the Rupununi for ensuring that football still continues to be actively played despite the huge costs, limited resources, and logistical difficulties that are part and parcel of football in the Rupununi. However, there is only so much that the Rupununi Football Association can do on its own, and desperately needs help to move the sport forward. Below are some recommendations and suggestions that I humbly put forward which in my opinion can help football in the Rupununi grow in a structured and equitable manner.
1. There is an urgent need for referee and coaching programmes in the Rupununi. Referees and coaches are of paramount importance in building the sport from the grassroots level. This responsibility falls directly under the remit of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) but for some reason, despite the fact that the largest number of male and female clubs in the country are found in the Rupununi, the GFF continues to abandon Rupununi football in this regard. More initiative and assistance is needed from the GFF. Equitable football development does not mean channeling most of the Federation’s resources into RMAs on the coast.
2. The Rupununi is crying out for a permanent home for football in the Rupununi. With the amount of football being played in the Rupununi, the Region needs an all-weather facility with a football pitch of an international standard. FIFA provides funding for such initiatives. Again the GFF in collaboration with other stakeholders can make this dream a reality. The Rupununi football model where male and female football at both the junior and senior levels are often played simultaneously, is quite an achievement in itself which no other RMA in the country is capable of successfully replicating. In addition, village councils across the Rupununi with their enhanced access to finance, courtesy of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) initiative, must channel more of these resources into youth development and the upgrading of village grounds.
3. The Rupununi Football Association should be considered, as are other legal bodies and organizations in Guyana, for a yearly subvention to help meet the Association’s operational costs. Funding provided by the GFF can never fully meet all the costs of the Association. The Rupununi Football Association is also in dire need of an office, with administrative support staff to ensure that clubs are offered centralized and efficient services. The RFA will continue to grow as more and more clubs seek membership in the future.
4. The power of football should be harnessed to build and enhance social relations, develop a new generation of leaders, and to help mentor youth in society as well as to help them develop life skills. In many indigenous communities, unemployment rates are still high, alcoholism and drug abuse are prevalent, especially among youth, and teenage pregnancy and high school dropout rates continue to perpetuate the cycle of poverty that has existed since time immemorial. There is a dire need for youth camps, leadership-building programmes and other such initiatives to target youths in the Rupununi. With most of the youth in the Rupununi actively involved in football, then football should be used in a collaborative manner by the relevant stakeholders to ensure that efforts are made at the local level to meet with our young people to see how they can be helped to achieve their true potential. Too many of our young people are being lost.
5. Corporate Rupununi has to step up its game and show a lot more corporate responsibility. Most of the persons involved in football in the Rupununi, be it players, coaches, managers, medical personnel, etc. use the local banks, telecommunication providers, and other businesses in the Rupununi yet no sort of corporate support is usually provided to football in the Rupununi from these entities and businesses. Initiatives such as scholarships for players, discounts on football equipment, donation of gears to a club, and even to sponsorship of football tournaments are ways of showing corporate responsibility to society. This one-sided relationship has to end.
6. Stakeholders have to sit down and have a frank talk on the trajectory of Rupununi football. From the RFA to the GFF to the RDC to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and other stakeholders, all have to get involved. Football has to be fully harnessed in the Rupununi and the benefits can be transformative not only to individuals but communities and the nation as well.
Sincerely,
J. Abraham
Football enthusiast
