“Jaguars WC [World Cup] Qualifier ‘home’ game against Belize to be played in Barbados” was the headline of a story that ran in this publication’s sports pages on 30th April. The opening paragraph quickly lowered the boom on any hopes the local followers had of witnessing their team in WC action. “As Guyana’s senior National Men’s Team, the Golden Jaguars, prepare to embark on their FIFA Men’s World Cup Qualifying campaign in June, it has been revealed that Guyana’s home fixture against Belize, slated for June 11, will in fact be played in Barbados,” it read.
The news has conjured myriad images and responses by readers of differing age groups. The older generation are still embarrassed by the lingering memory of the December 1987 nightmare when our national football team was scheduled to play their two 1990 Olympic Qualifier games against Mexico on one trip, with our ‘home’ game slated for Los Angeles, California, USA. Mexico had allegedly dangled a very lucrative offer in the range of US$100,000 – US$200,000 to the local authorities for the arrangement of our ‘home’ game in the USA. (A similar arrangement for an undisclosed amount had reportedly been reached with Guatemala, the third member of the group). Fourteen players of the 20-member squad absconded – some before the match, others after the 9-0 drubbing – an act which led to the team being ordered to return to Guyana. As a result of failing to honour the obligation of playing the second game, FIFA fined the GFF and imposed a suspension which made the national team ineligible for the 1990 World Cup qualifiers.
Of course, current local fans are very disappointed, but are not the least bit surprised, since this development was clearly on the cards. Following the last international fixture played here – Guyana versus The Bahamas in the Concacaf Nations League on 12th September at the National Track and Field Centre (NFTC) at Edinburgh, West Coast Demerara – the GFF was fined US$5,000 by Concacaf, for the playing surface not meeting the minimum standard required for international matches, and had to hurriedly relocate the Guyana Lady Jags home fixture against Dominica in the Concacaf Road to Gold Cup 2023, slated for September 24, to Wildey Stadium in Barbados. Other ‘home’ matches for the Men’s National team in the Nations League tournament have since been held in Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda, while the Lady Jags contested two games in Suriname. (It is safe to assume that the National Stadium is off limits for the time being with matches in next month’s ICC T20 World Cup slotted for there.)
In addition to depriving home fans of the opportunities to see both the Men’s and Women’s teams participating in international games, these abroad ‘home’ fixtures exact a heavy toll on the GFF’s coffers. Besides the loss of local revenue, GFF President Wayne Forde, in an interview with this newspaper last October, estimated that these arrangements, “… on average cost us between US$25,000 and US$35,000 whenever we take a game away from Guyana.” Forde further noted, “Every time we play outside of Guyana we have to pay them to host and pay them to use their facility.” This is an atrocious waste of precious foreign currency resources and monies should have been earmarked for the development of the local game.
While no one is surprised by the continuing ineptitude of the GFF – their follies over the past few years have been well documented in this publication – the government’s inaction towards rendering assistance to ensure that the playing surface at the NTFC was brought up to international standards in the ensuing nine months is in sharp contrast to statements uttered by President Irfaan Ali on 7th December, 2022, at the launch of the One Guyana President’s Cup football tournament at State House. In delivering the feature address, President Ali revealed his visionary plan for the tournament, which had an incentive budget of $30 million, as the first step towards the National Men’s side qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, scheduled to be hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.
“This is about us getting into the next World Cup. The government is committed to removing all barriers that are preventing you [the Golden Jaguars] from reaching the World Cup,” President Ali stated, while adding, “We will put together the best 75 players to form the national pool, and be part of the National Football Academy. Football will be their food and fuel for the next few years in preparation for the next World Cup. You will have to subject yourself to training. You will have to make positive contributions to the community and will be part of the part-time employment programme.”
Are we to assume that the visionary plan to get to World Cup 2026 has been quietly laid to rest? Has the government lost interest since the last GFF elections? Couldn’t the playing surface at the NTFC have been upgraded to the minimum international standards in the last nine months? What incentives are we providing for our national footballers when we can’t even attain minimum international standards and have to go to foreign venues with far less resources than we are blessed with? As the questions continue to mount, it is the players – always the players – who will suffer in the end. The valiant efforts, hopes and dreams of the footballers participating at the highest level snuffed out by empty promises.