–NSC, GOA to engage World Aquatics pursuant to GASA’s `maladministration’
Following a meeting among Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), it has been decided to suspend swimming from the slew of ‘core sports’ and as such it will no longer be receiving “attendant support”.
The core sports form the National Sports Academy with a number of disciplines which receive support from the NSC and by extension the Ministry.
The decision stemmed from questionable practices from GASA and its President, Dwayne Scott in facilitating the Sports Nationality Switch process of swimmer Delroy Tyrrell. Attempts yesterday to reach GASA and Scott for comment proved futile.
Meanwhile, the GOA and NSC yesterday gave a background to the issue in a joint statement to the media.
“Minister Ramson convened a meeting on September 6, 2024, with members of the NSC and GOA for a response by the executive of GASA. At this meeting, it was confirmed that Mr. Scott and GASA had never submitted Mr. Tyrell’s documentation to World Aquatics. Additionally, it was established that Mr. Scott and executives of GASA have maliciously and vindictively withheld Mr. Tyrell’s documentation from World Aquatics to exclude him from representing Guyana at International meets.
“In the last two (2) years, the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) met with the president of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA), Mr. Dwayne Scott, and other executives both jointly and severally on numerous occasions. The meetings were premised on matters related to innumerable complaints from swimmers, parents, coaches, and swim club executives. The complaints include biased selection processes, exclusion from competitive swimming, nepotism in swimming, refusal to accept clubs as members of GASA which meet the requirements, unresponsiveness from the executive of GASA, heavy-handed and unfair treatment by GASA, unconstitutional actions and financial misconduct by the executive of GASA”.
The statement further explained; “In July 2023, a meeting was convened by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, the Honourable Charles S. Ramson MP, with members of the NSC, executives of the GOA, Mr. Delroy Tyrell, and executives of GASA to deal specifically with the complaint that GASA was ignoring, neglecting, and/or refusing to advance an application made by Delroy Tyrell. Mr. Tyrell is a talented Guyanese-born swimmer who is currently attending college in the United States and previously represented Trinidad while residing there. Mr. Tyrell is inclined to change his nationality status to represent Guyana.
“At the meeting, Mr. Scott sought to justify why Tyrell did not qualify for change of nationality which was refuted conclusively with careful examination of the constitution of World Aquatics. Thereafter, Mr. Scott accepted that Tyrell’s application satisfied the criteria for a change of nationality, and committed to submit Mr. Tyrell’s documentation in two (2) weeks immediately following that meeting.
Mr. Scott subsequently went on record in the media stating that Mr. Tyrell’s documentation was submitted to World Aquatics. On Sunday, 1st September 2024, it was reported in the media that Jan Exner, who serves as the World Aquatics Legal Counsel, issued a response indicating that no documentation was submitted to World Aquatics on behalf of Mr. Tyrell by GASA”.
To this end, the statement reaffirmed; “The NSC and the GOA remain firm in their stance that there is no room for bias, inequality, exclusion, and unethical practices in sport”.
According to the NSC, it was not the first occasion where Scott and the executives of GASA sought to mislead the NSC and GOA and were not truthful.
“On another occasion, GASA sought to institute bans on two (2) swim clubs based on the actions of a few members for two (2) years. This action was represented by GASA at another joint meeting. Mr Scott and executives of GASA claimed that the ban on the two clubs holistically was based on a recommendation from World Aquatics. When asked to return in 48 hours with evidence of the recommendation, Mr. Scott and the executives of GASA stated that they did not have any such recommendation and were unconstitutionally implementing sanctions without a fair hearing”, it said.
The statement added: “The NSC and the GOA have exhausted all avenues to mediate with GASA and the disgruntled swimming fraternity to bring normalcy to the sport. On every occasion, Mr. Scott acknowledged the above-mentioned indiscretions and shortcomings on the part of GASA while promising to rectify the lingering issues for GASA to function in the best interest of swimmers.
“As a result of consistent inaction by GASA, the NSC, and the GOA are convinced that the current executives of GASA do not have the best interest of swimmers and swimming in Guyana as their primary objective. Therefore, the NSC and the GOA no longer recognise GASA as a sports association in good standing and will no longer engage with the current executive of GASA.
“The NSC suspends swimming as a core sport along with its attendant support. Further, the NSC and the GOA will forthwith formally engage with World Aquatics to highlight the maladministration and the unethical acts being perpetuated by the current executives of GASA to the detriment of the swimmers in Guyana” the joint statement said.
