Latest challenge to the GFF

Once again, the competence of the current administration of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is being called into question. Over the past few years, the many foibles of the GFF have been highlighted on several occasions in this column much to their ire. However, the last challenge has arisen from the unlikeliest of sources, the Men’s National Football squad.

The dissent was published in the Sports section of the last Sunday’s (26th October) edition of this publication under the caption, ‘GFF silent after Golden Jags question inadequacies.’ The report provided the contents of a letter signed by 23 players, every member of the squad which participated in Guyana’s final League A fixture of the CONCACAF Nations League versus Suriname, on the 15th October. (Guyana, in losing the away match by a scoreline of 1 – 5, their worst ever defeat by the neighbouring territory, were relegated to League B). The team, which comprised both local and overseas-based footballers, in their letter to the GFF listed their concerns with the administration of the National Squad, and requested an immediate meeting with the GFF on the 26th October. At Saturday’s scheduled training session, only three members of the practice squad showed up, as the local senior players opted to boycott in direct protest to the GFF’s silence towards the letter.

“We, the players of the Guyanese national football team, are writing to formally express our deep concerns about the ongoing issues that are negatively affecting both our performance and our morale as representatives of the national team. It is with respect and love for our country that we address these issues, but we must make it clear that playing for Guyana should be a privilege, not a burden,” read the opening paragraph of the players’ undated letter, which was apparently prepared and signed, following the loss to Suriname.

The subject of the letter, a copy of which was published in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper, read “Player Concerns and Request for Immediate Action”. The footballers’ listed four areas of concern. Under ‘Unacceptable Travel Arrangements’ they cited being subjected to unreasonable travel schedules which severely compromised their recovery times and increased the risk of injury. They noted that the lack of utilisation of direct flights in preparation for international duty reflected poor planning. Under the issue of ‘Delayed Flight Bookings’ was noted the last minute approach of securing flights for the overseas-based players who had been informed of their selection as much as three weeks prior.

Item number three, ‘Delayed and Inconsistent Payments’ has been a longstanding bugbear of the players, and in this instance, they were quite emphatic in their frustration in their dealings with the GFF. “Contracts with specified payment dates are repeatedly being breached. We continue to wait without explanation for payments that were agreed upon, often with no communication as to why or when the funds will be paid. Moreover, we were not informed in advance that the advance payments for this camp would not be provided, further damaging trust between the players and the federation.

This lack of transparency and consistency is unacceptable,” the National Squad stated.

The team’s fourth issue, ‘Unresolved Issues Despite Ongoing Meetings’ pointed out that despite multiple meetings with GFF officials where the players expressed their concerns and suggested solutions “little progress has been made” and they are still being met with persistent challenges off the field.

The players, in their very wishful and optimistic thinking, then went on to lay out their expectations under the captions of ‘Clear Standards and Accountability’, ‘Financial Transparency’, and ‘Avoiding a Negative Culture’. In the penultimate paragraph, they reiterated their commitment to representing the nation, and in the final paragraph called for a meeting before the 26th October, and listed the names of nine players who would represent the team.

The GFF broke their silence on Monday when GFF President Wayne Forde conducted an interview with  NCN and Newsroom (he was not available to Stabroek Sport). The president noted that “We have seen those reports in a particular section of the media” – re: article in Sunday Stabroek – which quoted a source close to the programme, and as far as he was aware, all there was “was a correspondence between the players and the federation highlighting a couple of concerns that are being reviewed by the GFF”. He confirmed that late payments had been made to the national team on more than one occasion and that the travel arrangements had not always been ideal. With regard to the players’ concern with respect to a lack of communication, Forde claimed, “We maintain a very open line of communication with our players, we respect their rights to raise any concerns that they may have and of course we have the right to examine those concerns and communicate with the players within the protocols of how we communicate as a federation. We are respectful to our players and our staff, due to that we keep our communication directly with them.”

The current GFF Administration now appears to be listing hard to port. Last month GFF General Secretary Ian Alves resigned abruptly, and on Monday, Forde did not confirm whether Golden Jags Head Coach Jamal Shabazz had been asked to resign, only stating that there were ongoing discussions between Shabazz and the GFF. It is now quite clear that the Men’s National Football squad is at the end of its tether with regard to the current administration, which has repeatedly demonstrated its incompetency over and over.