Caribbean football is at the crossroads and the time is opportune for regional administrators to re think their modus operandi and create a whole new approach to football this century, says Lisle Austin.

Austin, a vice-president of CONCACAF, was in Guyana recently and shared his views on the game widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world with Stabroek Sports.

He touched on the growth of professional leagues throughout the world, on issues such as sponsorship and what he terms "political football" and refereeing.

Professional Leagues

The growth of professional leagues throughout the world

has spawned a new breed of players whose commitment seems to be to currency rather than country, says Austin.

International football has grown and developed into large and high investment institutions which belittle our small club based organizations, he posits.

"In our small and amateur societies, players tend not to play any longer for the love of the game alone and display little commitment to country but rather favour the financial benefits that may come with it."

"The demand for money to play moves them from a sphere of amateurism to a sphere of professionalism which cannot be supported by the regions' small and weak economies," he added.

The community driven market of third world Caribbean countries is small compared to the multinational corporations and large commercial structures of first world countries which result in corporate mergers that affect global business and ultimately world trade, said Austin.

The attitude of the professional footballer is similarly demonstrated by the National Associations administrators who enter the field of sport on a volunteer basis offering their skills and services to the sport later only to assume a paid position thus professionalising their services.

Football in today's world is seen as a commodity driven entity, a spectacle supported by large corporate structures and with a large spectator support, which is not of the Caribbean. In this region only the USA and Mexico and to a lesser extent Canada are capable of supporting this type of institution, Austin asserts.

"No longer is it obvious that having a number of players with overseas contracts will make a significant contribution to National team development. Contracts of this nature serve only to improve the financial status of those players who qualify and at the same time seem to bring about a deterioration in their commitment to country," he re iterated.

Austin also feels that professional leagues cannot operate solely on corporate sponsorship but must also be supported by spectator presence to justify the commodity based sponsorship.

"This is where corporate sponsors receive the rewards for their investment," he says.

Political Football

There is also a growing tendency and practice in football circles to think politically first and efficiency last, if at all, says Austin.

However Austin feels that efficiency is the main plank on which any organization must first stand.

"It is my opinion that if efficiency, honesty and a high level of integrity are not primarily demonstrated by our sporting organizations, the end result will be failure and one would not have fulfilled the true purpose of promoting the sport as a builder of character," he said.

"Political thinking tends to bring with it a level of patronage which is rarely associated with efficiency nor a high level of productivity. It is usually associated with a system of payback, laziness, lack of vision and overall weakness which collectively spells destruction," he warned.