Of vows of silence and men to be admired
Sport Comment
Stabroek News
September 19, 2002
It’s been 34 days since present Georgetown Football League (GFL) treasurer Daune Campbell returned from Barbados with the stated intention of clearing her name from the allegations of financial impropriety levelled against her.
And, though Campbell had vowed to clear her name upon return, so far the lady has failed to keep that promise.
In fact, there has been no further word on the status of the investigation which now seems to be shrouded in secrecy.
Why has Campbell not seen it fit to make some statement apart from the fact that she had placed the matter in the hands of her attorney?
Surely the matter is as simple as ABC. Either she is guilty or she is not.
Campbell had been very forthright with the media when she was in Barbados. One would want to believe she is innocent and as such, an explanation from her or her attorney would go a long way towards establishing that fact.
But the longer she takes to issue an explanation then the longer that allegation will be around her head.
Then there is the Guyana Football Federation headed by Colin Klass.
Klass is a man to be admired.
Not only for the fact that he has managed to hold the position of GFF president for so long but also for the way he has adjusted the constitution every time elections are around the corner.
At the last elections the constitution was changed to bring the GFF in line with FIFA whereby elections were held every four instead of every two years.
This time around, Klass presided over another change in the constitution whereby only three positions of the executive will be contested at next year’s annual general meeting.
Klass is also to be admired for withholding from everyone just exactly how much money the GFF has received from FIFA under its annual subvention of US$250,000.
Reports indicate that the GFF had received three such instalments up to the time of FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s visit. It could be more.
But Klass has shown some class in hiding the evidence of what the GFF has done with that money from all.
Even using a microscope one would find no improvements in the infrastructure. Football still doesn’t have its own facility and teams are still being not properly prepared.
Perhaps the acquisition of the new Technical Director will solve the problem of where the money goes, unless of course the GFF is prepared to say how much money the new TD is being paid, how is the payment funded etc. etc. etc.
There is much more to admire about Klass’s leadership even as Guyana’s rankings on FIFA’s and CFU’s lists keep plummeting to new lows.
But he must be commended for trying to improve the lot of the footballers instead of trying to be elected to positions of power on the various regional and international bodies which he is certainly not trying to do.
If Klass was not good for Guyana’s football then why would he continually be elected to office for so long?