Woolford slams expulsion from basketball body
By Clyde Pestano
Stabroek News
November 22, 2003
Expelled secretary of the Guyana Amateur Basket-ball Association (GABA) Perry Woolford said yesterday that he does not recognize the executive of the GABA as currently constituted and denounc-ed his expulsion.
Speaking at a press conference at the YWCA on Brickdam, he said that neither he nor former treasurer Eon Andrews was answerable to GABA President Raffel Douglas. Woolford and Andrews called the press conference to respond to media reports about investigations into the recent tour of a team of Guyanese U-19 basketball players to St Lucia.
According to Woolford, the tour was not sanctioned by the GABA, rather it had the blessings of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF).
He stated that he had not received any written or oral communication from the GABA inviting him to any of the special meetings which voted on his suspension and subsequent expulsion (See other story on page 27). In addition, he cited Article 10 Section C 1 of the GABA constitution which says that he as secretary of the governing body is the only executive or member authorized to call meetings. He also claimed that at the moment no player or club is affiliated to the GABA.
Questioned by the media, Woolford admitted meeting a Mr Didus Fedee in St Lucia, but did not elaborate on how they met and what transpired at the meeting. In another section of the media the former secretary had denied meeting any "associate" of Douglas.
Meanwhile, just prior to the briefing Woolford suggested to this reporter that he should not have been at the press conference because he was not invited. However other members of the media told Woolford that his stance would not be tolerated since the reporter was properly identified and was known to all of them. Woolford withdrew his remark.
Questioned about funding for the tour, Woolford told the media that they (himself and Andrews) were not ready to speak about that at the moment since their lawyers were examining the documents. However, he divulged that five players had paid their full `package' for the tour.
In an invited comment, Douglas told Stabroek Sport that he had rung Woolford and told him about the meeting, but was asked to put the request in writing. Douglas said that this was done and that the coach of Emperors Basketball Club, Vijay Panday, had delivered the letters to Andrews and Woolford.
And in response to the affiliation claim, the president said that all clubs are affiliated to the GABA for two years and as far as he is aware all clubs and players are affiliated to the governing body.
With regard to the claim by Woolford that only the secretary could convene meetings the president cited Article 5 which deals with the duties of the president and says: "The president is authorized to carry out any other duties that may be assigned by the executive or the general meeting."