The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) somehow seems to have a propensity for self-inflicted embarrassment.

During the last Kashif and Shanghai football tournament the GFF, not for the first time, put its foot in its mouth when it barred Western Tigers from participating.

While some were genuinely angry at the high-handed attitude of the federation others could only roll with laughter, especially when, in the end, the GFF tried, without success to implement damage control.

The GFF had written to the organisers stating that the general council had made a decision that Western Tigers, a finalist in the previous competition, be excluded from the invitational tournament. But in a move that countered the stance of the GFF, the Georgetown Football League (GFL), which governs football in Georgetown, claimed that that body never had a problem with Western Tigers playing in the tournament.

The GFL declared that Western Tigers had fulfilled all necessary administrative requirements and was thus eligible to participate.

So one wonders by what process the general council arrived at the decision to debar Western Tigers.

What led to the club being prevented from taking its rightful place on the field during the competition? How was Western Tigers barred from Kashif and Shanghai but given the green light by the same GFF to play in the Business Schools' tournament played around the same time? And how is it that the general council not have a problem with Western Tigers playing in the Mayor's Cup competition which started on Christmas Eve Day? Is it that the general council and/or the GFF have a problem with Western Tigers or with the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation? These questions should not go unanswered.

In its haste to debar Western Tigers the GFF paid little or no attention due process. It was nothing short of recklessness by those in authority. To date, the GFF cannot justify its action, which adds to its long and infamous list of defaults.

In fact what has been made as clear as day is that the body set up to look after the affairs of football in Guyana seems not competent enough to look over a scrubby.