GFF needs pressure from media, corporate community
- Director of Sport
By Steve Ninvalle
Stabroek News
August 1, 2004
Director of Sport Neil Kumar is highly disturbed at the present state of football in the country and is calling on the media and corporate community to put pressure on the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to bring about a change in the way the sport is being managed.
Kumar was commenting on the escalating rift between the General Council of the Georgetown Football League (GFL) and the GFF.
"I am very disturbed about what is happening to football in Guyana. The GFF must be more accountable and more transparent and as one of the leading organisations in the country it must make sure that all of its associations are in order," Kumar told Stabroek Sport.
"I have been following the issue between the GFF and the General Council of the GFL very closely and hope that it can be resolved as quickly as possible.
"I hope that the media and corporate people can put some pressure on the GFF so that they can do the right thing and be more transparent," Kumar declared.
Kumar is the second senior government functionary to call for transparency from the controversy-prone federation. In 2001, following the infamous stadium fiasco, Minister of Sport Gail Teixeira had slammed the GFF demanding that it be more open and honest with the football community.
The GFF and General Council are in disagreement concerning who is the legitimate body to run the affairs of football in the city. Early last month the GFF dissolved the IMC of the GFL and installed a hand-picked panel.
The GFL General Council later rejected the panel and elected a Steering Committee to administer its affairs. The GFF subsequently held a meeting with the Steering Committee and the panel where the federation claimed that it could not recognize the Steering Committee since a general council does not exist in Georgetown as the clubs are not regularized.
Declaring that it was a compromise for the good of the game, the GFF invited a merger of the two sides to administer football in Georgetown.
This too was rejected by the General Council which again voted for the Steering Committee to be at the helm until the Annual General Meeting is held early next month.
Since then the Steering Committee has dispatched a letter to CONCACAF and the Guyana Olympic Association asking that they mediate.
Touching on the issue of the federation's modus operandi in arriving at the panel, Kumar said he was surprised. "You cannot hand-pick people," the Director of Sport said.
He added that if the federation is finding it difficult to cope his department is willing to give assistance. "If the GFF needs help they can call on us," Kumar declared.