Says Donald Duff

Of all the multiplicity of ills that plague sports in Guyana, the inability of those officials who are in charge of sports bodies to do what is right and just, is probably the major stumbling block to the development of sports in Guyana.

Colin Klass

It is the general consensus that those who are in charge of sports associations and other sporting bodies, feel that it is their God-given right to do as they please.

They are allowed to get away with a host of discrepancies (to put it mildly) simply because of the weakness of executives who serve on those associations and the fact that there is simply no recourse to corrective action.

If a player is slighted in team selection or bypassed for some deserving accolade there is simply nothing that individual can do but grin and bear it.

Recently there has been a host of controversial issues associated with a few sports disciplines.

There was the issue of Joe Ryan being named as coach of the track and field team ahead of the local coaches; the selection of Oslyn Collins as Guyana’s representatives to the World Junior championships ahead of athletes with better credentials; the fact that the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) turned down an opportunity to attend the Junior Commonwealth Games in  Pune, India, and the selection of Adam Harris (not the Kaieteur News Editor) to represent this country in the 200m, at the Beijing Olympic Games, ahead of his local counterparts.

But all of the above pale into insignificance when compared to the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) constant slighting of footballers, its sub-associations, its general council and the general public.

Noel Adonis

The most recent example of the GFF’s total disregard for football in this country lies in its lack of effective planning for the national team, the Golden Jaguars, who are preparing for the start of Group `B’ of the Digicel Caribbean Cup football tournament on Wednesday.

No other organization in this country has shown such scant disregard for the players that come under its jurisdiction as the GFF.

It makes one wonder why is it that the footballers waste valuable time training and even participating in competitions in Guyana when it seems clear that it is only the sports administrators who benefit. Take Colin Klass for example. He is always all over the place visiting this country and that in his capacity as president of the GFF and he seems to have no problems whatsoever, travelling first class on occasions with no lack of sponsorship.

But his national footballers do not have a field of their own to train on and are constantly being kicked from ground after ground especially when preparing for major tournaments.

You would think that would bother Klass and that he would try to do good by his number one soccer team.
In truth, the trials and tribulations of the mainly grassroots individuals who play football, probably do not occupy one iota of Klass’s time.

How else would you explain Klass’s absence at this critical period of preparation for the upcoming tournament?

According to reports Klass is due in Guyana from the USA sometime today having witnessed the final of the Beach Soccer tournament in France. He will return to find that the Digicel Caribbean Cup is only two days away from the opening whistle and that nothing much in the way of arrangements have been finalised.

Added to that, Klass will find that his general secretary, Noel Adonis, has left (today) for the Beijing Olympic Games in China as chef-de-mission of the Guyana contingent. He will find that the national players in Guyana have not been training because the GFF does not have its own facility (which he is fully aware of) and that those that do have, (like the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force) do not want the national players trampling on their turf, especially in light of the current rainy weather.

He will find that some members of the Golden Jaguars team are in Trinidad and if Adonis is to be believed, the GFF is having problems getting flights out of Trinidad for them.

He will find that the general secretary has no flight information for the overseas-based players, Jake and Howard Newton and Shawn `Bubbly’ Beveney.

He will find that the contract for use of the National Stadium at Providence for some matches, though it has been signed by his general secretary, is still to be returned to the management of the Stadium for their signature(s).

He will find that hotel arrangements for the visiting teams Suriname and Dominica have not yet been finalized.

He will find that he now has to pick up the slack from the departing Adonis and to try to get things in order in the two days remaining before the start of the tournament.

He will find that he will be unable to give his senior team the necessary practice time that they should have had and that the team which participates is going to be woefully underprepared.

But this is nothing new. The lack of proper planning by the GFF, a body which gets US$250,000 a year from its parent body FIFA, dates back almost to the inception of Klass’s rule.

Stabroek Sports understands that the crux of the whole issue is one of money and that the GFF is waiting on Digicel to dole out the agreed amount of sponsorship (approximately US$20,000) before things get moving.
Digicel, to its credit, has baulked at handing over the money to the GFF preferring rather to pay the bills that accrue. If all of this sounds familiar is because we have travelled this way before.

Who can forget the Golden Jaguars being booted from ground after ground even as the GFF sought to raise funds for the World Cup campaign at the same time suggesting to those gullible enough to believe the hype that the Golden Jaguars were going all the way to the World Cup finals?

Who can forget the embarrassment when it was told to the media that the Golden Jaguars during their training stint in Trinidad prior to the matches against Suriname were having problems associated with food and money?

And one can go on and on. But like Klass’s reign, things have got to end sometime and there is no time like the present.

Simply put, Klass has got to go. For this to happen the general council needs to get tough and demand accountability. They must also demand his resignation.

But before he goes, Klass must say and show what is being done with FIFA’s millions. He must give proper account of how much money was realized from the Golden Jaguars game against Suriname at the National Stadium when approximately 8000 person shelled out $15000 (for ticket bought in advance) and $2000 (if one paid at the gate) to see their Jaguars go down with merely a whimper.

In short, he must give a full account of his 20-year stewardship, the pride of which must be the fact that he presided over the worst-run association in Guyana, without even shedding a tear.

And then he must go quietly and without fanfare, for the good of the game.