Dear Editor,
I would like first to express my gratitude and congratulations to the male and female footballers who tried their best in the Inter-Guiana Games. They were put to the ‘slaughter,’ but came out alive, wiser and stronger; they should not despair. General George Patton once said, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”
The Guyana Football Federation, for reasons only the National Sports Commission could say, was bypassed this year in the preparation and running off of the Inter-Guiana Games football. Instead they opted to go it alone and appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Mr Steve Ninvalle, to run the football aspect. There are numerous statements being made in the press to make the GFF look bad; although I am an employee, the statements I am about to make are made on my own behalf. I was the manager of the team which played in Suriname in 2008, and a number of inefficiencies transpired then and still continue. To date I have not been paid my overseas stipend as manager of the team in Suriname last year.
I am not attacking any particular individual or organization; what I am attempting to do is to correct the system and the modus operandi. For too long sports and sports men/women have been treated as just another thing.
The matches were scheduled for the Camp Ayanganna Ground, Thomas Lands and the GDF were given the task of preparing the playing venue. In all fairness to the GDF, marking a football ground requires expertise, and the GDF has no such qualified person. I was asked to pop in to check the markings of the ground, and to my dismay these were noticeably wrong. The penalty and goal areas were both enlarged by about one yard and this had to be corrected, hence there were two lines in that area which was a nightmare for both players and referees.
In 2008 when the GFF was involved we were approached to formulate a plan to have a women’s team. When we proposed bringing a team out of Lethem, the usual cry was heard – no money was available. I eventually learnt that a team would be coming from Berbice; as fate would have it I saw the team playing and I saw a wide margin of defeat. On my return to Georgetown I spoke to some people who work at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and told them that Buxton, Victoria and Mocha had lots of young talent. I even proposed that they should let Buxton travel to Berbice and engage the team in a practice game; Buxton had volunteered to pay their own passage.
But the response was that nothing would change the director’s objective. I saw an article in the newspapers about the women’s team having a surprise in store. Was that performance the surprise? It is my opinion that persons who do not know the ramifications of preparing a national football team or any national team at all should seek the advice of the experts before they make wild public statements. I commend Coach Humphrey for his efforts, but his task was mountainous. However, he should keep up the good work and encourage the females to continue because they can only get better.
I sympathise with Coach Hunte; he had an unenviable job to get a strong representative male team. He tried, but he was not supported in his cause. How can Guyana have a properly prepared team if the coach was not given the necessary support from his authorities? I am aware on numerous occasions the coach made attempts to travel out of Georgetown to conduct scouting, but all was called off at the last moment. How can a national team train with 2 or 3 balls? That is absurd. Every player needs to have a ball, or a minimum of at least 1 ball for 2 players. How can a national team train without basic water? This is too much. Players from Linden complained of not being fed properly when they were in town to train; they were given puri without beverages and Chinese fried rice, and when the complained of some deficiency with it they were told go home and eat there by a senior national sports commission officer. Oh how absurd can we get. How can a national team train on a small substandard ground and then have to go on an international size field and expect to do well. How can a national team not play practice games and still be expected to win? All of the above leads to disaster, and yet the GFF is being lambasted for not assisting.
I am glad that the powers that be realize it is not child’s play when preparing a national team to do well. It is hard work, plenty cash and dedicated people that are needed.
Muhammad Ali once said that the man who viewed the world at 50 in the same way as he did at 20 had wasted 30 years of his life.
Yours faithfully,
Lawrence Griffith
