Dear Editor,
I would like to bring to the attention of the football fraternity, parents, administrators and junior football coaches an impending fiasco that is now threatening the staging of an Under 11 football competition here in Georgetown.
I write this letter, not as a current executive of a football club, but as a parent who is very much concerned and frustrated by the level of irrational thinking on the part of those who govern and run football in Guyana.
I view the situation as another travesty of justice being meted out to amateur footballers of this dear land of ours and which has now enveloped the Under 11, yes the Under 11, players.
The situation is this: a major company has agreed to sponsor a football competition for the Under 11 players of clubs. They have sought the assistance of an organizing committee to run the competition. They require x number of teams, but are unable to garner the required number from Georgetown. As a result they have to seek the assistance of another organisation to get the required number. However, this is where it gets complicated, as this organisation refuses to give its blessing for their teams to participate.
How much worse can we get as adults, when we seek to involve our kids in our legal ramblings and discord?
There has been and still continues to be a rallying call for all of Guyana to get behind the Golden Jaguars and a call for national support. But how many of our current administrators have worked the trenches and the battlefields on our numerous football grounds nurturing the talents of our young players? There is often no financial reward or monetary payment for these coaches, who give of their time and talent in nurturing young players. Many of these kids come from homes with single parents or absent fathers, and many are very much in need of guidance as most of them come from depressed communities and environments. For them football is the only outlet where they can positively express themselves or receive a father’s love from a coach.
In closing, I urge that those in authority let better judgment prevail and allow football to be played, as we seek to identify the next Charles ‘Lily’ Pollard or Gregory Richardson. Football is only won on the field.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Thomas
