The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has maintained its unwavering innocence of a High Court injunction which was reportedly filed against the executive body on Saturday.
Some sections of the media, yesterday, reported that the document was received by the federation’s Deputy General Secretary, Rennela Bourne but GFF President Wayne Forde unequivocally refuted claims of its existence.
It was, however, pointed out that the federation does not have a Deputy General Secretary, the organizational chart of the federation is recorded as having an Assistant Deputy Secretary.
A source close to the matter revealed to Stabroek Sports that a marshal was indeed at the venue where the congress was held and placed the document on a ‘table’ outside of the main area of the hotel.
It is unknown whether under those peculiar circumstance whether that act can be interpreted as the document being served. It will be left up to the judicial system to determine that.
The injunction was filed by Slingerz and Alpha United football clubs to prevent the federation from hosting the congress, which was held on Saturday at Park Vue Hotel, East Bank Demerara.
Stabroek Sports saw a copy of the interim injunction, which was granted on May 25, 2017 by Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
The injunction sought to prevent the GFF from electing any new executive member, halting the payment of prize monies from the just concluded Stag Elite League and also to prevent the GFF from taking any formal action against Slingerz and Alpha United. Forde indicated to Stabroek Sports yesterday that the GFF has still not seen the court order while advocating that the ‘persons’ in the media who are peddling such information, to provide evidence of the order being served.
“The people [reporters] from the media should provide that evidence,” Forde said when asked about what was published in sections of the media about Bourne’s alleged receipt and disregard of the High Court document.
“The burden is now on those people [reporters] who published the information, it is not on us. We don’t have to clarify anything; we maintain that we haven’t seen the document.
“Just like you, I’m only reading about the issue and following it on Facebook,” the President said when asked if Bourne received the document.
While Forde maintains that his primary focus rests in the business of developing football, he may have put those aspirations on the backburner to focus his energies on resolving the issue of the court injunction. The injunction, which surfaced over the weekend, somehow seemed to slip past the eyes of the GFF and its administrators. Attorney Adrian Smith, who filed the injunction on behalf of the two football clubs on Saturday, suggested that the staging of the GFF congress was an act of disrespect to the High Court by the Forde-led executive. The lawyer argued that the federation was issued a copy of the legal document and as such, he will be pursuing other legal actions once the Marshal’s report is completed.
