Dear Editor,
I refer to the clarion and bold call by none other than the Hon. Secretary of the Georgetown Football Association, Marlan Cole for the President of the Guyana Football Federation, Mr Colin Klass to resign, as reported in your newspaper.
Apart from raising many an eyebrow, it has also ruffled a few feathers to the extent that within the fraternity of local football, Cole’s call would have incurred the wrath of many General Council members, most of whom are “toothless poodles”, about his lack of perceived diplomacy over externalizing the issue.
But are they right, or is Cole right? It definitely does not need rocket science to determine that the convening of an extraordinary general council meeting, at the behest of the general council or GFF executive would not achieve anything meaningful. Is there anyone from the executive or general council having the gumption to look Klass in the eye and say Klass “it’s time you go”?
Definitely not! And being the skilful organiser that Klass is, he would have already started to count his votes via the telephone and email to repel Cole’s call and in the same breath to banish him from football. Despite the fact that both associations of Bartica and East Bank for the entire year, which is in its eighth month, have not organized a single football competition, but still have voting rights.
While Nero fiddles, Rome burns! And it’s no secret that local football is burning with underdevelopment! The hastily arranged training and encampment of the national under 17 for participation in the CFU regional championship currently in progress in Trinidad, is one such example. But what of the World Cup qualifiers failures and that of the Olympics. Compounded by the fact that the gate receipts from the World Cup qualifier game, Guyana vs Suriname at the Providence Stadium, is seemingly in tatters. And so too is the preparation of the senior national for the Digicel Caribbean Cup home leg qualifiers. Fundamentally, the only flaw in Cole’s request is that the entire executive en-bloc should have been asked to resign. Finally, Mr Editor, after almost 20 years at the helm of local football the rapid pace of Klass’s personal development within CFU CONCACAF and to a lesser extent FIFA within the relevant sub-committees, that allows him the privilege of extensive travel first class, along with per diems and emoluments, can never be equated with the pace of local development, which is virtually non-existent.
Mildly put, national training at grounds remains a contentious issue, with eviction a regular feature. While the sum of US$400,000 for establishing a training facility under the FIFA Goal Project, is seemingly a “fleeting illusion to be pursued” but not attained after almost 10 years.
Yours faithfully,
Nkrumah Isachar
