The venue was the Waterchris Hotel on Wellington Street and the atmosphere was supposed to be jolly as befitting an awards presentation of the long-running and successful football tournament run by the Kashif and Shanghai organization.
But had Guyana Football Federation president, Colin Klass, who this year will celebrate two decades at the helm of the GFF, had an inkling of what was to come, he would probably have worn a bullet proof vest over his buttoned up cream-coloured shirt, complemented by his thick gold chain.
Klass was ambushed by three of the speakers at the ceremony which forced the diminutive president to hastily head for the door upon completion of the formal part of the evening not even waiting to partake of the dinner and the usual pleasantries which followed.
Klass came under fire from all angles and the three speakers left no stone unturned in highlighting the flaws of the GFF.
The programme was well planned. Klass gave brief remarks, which gave him no opportunity for rebuttal and then the sparks started to fly.
Mohammed proved not to be a gracious host and was the first to wade into the GFF president. Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport Steve Ninvalle followed.
He seemed to forget that Klass had once described him as an “excellent journalist” and launched a full-scale assault on the GFF boss.
The third member of that triumvirate was Business Editor of the Stabroek News Arnon Adams, who gave the GFF president a thorough lecture on the need to have qualified managers assist in the administrative affairs of football.
Mohammed, a Director of the Kashif and Shanghai organization, said that in the 18 years of the tournament’s existence this year had been the most challenging as a result of the lousy weather and the entirely unacceptable state of football playing surfaces.
He declared that bad weather should no longer be accepted as an excuse for the deplorable state of playing facilities and said that there must be urgent steps taken to improve the substandard spectator facilities and playing conditions at various venues which he regarded as an insult to spectators and players alike. He also expressed his organization’s displeasure at a ruling by the GFF which sought to discontinue the practice of overseas-based players participating in the tournament.
“Apart from expressing our disappointment over the manner in which this matter was handled, we do not believe that our internal practices, which do not in any way go against FIFA regulations, should be sanctioned by the GFF,” he said.
Mohammed also informed the GFF, that the Kashif and Shanghai organization would be returning to the system that had served them for the past 18 years in which the have had the fullest participation of the overseas based players.
Ninvalle, came out swinging, and immediately dismissed the allegation of FIFA vice-president Austin `Jack’ Warner that the Guyana government had discriminated against football.
After reminding the gathering of the government’s active involvement in football including sponorship of the K&S tournament, Ninvalle suggested that if football had indeed been discriminated against, it certainly was not by the government.
He also pointed to the recurring tossing out of national football players from playing facilities and slammed the GFF for its gross inadequacies in this area.
“In the past week national footballers have been asked to leave playing facilities. This of course is nothing new, yet nothing has been done by the national body to remedy the problem,” he charged.
“We know that clubs like Camptown, Western Tigers, and Fruta Conquerors have their own grounds. The question arises, therefore, as to whether the national federation ought not to have its own ground,” Ninvalle said.
He also touched on the inactive status of the FIFA Gold project for which he said the GFF had been receiving funding for some seven years but was yet to embark on phase one while other countries had already progressed to stage three. (Sports Editor’s note: Klass has denied receiving any funding from FIFA towards the project.)
He challenged the GFF to take an active role in removing persons who have been involved in the sexual molestation of young players from the sport.
Adams outlined the GFF’s inalibilty to effectively manage the sport locally and charged the federation to seek out persons suitably qualified to manage the sport at the national and the club level instead of using former national players to function in that capacity.
Adams highlighted the fact that some of the most popular and successful clubs in the world such as Manchester United and Liverpool were run by professionals some of whom had never played the sport.
“The management of football in this country has to be done by people who can manage, people who can build things, who cares if they know nothing about football,” Adams charged.
“The assumption that we have is that if you know a little bit about football you are ipso-facto a good football manager and this is a total myth.
“Management is a specialized discipline and it makes no difference whether you are managing a football or BANKS DIH, you have to have the competence to mange,” Adams declared.
Adams also lauded the Kashif and Shanghai organisation for their excellent work in organizing and managing the country’s biggest football event year after year and encouraged the GFF to emulate some of their outstanding qualities and organization skills.
