Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter by Carl Davidson captioned “Mr. Klass must give a full account of his stewardship” (08.01.23), in which Mr. Davidson said I am bent on defending the GFF and Mr. Klass. First, I would like to inform Mr. Davidson that my involvement in football started in 1989 as a qualified referee, then as a FIFA referee. I also held the positions of Treasurer, Asst. Sec and Secretary of the Bartica Football Association and a member of the Organizing Committee and General Council of the GFF.
Mr Davidson mentioned that Mr. Duff asked hard questions, indeed, but he then provided the answers to the questions himself which were highly inaccurate.
I urge Mr Duff to do investigative journalism which would have given him some correct answers to the questions he asked; hence there would have been a more balanced comment.
Second, Mr Davidson said that Mr Klass is the longest serving head of an association in Guyana. Well in football, especially a national association in a country like ours it is worth it or even more, and as a General Council member I am satisfied with the effort and time Mr Klass spends on the administration of football, since I have a hands – on position in same.
By the way Mr Davidson do you know Dr J Havelange was FIFA President for 25 years at the age of 82?
Mr Davidson mentions about a weak General Council, our General Council has a more democratic process than the Guyana Parliament; here every rep. is allowed to vote their conscience on any contentious issue, which some vote for and others against. The G.C. is made up of eight associations and two affiliates and two representatives of each sit on the Council.
Thirdly, Mr Davidson mentioned the difference in salary between the general secretary and coaches and asked who is more important. The question made me decide that after this letter I will not reply to any other and would consider this matter closed, because in football no one is more important in any department than the other.
Football depends on administration + coaches + players + referees. Take out any of these and see what you will have left.
On the point of salary, a general secretary of a national football association has to be qualified in all areas; as the chief admin officer he is responsible for the entire functioning of the association. Our general secretary is the lowest paid in the entire Caribbean, for instance the Jamaica Football Federation pays its office assistant more than our general secretary is paid.
In relation to coaches, as long as they have the necessary licences and certificates in the field they can land a job in any of the Caribbean countries, so Mr Davidson the bottom line is to qualify yourselves theoretically and practically because all payments made by the GFF have to be accounted for to FIFA.
Fourthly, in reply to your statement on acquiring land, FIFA was never to build a stadium, but a training facility, this is what caused a stoppage in the plans.
There is a big difference between a stadium and a training facility.
Finally, I would like to point out that the executive committee did admit that the choice of bus was a bad one for this tropical climate, but suggested to the General Council that the organising secretary be tasked with the responsibility for organizing a sale of same which was done.
In conclusion, I would support Mr Warner’s statement that football is being discriminated against, because it is the responsibility of the government of a country to build infrastructure for sports and not the responsibility of national associations.
Yours faithfully,
Carlton Beckles
Secretary
Bartica Football Association
Sports Editor’s note:
Despite his protestations, Mr. Beckles’s involvement in football as stated above seems to support the general view around football circles that he is a defender of the GFF.
On the issue of questions posed by the Sports Editor, I am sure that others would agree, even if Mr. Beckles doesn’t, that the Sports Editor is hardly in a position to answer questions on behalf of the GFF, investigative journalism notwithstanding.
Certainly it seems no one, not even the GFF president Mr. Colin Klass can answer the question as to what is done with the annual FIFA subvention of US$250,000.
No amount of investigative journalism can unearth the answer to that question, either, since there seems to be no discernible evidence which might cause one to conclude that the money was spent on this or that.
In neither of his two recent letters, has Mr. Beckles attempted to address the issues but rather raises new ones such as his contention that the Jamaican Football Federation pays its office assistant more than the GFF pays its general secretary. What Mr. Beckles needs to do is to supply the evidence to support that fact and as such we eagerly await his reply with the figures.
