ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – An official from football’s world governing body, FIFA, is scheduled to arrive here today to investigate the ongoing turmoil plaguing the Grenada Football Association.
John Collins, a member of FIFA’s legal committee, will evaluate the facts surrounding the events of the last few weeks and make recommendations on the way forward, said a statement released by the GFA Secretariat.
Nineteen of the 35 clubs involved in the GFA, voted to remove the Ashley Folkes executive during an extraordinary meeting of the General Council recently.
Folkes, accused of violating as many as 20 GFA statutes, fragmenting the executive, and ignoring complaints from clubs, said FIFA would not recognize a normalization committee appointed by the clubs to run football.
“That ruling had put in place a committee and I happen to know that FIFA would not recognize [it] in anyway in any form by any stretch of the imagination,” Folkes told CMC Sports on Monday.
“If FIFA, in its findings find that the situation is as such that they put an interim committee with the view of a new election, we would comply with whatever FIFA says.”
Last year, FIFA ruled that the Folkes-led executive was guilty of violating GFA statutes and refusing to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Council to entertain a no confidence motion against him.
Collins is schedule to meet with various stakeholders including the GFA executive and the General Council members as part of his investigation.
The GFA Secretariat has announced a suspension of all its competitions until FIFA issues an official ruling on the controversy.
“I think he would be on a fact-finding mission to see if what actually went on with the 19 clubs was legitimate in terms of notification with the executive,” said Patrick Francis, a Council member.
“They would go back and make their ruling. I think they are here basically to assess the situation, not so much to come in support of the then executive.”
Folkes has been protesting his administration’s expulsion on the grounds that proper procedure was not followed.
“In my estimation I think that somewhere along the line that we would basically be seeing FIFA saying enough of this nonsense,” said another council member Paul Roberts.
“I think what would happen is they would probably dissolve the Grenada Football Association and decide that we would have to go into election. Maybe put a normalization committee in place.”
