-also cites football chaos, govt’s lack of vision
By Emmerson Campbell
In an hour-long emotional speech that ended in tears, celebrated national football coach Jamaal Shabazz formally resigned from his post, citing commitments to his home country, conflicts within the GFF and government’s lack of vision for the sport in development plans.
Shabazz is widely regarded as Guyana’s most successful football coach with wins in four World Cup qualifying matches. The Trinidadian intimated that an appeal by Trinidad and Tobago’s Football Federation (TTFF) for him to assume a more permanent post was also a major deciding factor in his decision.
In his speech at the Radisson Hotel, Shabazz said, “I called you here today to first say goodbye to a country that has accepted me on two occasions in my football career and a country that I have grown to love.
“The first reason for me resigning is that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation has asked me to play a more full-time role in football in Trinidad and Tobago, starting with joining the national staff as the co-coach of the national team,” he said. Shabazz added that “The present coach is there on an interim basis and it is the view by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation that I can help the staff and the team to qualify for the World Cup. I had a very short time to make this decision and when I analyzed the situation in Guyana with the federation and the chaos which we must not hide with the GFF and GFA and the whole uncertainty of a pathway forward for football, I felt that in the interest of my family and my future, I had to make a decision to return to my country.”
Shabazz went on to say that on analysing the situation, he realised that the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is a work in progress and that certain sections of the GFF did not share the same vision for the development of the sport. “The GFF is a work in progress and where we want to take football, there are still people in the GFF that don’t want to go there, they are patient and I am using kind words, they are very patient with wanting to see football where everybody can eat, they cannot see that football can move from the cap-in-hand begging, to uniting a country and becoming a million-dollar industry,” he said.
The T&T born coach was on his second stint at the helm but he ruled out a third tour, though he added that it was a difficult decision to make because of his love for Guyana. He also posited that without the chaos in Guyana’s football, the nation can achieve much more.
“I came here first from 2005 to 2008, then I resigned in 2008 and then I came back in August of 2011, I say to you Allah knows best but there would not be a third coming of Jamaal Shabazz, I have given all that I can give with all sincerity, I have made whatever knowledge I have of the game available to the staff,” he explained. “I have come to love this country as my own, Guyana has tremendous potential, when I came here first, I was so impressed with the talent, I say with full confidence that this country can achieve a lot more.”
Personalities over progress
Shabazz called for an end to the GFF and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) rift which has dragged on for over a year and questioned if the stakeholders really do have the interest of football at heart.
“The chaos, the disunity, the treachery that exists, we cannot turn a blind eye to it, this situation with the GFF and the GFA is now over a year and it is not solved and we cannot say why men who claim they have the same interest in football cannot find common ground, if their interest is the same, can’t they find common ground? And this is the question that I ask; can’t we find common ground to solve a problem? But we don’t see the players, we don’t see the football, we see the personalities and we see no progress,” he added.
According to Shabazz, despite the treachery and disunity here he has met some of the best brothers and some of the most trustworthy people he has ever encountered. He also praised Assistant Coach Wayne Dover as having played an integral role in the team’s development and made a symbolic gesture to his heir apparent by taking off his yellow jersey and handing it Dover.
“I think the time has come for Guyana to look inside and respect its own. Coach Dover has proven to be the most consistent coach that Guyana has produced and you look at the history book, the time has come for the GFF and the Guyana fraternity to give him that respect because I don’t think that anything this team has achieved could have been achieved without him and everything that he achieved, he played a major role and I want to symbolically give this shirt to Coach Dover,” Shabazz said.
Shabazz then called on the government to revisit its view of sport in development and reminded the media that the Jagdeo Administration had promised the team a piece of land after they qualified for the third round of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. “I think that the government of Guyana needs to recognize the role that sports and culture can play in the development of a nation,” adding that “sometimes there is too much pettiness.”
The former head coach also made clear his intentions to ask government for the land that former President Bharrat Jagdeo pledged that the team could have on advancing to the qualifiers. “Mr. Jagdeo promised that if we advanced that we would get land so now Mr Ramotar, I respectfully say to you that I look forward for you to deliver good on this promise of the land because these men have delivered and served this nation with distinction…When we qualified it was not the Golden Jaguars that advanced but it was Guyana that advanced and the government must see the correlation with sport and culture and human development.” He then thanked the government, players, his staff and the rest of the nation for their love and support.
Neither GFF President Franklin Wilson nor members of the executive attended the briefing.
