Two new officers were elected to the Executive Committee as incumbent President Alfred King was returned unopposed following elections of the Guyana Football Referees Council (GFRC) at its Annual General Meeting Saturday at the Carifesta Sports Complex.
Female referee Natasha Lewis of Linden was elected assistant secretary treasurer and Sherwin Moore, committee member the two new faces on the committee.
The others reelected were Carlos Bernard as the Senior Vice President, Dion Inniss – Junior Vice President, Troy Peters – General Secretary, Dwayne Lovell – Treasurer and Stanley Lancaster and Ingram Johnson (committee members).
King thanked the members for showing a vote of confidence in the elected officers and promised to strive for excellence to ensure that referees development, training and welfare are foremost in plans by the new executive body that will serve for two years.
He had earlier highlighted the challenges faced by the GFRC following the impasse between the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) which allowed some of its members to break away and form a referees’ body within Georgetown.
“We have to work together, we are critical to the game of football and must stay united or we will be sending mixed signals, the time is right to regroup and organize for the future,” he told members in his report.
King said referees must strive to formulate a new structure of governance with the recent formation of a National Referees Committee, a directive from FIFA, the world body governing football.
A five-member committee comprising veteran football administrator Lawrence “Sparrow” Griffith, Kayode Lambert, Inniss, Lewis and Sherwin Moore was appointed to review the GFRC’s constitution.
Several organizations were also lauded for working closely with the GFRC including Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T), New GPC Inc., Neal and Massy Group, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and auditing firm PKF, Barcellos, Narine and Company.
Dion Nurse, Secretary of the Guyana Weightlifting Federation served as Returning Officer.
The new executive committee will meet this week to finalise a course of action for the next two years and discuss plans for the GFF forthcoming Ordinary Congress.
