Dear Editor,
I extend my profound gratitude to Orin Davidson, former Sports Editor of Stabroek News, for his masterpiece captioned ‘Matthias must explain his “Toothless Jaguars”’ (SN, September 9). On a pertinent point can Duncan Saul explain what he meant in the opening paragraph of his story captioned, ‘Golden Jaguars in last ditch attempt to qualify -In must win match against hosts St Kitts & Nevis’ (SN, September 7). There it was said, “With only a mathematical chance of qualifying for the second round of the CFU Caribbean Cup Guyana will require a win against host nation St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) in their final matchup today at the Warner Park Sporting Complex to keep their hopes alive.” And from a mathematical perspective did Mr Saul know that Guyana’s chance of qualifying, apart from winning, required a victory by at least a 6 goal clear margin? Since the hosts had already beaten Dominica 5-0, the hosts’ goal difference would have been -1 had Guyana succeeded, and the Jaguars +4, having previously lost 0-2 to St Lucia.
As a consequence I must express my disappointment that Mr Saul’s ‘mathematical’ approach escaped proof reading and editing by the Sports Editor, together with a word of caution. However, I await with bated breath the publication of a ‘Sports Scope – Our Opinion,’ since it’s time for hard questions to be asked on the “continuous maladministration and underdevelopment of local football.” Meanwhile Mr Davidson’s no-nonsense approach in his article, with explicit descriptions such as, “…‘Toothless Jaguars. A hodge-podge collection of players… This of course is not entirely the players’ fault. Rather the buck stops squarely at the feet of Guyana Football Federation President Christopher Matthias and his cohorts, who made an unholy mess in assembling and equipping the squad for a vital competition… due to a combination of petty politics and lack of will compliments of a dysfunctional GFF, Guyana is now in the doldrums…
The GFF president frequently attacks the previous administration about the debt it incurred, but it is nothing to be ashamed of for small countries, especially in Guyana’s case because the Jaguars could not have reached as far in those 2014 WC qualifiers without a costly bill of expenses.”
Space and time constraints do not allow me to elaborate more upon Mr Davidson’s meritorious article, but once again, a hearty thank you for providing the public with a meaningful, professional insight. Editor, it is common knowledge that the debt was in the vicinity of $30,000,000. Did Mr Matthias upon his election prioritise the reduction by way of fundraising ventures? By the way, what is the current debt now? From all indications Mr Matthias loves to do things his own way, that is why there would always be a clarion call for a vote of no confidence, since constitutionality, protocol and procedure are continuously overlooked.
Yours faithfully,
Lester Sealey
