East Coast Football Association (ECFA) Vice President Eton Moses said yesterday that suspension of the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) executives by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Congress was warranted, following their disregard for the entity’s ruling.
In an exclusive interview via telephone, Moses said:“It was justified, the reason being because the principle. They were told that if they want to change the date (GT Beer Finale) what they need to do and they breached the Congresses ruling. It was a deliberate attempt to make the Congress look small.
“My view is that the precedence should not be left unattended and with the GFF Congress acting against the UDFA, it sends a strong message. By utilizing its authority, the Congress showed it is a legitimate body expected to act and so it did.”
He added:”Some like anarchy and some people don’t. In the initial stage the GFF was magnanimous in granting a parallel tournament on such short notice. They gave the blessings except for one day and the UDFA should be thankful.
“Development has strained relations inside, you can’t get all that you want and the majority rules. If it was the Colin Klass era, they would be only one tournament. All the UDFA did was take advantage of the democratic process and tried to ride it,” said Moses.
Moses noted that due to the resulting suspension of the UDFA executives, the Congress has mandated the GFF to meet with the respective Linden clubs and appoint an interim body to administrate the affairs of the association.
“Nobody in the meeting voted no that they shouldn’t be punished. They (UDFA) weren’t at the meeting, they walked out before the prayer, the meeting started with a prayer,” added Moses.
The GFF during its first Congress of the year on Friday at the entity’s Section-K Campbellville headquarters, suspended the entire executive body of UDFA.
The suspension was a result of the UDFA’s decision to disregard the initial verdict of the Congress that the association cannot host its GT Beer tournament finale on New Year’s Day, parallel to the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Banks Beer final.
UDFA President Sharma Solomon received an eight year ban while all current members of the association inclusive of GFF Vice President of Competitions Collie Hercules was handed five year suspensions.
