The Guyana Football Federation was yesterday facing a mini crisis over the decision by Slingerz FC to refuse to take the field against the Guyana Defence Force Tuesday night in their Guyana Football federation Stag Beer Elite League clash due to questions surrounding the eligibility of several of their players.
According to information reaching Stabroek Sports, Buxton United wrote the GFF asked them to provide transfer information of the players.
Director of Communications and Marketing of the GFF Rawle Toney said yesterday:“The players under contention are Slingerz FC’s St Vincent and the Grenadines imports (Keith James, siblings Jolanshoy and Winslow McDowall) along with Domini Garnett.
“With regards to other questions asked, the matter is at the Normalisation Committee level and any pronouncement will be done after they would’ve met and deliberated over such,” Toney added.
Efforts to contact GFF Technical Director Claude Bolton proved unsuccessful.
Similarly, efforts to contact Slingerz FC club President Javed Ali and club manager Colin ‘BL’ Aaron also proved futile.
The issue came to the forefront after Buxton United queried the eligibility of several overseas players in the tournament.
Buxton United Secretary Eton Moses during an exclusive interview with this newspaper said: “We wrote to the Director of Competitions on Monday 12th requesting proof to show that the foreign players would have received their FIFA Transfer and Loan Certificates.
“Up to today, there have been no reply. Today (yesterday) we wrote the General Secretary Diedre Davis asking for proof of the transfer and loan certificates of all the foreign players in the entire league.
“The FIFA certificate has to say which club the player is registered and where the player is a loan transfer or a normal transfer in the correct transfer period which is before July 31st. It also has to be approved by FIFA.
“All the clubs were trained at the same in the Transfer Matching System (TMS) so everyone that is doing it is guilty of what they are doing.”
Asked what was the basis of the query he said: “We want the GFF to prove Slingerz has not played with any illegal or ineligible players, that is the point and that is why they didn’t turn up and play against the army. The Director of Competitions said that once they aren’t properly transferred they cannot play in the league.”
According to Moses the GFF has to be questioned in the form of the General Secretary and the Technical Director.
“They knew the rules and allowed them to play. Everyone they played illegal players against they have to lose those points. How can they want to fight St. Vincent and the Grenadines for fielding an illegal player and they are doing the same during in their local tournament?
“If within three days nothing comes out matter, I will be writing FIFA and CONCACAF on the issue. This is part of the CONCACAF criteria to play in the league,” he added.
Slingerz FC refused to take the playing area on Tuesday at the Camp Ayanganna ground in their matchup against GDF, after receiving a correspondence from the GFF which stated that four of their players were ineligible to play due to uncertainty surrounding their transfers to the club.
The letter from the federation noted that the four had not yet received their International Transfer Certificates (ITC) from their previous clubs. Slingerz FC was told that the aforesaid players would not be eligible to compete until an investigation was launched and the matter reviewed in accordance with FIFA’s disciplinary code by the federation.
The West Demerara side had requested for the fixture to be rescheduled but this request was not accepted by the federation. Presently the club has been given until Friday to submit detailed transfer documentation on the contentious players, with a meeting slated to be held soon to resolve the issue.
