-League Leaders Knockout Tournament commences Sunday
Although scheduled to resume the second half of the Stag Beer Elite League season on Sunday with the ‘League Leaders Knockout Tournament’, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has once again failed to pay the clubs their match day stipends.
Asked if the league participants have received their monies for the five matches played in the first half of Season Two, GFF Public Relations Officer (PRO) Debra Francis revealed, “No, to the best of my knowledge, but efforts are being made to rectify the issue.”
Quizzed when the monies will be paid given that the league is scheduled to resume shortly, following the conclusion of the knockout tournament, she added, “I am not in a position to say.”
This is the third occurrence of the federation failing to pay the players their match fees, with the most recent episode transpiring after the conclusion of the first season.
In the aforesaid episode, the GFF owed each player of the then eight team league approximately $27,000. These monies were eventually paid several months after the end of the first season.
In this instance, the federation is indebted to the tune of $17,500 per player, of the now six team championship. These monies have been owed for over two months, as the first half of the second season ended on December 14th, 2016.
According to sources close to the clubs, the players are being told every week by their respective executives that the monies will be paid soon, whilst noting that the players are frustrated by the ongoing saga and are reluctant to play if they are not paid.
One must ask, can the GFF afford the prize monies for the knockout tournament, which total $3,000,000, given the fact that they have not remunerated the players for the first half of the season?
The eventual champion of this event, which features Guyana Defence Force, Fruta Conquerors, Buxton United, and Victoria Kings, will pocket $1,500,000. The second, third and fourth place finishers will receive $700,000, $500,000 and $300,000, respectively.
Similarly, it remains to be seen if the referees are also suffering a similar predicament. However, it would not be just for the match officials to have been paid and not the players, since the latter are the most important stakeholders in the sport. This ongoing episode will raise further concerns about the viability and sustainability of the tournament.
