Former Golden Jaguars captain Christopher Nurse is of the opinion that sports should not be resumed unless a safe and secure environment can be guaranteed through the implementation of stringent testing mechanisms.
According to Nurse, 36, the sports fraternity should remain closed owing to the current health crisis, unless the relevant authorities can guarantee a safe environment for the respective athletes and officials.
In an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports, Nurse declared, “Unless sports can restart in a safe manner, with easily readily available testing measures and contact tracing protocols it would be ludicrous to re-start.”
He added, “If the GFF and government collude and the resources are available for such a project, then it would be great to see the local youngsters resume training.
“However, given the history of the sport in Guyana, I highly doubt such a costly endeavour would take place and even if it did, you would imagine with more patience that the money used for such a short-term project could be re-allocated to areas of development locally where the returns could be more long-term like facilities and surfaces.
The government’s new Covid-19 measures and guidelines allow for sport events to be staged once approval is sought and granted by the Ministry of Health. The updated measures, which were issued in the Official Gazette on October 30th, took effect on November 1st and will remain in effect until this month end unless it is terminated, extended or amended by notice of the Minister of Health after an assessment of the prevailing public health situation.
Organized sporting events have been cancelled since March of this year following the recording of the country’s first case and eventual mortality due to the virus.
Nurse, who served as captain of the national side from 2011-2017 and found the back of the net five times during his playing career, stated that the focus of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), should be geared towards the restart of the national leagues.
The former Edmonton FC star elaborated, “The immediate focus and urgency needs to be on how can clubs and leagues restart amidst or post pandemic and give the players a platform to perform.
Nurse argued that the GFF needs to create jobs for the local footballers in the same manner they (GFF officials) have jobs as administrators of the game.
“It’s a shame when there are more paid non players in the game of football in Guyana than there are paid players,” he declared.
