Despite being provisionally suspended by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in January 2019 at the end of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI), former FIFA Referee Roy MacArthur has yet to be brought before the federation’s Disciplinary Committee and his matter remains in limbo.
According to MacArthur during a brief interview with Stabroek Sport,
the local governing body has not contacted him on a date or given a timeline for a possible hearing with the current Disciplinary Committee.
He explained, “My status with the GFF is zero. No one speaks about my case, [is] speaking about it or [what’s] going on. I feel it will expose the truth of what is going on within the refereeing fraternity. I don’t care about the career anymore, it’s [about] my life ahead.”
MacArthur, who was also a Referees Assessor, was provisionally suspended by the federation whilst then Head of Referees, Stanley Lancaster, was dismissed with immediate effect, resulting from the findings of a Commission of Inquiry.
The inquiry, which commenced in March 2018, was commissioned following allegations of sexual harassment by several female referees against senior members of the referees’ fraternity.
On February 2, 2018, 17 male and female referees signed a three-page letter, calling for the removal of Lancaster, citing unprofessionalism and incompetence among other issues. More than 16 individuals gave testimony before a panel, with the majority being females originating from the Georgetown district.
The five-member commission that presided over the CoI also included Dr. Melissa Ifill of the University of Guyana, Human Resources Consultant, Karen Joseph; Red Thread’s Karen De Souza and Joy Nichola Marcus, also of Red Thread.
At the end of the Inquiry, the report was submitted to the GFF on November 19. While Lancaster was summarily dismissed, McArthur’s fate continues to rest in the outcome of disciplinary proceedings by the GFF Disciplinary Committee under the newly-approved Disciplinary Code.
The current GFF Disciplinary Committee, which was proposed by the entity’s Executive Committee and approved by the federation’s Congress in December 2020, consists of Chairman Eusi Anderson, State Counsel Shawnette Austin, and former Guyana Trades Union Congress Vice President, Lancelot Baptiste.
The GFF had disclosed that the previous Disciplinary Committee was replaced following a long period of inactivity and a lack of communication which led to a backlog of outstanding disciplinary matters.
Despite their appointment nine months prior, MacArthur is yet to be brought before the body to defend his status. He is unsure if a date will ever materialise given that two years have elapsed since his provisional suspension.
Efforts to contact GFF General Secretary Ian Alves for a comment proved futile. Calls to his cellular phone went unanswered up to press time.
The GFF Disciplinary Committee is one of three independent judicial bodies within the umbrella of the federation’s governance system. The other two are the Ethics Committee and the Appeals Committee.
The primary function of the Disciplinary Committee is to examine and subsequently pass judgment on all disciplinary matters relating to GFF members, affiliates, officials, players, clubs, intermediaries, and match agents.
