Eton Moses, General Secretary of Elite League outfit, Buxton United, sat down with Stabroek Sport to discuss several pertinent football-related issues inclusive of the senior men’s national program, the COVID-19 climate and vaccination, as well coaching and refereeing development.
The long-serving sport enthusiast was candid in his assessment of the current football landscape. The following is a transcript of the interview which occurred yesterday.
SS: What are your thoughts on the current direction of the GFF with regards to the national program?
EM: “Though I am not sure of the direction in the later stage I was not clear on the fact that domestic players were included in the national programme after not playing competitively for over 18 months – a no-brainer and a disservice to Guyana.”
SS: Did you agree with the termination of Maximo’s contract and are you an advocate for the selection of a locally based individual, who is qualified to be at the helm?
EM: “The elective executive of the GFF should have the say in who manages the national team, however I would like to see talented local ballers form part of the national programme on merit – tactical and technical ability, not by affiliation to local technical support staff.”
SS: In terms of competitions at the membership level, do you believe the member associations have been fulfilling their mandate?
EM: “Even before the arrival of the Covid pandemic, the Member Associations (MA) have not fulfilled their mandate of ensuring enough or adequate competitions (developmental – round robin competitions) for the associations, and this has hampered the development of new talent in football. Correspondingly, the GFF has been tardy in ensuring that MAs fulfill their constitutional mandate of promoting developmental football competitions year in and out.”
SS: Similarly, are you satisfied with the developmental arc of the referees and coaching sectors locally since this administration has ascended to office?
EM: “On the national stage it is astonishing to narrate the number of trained coaches and referees trained in the last five years given the number of football clubs/ teams that exist across the country. This has had a direct bearing on the quality of football played nationally and internationally by Guyana. The pool of trained/certified referees remains relatively small and the number of certified practicing coaches is a reflection of our standing in the game across the region.”
SS: Do you believe that mandatory vaccination should be applied to players by the GFF before a restart is green-lighted for competitive play?
EM: “In the global environ, vaccination is seen as mantra, however it should be personal prerogative given the information available for public digestion is relatively new and the fact that it is not a COVID cure for COVID. Hence, the GFF should be liberal in its stance for mandatory vaccination because any increase in COVID infections among fully vaccinated persons will devastate a resuming of play. It is also useful to note that a negative test may be a good prerequisite to restarting the game for all participants on a bi-weekly basis, since inoculation is no guard against contracting COVID-19.”
SS: Women’s football continues to be a divisive and undervalued arm of local football. Do you think the current administration has done enough to not only develop this section of the discipline but illustrate its value especially in the wake of recent issues of non-payment of the players for international matches, a practice which occurred for years and continued under this administration?
EM: “Women football has not had footing in Guyana as yet and it’s a societal thing. It has not been fashionable to the society and so we as a country have not done enough to help it to grow. One just has to look around, 90% of the facilities that football is played are not conducive for females, much less female footballers. The issue here is that the GFF don’t own too many facilities.”
“Secondly we live in a time of equal opportunity and as such all that needs to be fixed in women football will have to be addressed. The public spat on the women’s compensation package was ugly but may be necessary in order to give priority to their plight. I support equal pay for equal work.”
SS: Are you satisfied with the current direction and the vision of the sport under the current GFF administration?
EM: “The vision of the GFF should be viewed on the assertiveness of the Congress, usually passive decision making bodies groom their leaders. It may not be rational at this time to judge the GFF given the state of things nationally and internationally due to the pandemic. Holistically Guyana’s football management has experienced some profound changes but the game on the field has not experienced the might of those changes.”
