Walter Lippmann, American writer and political commentator once posited, “The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.”
The aforementioned soliloquy falls into the category or subject matter, which illustrates that no person or group is above dignity and no idea is above scrutiny.
The Members Financial Assistance Programme (MFAP), the platform recently instituted by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), is also subject to critical examination.
The MFAP was ratified by the GFF at its 2020 Ordinary Congress at the Pegasus Hotel. In the simplest of definitions, the initiative is a comprehensive financial package for the federation’s membership to aid in the overall development of the discipline.
It has been touted as an unprecedented level of support. That is quite possibly true. Under the Wayne Forde leadership, football administration has undertaken a structured metamorphosis.
The GFF MFAP, which mirrors the FIFA’s model for funding, will annually allocate funds to members for administration and operations, equipment and materials, competitions and technical development, and infrastructure development.
Regional Associations will receive $600,000 each year, Affiliates will be granted $500,000 and Elite League clubs can access $400,000 for approved costs and projects under a range of strict compliance and oversight measures.
In addition, members will receive 100 balls, 200 cones, 40 training hurdles and 100 bibs each year, along with four junior and four senior team kits every two years.
The programme has brought a level of professionalism that is often scarce among the common thread of mediocrity. Kudos must be afforded for this common sense thinking.
After all, the GFF, as a member of FIFA – the world governing body – receives an annual subvention via the entity’s FAP initiative for the development of the local game. They also receive some form of governmental assistance and corporate contributions.
This is especially important for an entity that has never been able to create a functional and independent revenue stream. Its attempts at creating a form of financial independence, the Elite League, was an economic disaster despite the event’s competitive triumphs in the first two editions.
It is only logical that the federation’s affiliates or in local parlance, associations, would need funding to aid in their mandated objectives of sporting development.
Under previous administrations, local associations surely would have been the beneficiaries of funding. However, the current administration has taken it a step forward by introducing a detailed and structured mechanism for local development which clearly provides the platform and avenue for associations to plan their mandated activities.
In taking that step, one can argue that this is a historic programme being put in place by the powers that be. However, the MFAP is nothing more than a copy and paste version, with subtle tweaks, of FIFA’s long established funding ‘machina’.
As such, applying a common sense mantra is more fitting though certainly not disparaging. And although the federation took five years to implement such a programme, it should not detract from its intended purpose and expected outcomes.
The simple fact is that previous administrations have failed to conceptualise such a logical process and/or lacked the foresight to envision such a basic platform. Logic indeed abhors stupidity!
Congratulations are in order for the GFF for applying logic in introducing such a vital programme for as Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York Tribune, once said, “Common sense is very uncommon.”
