There will be greater involvement of the government to ensure minimum standards are set for athletes and all sporting teams representing Guyana.
So said President Irfaan Ali in an address to the nation yesterday on his Facebook Page.
In the eight and a half-minute address, the President stated that he had engagements with “a lot of sportsmen and women and received a lot of calls” concerning the way athletes are treated and how sporting associations are governed.
He stated that he was “very concerned about the way in which the governance mechanism of the different sports disciplines is handled in our country” and shared their concern.
The President’s address came in the aftermath of squash queen, Nicolette Fernandes’ letter which was published in the dailies asking an important question “Who holds the individuals of our governing sports bodies to account?”
In the ‘hard-hitting’ 17-paragraph statement which was eloquently written and went viral on social media, Fernandes was critical of the treatment of athletes by politicians and the sporting bodies such as the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA).
The letter was penned following the ‘Keevin Allicock fiasco’ which transpired earlier this month in Paraguay at the South American Games where Fernandes snared a silver medal in the women’s singles.
While in Paraguay, the standout featherweight suffered a health scare which was diagnosed as Rhabdomyolysis after unsuccessfully struggling to make weight in his 57kg semifinal bout.
Upon his return, the 23-year-old took to his Facebook page and criticised the brass of the aforementioned associations, articulating that local athletes are deserving of ‘basic yet fundamental privileges’ which are not afforded like a physiotherapist or medical personnel.
It was headlined ‘Our Sportsmen and Women Deserve Better’.
President Ali took notice and said that he engaged Allicock and felt his pain and agreed that more must be done by each stakeholder in sports.
“Sometime last week, I engaged Keevin Allicock, I felt his pain, today I saw another article in the newspaper explaining the anguish and pain that he went through and I share a lot of what Nicolette [Fernandes] said in the news as to how we can ensure that these setbacks never reoccur.”
President Ali further stated that there must be a holistic conversation on how sport is governed in the 592.
“I have given this a lot of thought and I believe that there must be a holistic conversation. Though the sporting bodies are independent, wearing the national colours requires a level of responsibility that they also must demonstrate.
I strongly believe that there must be some minimum standard that must be set for all our teams, our athletes, for when they represent our country. I think we need to have a national conversation on the governance of sporting institutions, their responsibility and their accountability, this is important. We cannot have institutions that are not responsible and accountable for their actions.
Our athletes too need to be accountable and responsible and I am sure that they are and will continue to do their best in ensuring that they maintain a certain level of fitness to represent our country.”
According to the President, every national team that leaves these shores henceforth will be outfitted with a physiotherapist and medical personnel.
“There must be a minimum standard that is set, for example a physiotherapist, basic medical personnel, those persons must be assigned to teams when they are leaving to represent Guyana so that our athletes can have the assurance of some sort of medical and physio support.
I think this is important for our country and our athletes, we can’t ask the athletes to give of their best and to perform at their optimum level if we don’t support them to do so.”
President Ali then disclosed that he has had discussions with the Ministry of Sport to engage “all the sporting bodies and the athletes in ensuring that we set a minimum standard for teams representing Guyana.”
He noted that he was “very concerned about the way in which the governance mechanism of the different sports disciplines is handled in our country.”
“I know the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Minister Charles [Ramson] and I spoke about this matter to improve the accountability, responsibility and the governance structure.
But much of this is outside the hands of government because a lot of these sporting bodies are independent, nevertheless once you are putting on national colours, a country, the government, every single stakeholder in that country must be responsible and we all must play our part in ensuring that those who are wearing our national colours are treated fairly.
To ensure that they are treated with a high degree of respect, dignity and also that they exercise responsibility in doing what is right in representing themselves and our country, wearing that national uniform.”
He informed that greater emphasis will be placed on the coordination of sporting bodies and the sports ministry.
“The government and the ministry will now emphasize more coordination in ensuring that those teams that are selected to represent Guyana that before they leave Guyana there is a clear understanding of responsibility of the association and of the athletes so that everyone signs off to a minimum set of standards to support the athlete and the associations and the government would help in ensuring those minimum standards are adhered to. So there will be greater involvement at the Ministry level in bringing [about] that coordination and overseeing the governance.”
The President concluded by saying that the government strongly believes in sports, evidenced by the fact of several investments that are being made, “I believe strongly in sports, and we are putting more investments into sports, into facilities but we also need to put investment and time into institutions that minimum standards are set and adhered to when athletes represent us as a country and as a people.
To all the athletes I share the pain, I want you to know that you have our full support. Many of you have alluded to the support and the investments that you have had in the last few years and we will continue to make investments and continue to ensure that we do our part from government to build our sporting institutions, our athletes and to reach out to have you fully supported when you wear our national colours with pride.”
