The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) disputes the Stabroek News editorial of July 26th, 2023, headlined “Backdoor tax”, stating that the decision to implement a fee structure for match officials and referees was part of its mandate to regulate the sport and not a mechanism to improve its coffers.
The GFF in a press release stated, “The editorial of July 26, 2023 headlined ‘Backdoor tax’ is predicated on the patently false premise that the implementation of a fee structure for match officials and referees from the 2023/2024 season is a backdoor tax to boost the coffers of the Federation. It becomes necessary to contextualise the rationale for the fee structure. Article 1 of the GFF’s Constitution mandates the Council to control, regulate and bring about order and structure in the operations of football in all its forms in the jurisdiction of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. To realise this, it is incumbent on the Federation to align its operations with FIFA’s statutes and international best practices.”
The editorial in question queried whether the recently enacted fee structure for match officials and referees, given its exorbitant increases in comparison to the previous revision in 2017, could be construed as a mechanism to control who can conduct tournaments, and also as a means to acquire funds to assist in the reduction of fees owed to referees for several years.
The editorial repeated an allegation that the current GFF administration and its predecessors owe referees in excess of $5 million in officiating fees. It also stated that several officials were yet to be paid for the highly publicized ‘One Guyana’ Cup, hosted by the Government of Guyana in partnership with the GFF, which concluded on New Year’s Day.
The GFF statement said that the absence of a defined and established fee structure had often been a source of conflict and an issue of contention between the football community and the referee fraternity.
It stated: “In implementing the fee structure, the GFF maintains that:
• One hundred percent (100%) of the match official/referee fees paid by our football community, go directly to the match officials/referees. The GFF administration DOES NOT retain any of these payments. This will continue with this new fee structure.
• The payment of Match official/referee fees for performing duties in a tournament is a well-established and globally accepted policy approved by Football’s world governing body – FIFA.
• The new fee structure enables our football community to plan well and prepare accurate budgets for all categories of football tournaments.
• The establishment and publication of an officially approved fee structure is in line with the GFF’s policy of openness, transparency and fairness, and is the outcome of many weeks of consultations with our football community.”
The release contended that Stabroek News should have solicited a comment instead of inaccurately editorializing the matter, adding that the federation has often highlighted the phenomenon of journalists serving in the capacity of promoters in the local sporting landscape, which inevitably leads to a conflict of interest; a practice that should be expunged from the respective newsrooms.
Most importantly, the GFF skips addressing the allegations of the outstanding millions owed to the match officials for tournaments which they conducted or approved, the primary focus of the editorial.
Interestingly, the release states, “100% of match fees paid by the football community go directly to the match officials/referees”. If this is indeed the case, why was the allegation of referees being owed significant sums not refuted? It also failed to address whether officials were still owed for their work in the ‘One Guyana’ Cup.
Although the establishment and publication of the approved fee structure was never the contention of the editorial, the GFF did not explain or address how the increases from the previous 2017 match fee model was conceptualized and calculated, but rather adopted a simple diversion by quoting FIFA statutes as a means to justify its authority to enact such a decision.
The GFF, while opting not to disclose which stakeholders were consulted before the enactment and implementation of the new match structure, just stated that weeks of consultations had occurred with the football community.
