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Jan 04, 2015 Sports
By Santokie Nagulendran
The past few weeks in Guyanese football have been unusual, instead of the usual chaos and bickering which
has usually hampered the game, the administration led by FIFA’s Normalisation Committee has proven to be efficient and organised in dealing with matters, making a refreshing change from previous administrations. With a mandate to step down by September 30th 2015 in order to allow an elected President to take over, the question begs to be asked: should the NC run footballing affairs in Guyana for a longer period?
The five member committee was appointed towards the end of October by FIFA to steer Guyanese football back to normality after a two-year period of footballing inactivity and personal conflicts under the reign of Christopher Matthias. Since then, the direction taken has been positive: there has been a transparency to all matters and Chairman Clinton Urling has been clear in outlining his vision for the future of Guyanese football.
The first major initiative undertaken by the NC was to ensure that all associations were free to hold their own year-end competitions, meaning they could generate much-needed finances and also provide football for fans across the country. After the legal problems of last year, when several members of the Upper Demerara Football Association were suspended simply for hosting their own tournament final on New Year’s Day, it was very refreshing to see headlines this Christmas dominated by footballing action, whether in Berbice, Linden or Georgetown, and not dominated with political turmoil, as was the case last year.
The issue over when to host the famous annual Kashif and Shanghai tournament have also been resolved, with the tournament set to take place from March 6th to April 5th of this year.
The committee has also outlined a clear policy for the Men’s Senior Team as we enter 2015: a recent press conference revealed that a Technical Director will be appointed in early January, with applications coming in from all over the world.
The Technical Director will be responsible for selecting players for the National squad, have a say in who is appointed manager of the team, as well as overseeing the direction of Guyanese football for the duration of their contract. Importantly, whoever is appointed will have to reside in Guyana on a full-time basis to allow them to fully commit to the role. Under the previous administration, the Technical Director, Mark Rodrigues, resided in Miami and therefore could not oversee the technical programme for Guyanese football to the best of his ability.
Guyana’s first International match will consequently be a friendly against Barbados in early February, the first friendly match Guyana has played in over two years. Clinton Urling has also confirmed that foreign-based players will be chosen for the National team, in the wake of former GFF President Matthias labelling overseas-born players as ‘foreign’ and not part of his plans for the team. With Guyana having lost all three games and scored zero goals in 2014 Caribbean Cup qualifiers, it is great to hear that the likes of Trayon Bobb, Christopher Nurse, and many other Guyanese players earning their living abroad will now be considered for the National Team.
Finally, the press conference revealed that the ‘FIFA Goal Project’, which has been long delayed since first being earmarked for Guyana over ten years ago, will begin the planning process this year, with a track field in Leonora identified as the place where new facilities can be built. Georgetown and Linden have also been identified as areas to build much-needed artificial turf, and currently areas are being looked at in which to develop the project, known as ‘The Challenger Project’.
The Guyana Football Federation’s constitution will also be restructured by a committee made up of no more than 15 members, and FIFA will oversee the restructuring over a two-day period in February. This will hopefully set the precedent for a transparent administration to operate for years to come.
Despite only being in power for just over six weeks, the committee has set Guyanese football back on track in terms of vision and development, un-doing the mess of past years to a large degree already. With FIFA carefully observing proceedings in Guyana, there is no room for failure and the committee has proved to be excellent in handling matters so far. This has led many to call for the committee to remain in power for more than the initial year, with some fearing that the next GFF President could potentially undo all the good work, should the wrong candidate be elected.
2015 looks set to be a good year for Guyanese football, with structure and order back in place, although there is always the possibility that such a situation could be temporary for only as long as the committee remains in charge. With FIFA unlikely to extend the reign of the committee past 30th September, it is therefore up to Guyana, and the football fraternity, to ensure that when the committee does indeed relinquish power in September, a progressive candidate is elected and that football does not become stagnant again.
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