Latest update April 10th, 2026 12:30 AM
Oct 07, 2014 Sports
Alpha United Football Club has been forced to discipline six players attached to the club, handing down six month
suspensions to each of them.
National striker Gregory ‘Jackie Chan’ Richardson was the most notable name in the list of defaulters. The others are Richie Richards, Manasseh ‘Ziggy’ Primo, Anthony ‘Natural’ Benfield, Quincy Adams and Andrew ‘Smoker’ Murray Jr.
Alpha Vice President Steve Ninvalle informed, that the Alpha executive was left with no other alternative than to send a strong message that indiscipline, at any level would not be allowed. “These suspended players have a history of infractions. There is no more apposite way for us to hammer home the point that indiscipline would not be accommodated in any for,” Ninvalle said.
Richardson, fellow striker Primo and midfielder Benfield was found guilty of abandoning the team just before its final match of the CONCACAF Champions League in Portland, Oregon, USA last month.
The three players disobeyed orders from Coach Wayne ‘Wiggy’ Dover and left the hotel hours before the game against Portland Timbers to go shopping. Reports state that they could not be found when the team left for the venue for the match but surfaced later well after the team had arrived.
Dover had to start the match without them. Alpha President Odinga Lumumba was said to be livid at the developments. Alpha United lost the game 6-0.
According to Ninvalle, striker Murray, goalkeeper Richards and defender Adams have all left for Suriname without informing the club. They have also been handed six month suspensions which will run to April 2015. The suspended players are barred from any level of football.
The Guyana Football Federation and CONCACAF have been notified of the suspensions.
Murray Jr. and Richardson have both had brushes with the administration of the club since transferring from Pele FC about two years ago.
In February 2009, Richardson became the first Guyanese to land a contract in USA Major League Soccer, with a stint at the Colorado Rapids, competing there for four months before being waived to Carolina Rail Hawks in June.
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