Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 04, 2015 Sports
By Santokie Nagulendran
When FIFA installed a five-member Normalisation Committee (NC) to run the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) a year ago, it did so as a last resort. Christopher Matthias had led the Federation since April 2013 and set Guyanese football back years in terms of progress: under his reign the Senior Men’s and Women’s Team played zero games, Vice-Presidents had been unfairly suspended, and there was a clear lack of financial transparency within the GFF. When FIFA representatives landed in Guyana in August last year to evaluate the matter, they realised the mess Guyana football was in and acted fast to remove the executive body and install a temporary committee.
The five-member Normalisation Committee was made up of people with no footballing history: led by business-owner Clinton Urling, and including members Tariq Williams, Rabin Chanderpal, Stuart May (later replaced by Eric Phillips) and Dr Karen Pilgrim, the aim was to have people stabilise Guyanese football in financial and operational terms. If the Committee failed in achieving this, then Guyana would be banned from all football for a minimum of two years: in essence, the committee was the last hope. A year on from their installation; it can be said the Committee have completed the key aspects of thetask laid before them; they have been guided by FIFA and achieved significant targets. Positive aspects of the committee have been the resumption of the National team programme and re-appointment of Jamaal Shabazz, Guyana’s most successful National coach, a reformed GFF constitution, a new domestic Elite league and the re-introduction of overseas-based players to the National Team, players whom had been discarded by Christopher Matthias previously.
Yet the road hasn’t been entirely smooth for the NC, and certain events this year cast doubt on the ability of the committee whilst also showing how tremendously hard it is to manage football in Guyana, even with the aid of FIFA.
The substantial achievement of assembling Guyana’s strongest ever football team this year, (talent-wise), was blighted by passport issues which meant four key UK-based players could not feature in the first leg World Cup qualifier against St Vincent in June, a major embarrassment, with many asking why the players were flown over to Guyana without eligibility having been ensured. Further mishaps occurred when star defender Matthew Briggs was ruled out of the second leg in Guyana, due to a complication arising with the English Football Association.These issues will ultimately come to define a massive part of the legacy of the NC, as a World Cup qualifier holds such importance for every nation in the world, and essentially, the lack of player availability for the first leg prevented Guyana from fielding the best possible side and progressing to the next round.
St Vincent, whilst being talented, were widely seen as a beatable side and having failed to actually out-score a depleted Guyana side in either match, it’s hard to believe they would have beaten a Guyana side containing the four UK-based players over the course of two matches.
Further embarrassment occurred with the inclusion of an ineligible player in the Olympic U-23 qualifiers in Antigua: the player, Clive Matthews, flew out to Antigua only to find out he was ineligible due to being over-age, a mistake that could have easily been avoided if somebody from the GFF office had simply checked the age statue for the competition against the player’s birth details. These mistakes have been costly both in footballing and financial terms, with flight money being wasted due to these errors, which is particularly embarrassing for a Federation deep in debt.The Normalisation Committee had shown that whilst they could implement a FIFA programme or mandate, when it came to the finer details of footballing issues, they were naïve. The inability to rightfully hold their hands up and take the blame for these mistakes also cast a bad light on the committee.
In terms of financial development, the Normalisation Committee secured Sponsorship deals such as a major kit deal with Admiral clothing and a deal with Ansa McAl to sponsor the Elite League, but, aside from traditional footballing sponsors who regularly support Guyanese football anyway, they failed to attract new businesses to invest anything substantial, which some would say is surprising, considering the fact that the committee contains members who have excelled in the world of Business.
Leader of the NC, Clinton Urling, also came into the spotlight after being politically active during this year’s elections. Many questioned his suitability to lead the football federation after he became a public political figure, as a football federation needs to be impartial when it comes to an executive member’s public political stance.Whilst Urling must be commended for taking on the GFF role for no salary, it must not be forgotten that there have been numerous perks to the role, including trips this year alone to Miami, Jordan, Bahamas, Switzerland and Canada as part of GFF engagements.
Yet, the Normalisation Committee have brought massive and (hopefully) long-term benefits to football in Guyana; they have set Guyanese football back on track in many ways. The Elite League, which started a few weeks ago, has been successful so far, with local players in Guyana finally getting to play regular football again, and fans deprived of the beautiful game getting to see live football every week. The revival of the ‘Lady Jags’ National Women’s team and the development of Women’s football has also been a highlight of the Committee’s’ tenure. The manner in which the Committee has over-seen the adoption of constitutions in every sub-association to pave the way for the GFF election in November has also been extremely efficient.
Whilst Guyanese football is ultimately in a far better position than it was 12 months ago thanks to the NC, it would be impossible to deny that there have also been underlying flaws and mistakes surfacing which suggest that the NC have reached their limit due to a combined lack of experience in the world of football administration. The fact remains, FIFA is currently holding Guyana’s hand; that alone is the main reason why the NC has been so efficient in meeting deadlines and starting initiatives this past year, the make-up of the committee members is ultimately irrelevant in this regard, as it was the FIFA assistance that defined the committee, rather than any form of individual brilliance from any of the members. Once FIFA lets go of Guyana’s hand in November, the new GFF administration will be right in the deep end and will be expected to be as efficient as the NC have been, which is a hard task without the close assistance of FIFA.
Guyanese football has no history of successful administration, both Colin Klass and Christopher Matthias failed football in Guyana, whilst Franklin Wilson only served as a short-term interim President, so there is no real precedent or roadmap to success for the next GFF President to use as a template, but what Guyana needs is a fresh face to lead the federation with long-term ideas for development that are consistently implemented, and more importantly, somebody needs to come in with no personal agenda: for too often the beautiful game in Guyana has been blighted by personal politics, greed and bickering.
The Normalisation Committee’s mission was to stabilise football in Guyana, and so based on that criteria, their tenure has been a success, they have done their basic job as per FIFA requirements, whilst their work ethic has never been in doubt, their collective lack of experience in the footballing world was the main flaw of their reign, but as the only other alternative was for Guyana to be banned, the tenure of the NC has to be put into context. Pending sub-association elections going smoothly, the Normalisation Committee are expected to stand down on November 14th and hand over to a new administration, led by an elected President with a slate, and this is where we will really find out the trajectory of Guyanese football, for better or worse.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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