CONCACAF’s McIntosh pleased with progress of Guyanese football

…anticipates completion of D’Urban Park facility

By Jemima Holmes
In a matter of years, a state-of-the-art football facility will sit in the heart of Georgetown at D’Urban Park, making international or even Elite League games more accessible to a larger portion of the Guyanese population.
One CONCACAF and Caribbean Project Senior Manager Howard McIntosh, who is visiting Guyana for a few days, was all smiles as he arrived at the 7.3 acre plot of land at D’Urban Park for his official tour on Wednesday morning.

The ‘prime location’ land, which was acquired by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) on a 25-year lease, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Guyana (GoG) back in February, will not only hold a state-of-the-art full sized football pitch, along with stands, but also two mini pitches, an admin building and a convenient parking lot.
At the walk around on Wednesday, Director of Sport, Christopher Jones stated that the GFF’s acquisition of land is only the first of many. He explained that he was committed to repeating the gesture for other sports associations, given that land was available and the Association was ready to utilise it.
“We will continue to lend support and make land available to the various associations or federations, once those lands are available for them. But, of course, it speaks to the capacity of the federations and associations to build on those lands,” Jones said.
McIntosh, in turn, welcomed the idea of this as he joked lightly about the abundance of land in Guyana as compared to other Caribbean nations.
GFF President Wayne Forde took the time to disclose the nature of McIntosh’s visit, stating “The purpose of Mr McIntosh’s visit here is to convey to all of Guyana President (Victor) Montagliani’s warm wishes and congratulations for our success at the CONCACAF Nations League and our qualification for the Gold Cup.”
The GFF boss went on to explain the value of McIntosh’s input, given the nature of his relationship with the Federation.
“Howard has remained very integral in providing guidance to the GFF in terms of how we prioritise some of our activities, the projects that we’ve been applying for. He’s been behind the scenes giving us as much support as we need from time to time,” Forde noted.
McIntosh, who is expected to complete his visit today after other official CONCACAF duties, proudly stated that he was satisfied with Guyana’s football development.
“It pleases me tremendously to come here to see and discuss more infrastructure development in Guyana. This type of development must lead to more returns in terms of football and sport generally,” he said.
Furthermore, McIntosh indicated that such ventures would directly impact the quality of Guyanese football, noting that the country was already seeing the benefits.
“I think the Director of Sport and the GFF President have already indicated the possibilities. And there’s nothing like seeing the manifestations of the possibilities becoming a reality, such as the performance at the Nations League, such as the performance of your girls as well and the qualification to the Gold Cup,” McIntosh explained.
While commending the President and the Federation on the remarkable performance at the CONCACAF level, the Caribbean Project Senior Manager emphasised the importance of having such a facility or two. He touched on the possibilities having the leisure of structured training times and continued grassroots programmes.
“What this can do to change football in Guyana is grassroots development, youth football development. And of course the elite football development in terms of training pitches,” he said.
The facility at D’Urban Park is expected to be completed by 2021.