The Guyana Football Federation (GFF), long striving to enhance the level of football in Guyana, will, in a matter of days, have the opportunity to so do when they host an International Football Federation (FIFA) Conference on Development.
The auspicious event, expected to be hosted on May 13 and 14, will attract every country in the Caribbean Football Union and several representatives from Africa, along with the FIFA Development body.
GFF President Wayne Forde
Speaking at the launching, held earlier today at the Marriott hotel, Head of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana, Mitra Ramkumar, commended the GFF on being able to host such an event, while explaining how the conference ties in with tourism.
“This is a remarkable achievement by the GFF to have this FIFA conference hosted in Guyana. And you may be wondering how tourism fits in. It fits in as MICE tourism, which is an acronym for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. So destinations position themselves as attractive for conferences and seminars, so this fits into that niche in the tourism sector,” Ramkumar explained.
Further, he hinted that GFF and THAG will continue their partnership, especially in the area of beach football.
Donald Sinclair
Director General of the Department of Tourism, Donald Sinclair, was at pains to highlight the growing relationship between sport and tourism.
“Three, four, five years ago, sports press conferences rarely had tourism officials as part of their panel. Now that is changing, and it is a sign of the times. It’s a sign that sports and tourism are coming closer to each other,” Sinclair declared.
He underscored importance of such events, stating, “The substance of the conference is also important from not only the sport standpoint, in strengthening sporting talent and capability, but also in bringing more players, spectators, official and media to Guyana to view or officiate the game, which is what sport tourism is all about.”
Sticking to the broad topic of sport tourism, Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Wayne Forde reflected on the lack of attention that was paid to sport tourism in the past, and thanked the officials for coming on board with the GFF.
“I’m happy to acknowledge the warm extension of friendship from our tourism colleagues and the fact that they have recognised the value that the visibility Guyana will experience over those three to four days will have on their efforts to promote Guyana. We, as a Federation, recognise that sports tourism is an area that we not have paid much attention to in the past,” Forde stated.
On the Agenda…
The GFF boss went on to disclose one of the key plans that are in the pipeline for the FIFA development conference, reminiscing on himself and FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s visit to the CARICOM Secretariat back in 2017.
“One of the key areas of focus during the couple of days that we will spend deliberating football will be a comprehensive regional schools’ football programme. During that meeting, we had extensive discussions on the importance of school football and the extent to which it can contribute to the overall development of the game throughout our region,” Forde disclosed.
The GFF boss explained the need for such a tournament, citing the importance of grass roots development while revealing that some of the kinks have already been worked out with FIFA.
“Anyone involved in football would no doubt be aware of how important it is to identify talent in its earliest stage. We have been working at the Federation on a long-term strategic plan to implement football at both the primary and secondary levels, and we have established working modalities with FIFA for support in training Physical Education teachers to conduct the fundamental coaching aspect of the game,” Forde detailed.
He carefully explained that teachers, and even secondary school graduates, will be trained as match officials for the programme; and he specifically highlighted that the programme must be of good quality ‘without breaking the bank’. As such, the draft has been submitted to the rest of the Caribbean nations, who are said to be reviewing it.
“FIFA has submitted a draft to the CARICOM family – (which) I understand is being considered by all the members of the community — that sets out in the clearest possible terms the support that FIFA will be bringing to the regional football programme and FIFA’s expectation of what should be reciprocated by the regional members”, Forde said.
The delegates for the FIFA Development Conference are expected to arrive in Guyana on May 13, with their departure set for May 16 and 17.
