It has been a breathtaking year for football – Forde
President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde has labelled 2016 as a breathtaking year for the sport despite the challenging circumstances the Federation had to endure but believes that there are all phases which are geared towards a sound development of the sport.
Speaking on Thursday at the Federation’s year-end press conference, the Forde stated that “it has been a breathtaking year for football in Guyana and we are challenged each day to produce under very challenging circumstances.”
He added “We have very challenging road ahead of us, they are many fundamental changes that football needs to undergo in order to get to a place of sustainable development and in any case of construction, if you going to lay a foundation there needs to be some excavating and that can be disruptive but it is all in our own opinion to better the game over time.”
One of the ailing circumstances in the President’s opinion was the resistance the expansion of the Elite League faced as he felt venturing to communities such as Linden would have done a lot for the sport but top clubs such as Alpha United, Slingerz FC, Georgetown Football Club and Pele FC had a different perspective on the expansion which hampered the start and reduced the number of teams participating in season two of the league from the expected ten to six.
(L-R) Public Relations Officer Debra Francis, Executive Committee Member Keith Ojeer, President Wayne Forde and Executive Committee Member Dion Innis at the press conference on Thursday at the secretariat
In expressing his disappointment , Forde said “What would be most disappointing is that we set out a sound plan to expand the league as it would have brought more excitement and created interest in key geographical areas but it turned out that the decision was overly politicised and we end up with a league that is being contested by six team which is not the ideal situation and disappointing not just for the sake of the contest but the players who would have been denied a chance to play football”.
However, with success highlighted in capacity building, hosting of tournaments, community engagements and forging solid relations with corporate entities such as Ansa McAL, National Milling Company (NAMILCO), CAMEX Restaurants among other entities, the National senior team’s performance is most pleasing to the President.
The Golden Jaguars managed to move from 136 on the FIFA international rankings to currently hold a spot of 133 which is seen as credible by Forde.
“What is most pleasing is the performance of the men’s team which is commendable and also I’m very pleased with the youth initiatives being implemented by newly appointed Technical Director Ian Greenwood which has demonstrated that if we are to get serious with football, it must start from the grassroots,” the GFF head posited.
In addition, the President is optimistic of having the Grassroots model be adopted by other countries in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and will be extending an invitation for regional programme be held in Guyana in 2017.
The vision of the GFF boss in 2017 is to have the national team remodelled and also focus on developing the soundness of football in Guyana since the one of the main goals is to play in the World Cup.
