For years, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has operated with Nine Regional Member Associations (RMAs), many of them reflective of Guyana’s Administrative regions; with the exception of Region One (Barima Waini).
GFF President Wayne Forde
While there has been no shortage of talent in the area, take for instance the discovery and development of Annalisa Vincent’s talent who hails from Moruca, the GFF is keen on upping the ante in the Region.
As such, Region One will be given a year to prove themselves as a viable Regional Member Association and, should they succeed, it will bring the number to a perfect 10.
GFF Assistant Technical Director Bryan Joseph
Making the announcement on Saturday morning, during the launch of the NAMILCO Under 17 League, was GFF President Wayne Forde, who shared a detailed plan of how Region One’s induction is being approached.
“At the moment the GFF is working with stakeholders within Region 1 to put together an interim body that will work together for one year, in establishing Region One as an additional Regional Association of the GFF,” Forde revealed.
He went on to explain, “What we will be doing, going forward, the Body is expected to be in place in about 2-3 weeks. Once that body is in place, all youth and senior tournaments that are going to be organized going forward, will be organized within Region One as well.”
“So, it’s our way of expanding the reach of the sport but also giving opportunity for new talent to be scouted and spotted in remote parts of the country.”
When quizzed about what the GFF are looking for from the soon-to-be instituted body, by the Guyana Times Sport, the GFF Boss disclosed the main areas they are focused on.
Forde answered this publication’s queries, stating, “The new body will be exposed to training in Governance, Administration, Club Management, Competition Management and once they receive the training, they will be given assignments to execute particular tasks under these categories and through the Member Services department of the GFF they will be evaluated.”
The Region One body will get going soon, since they will also be involved in hosting an Under 17 Boys’ League, as a part of the NAMILCO Flour Power tournament.
GFF Assistant Technical Director, Bryan Jospeh, was the one to make the revelation.
Jospeh shared, “One of the most significant things that is going to happen here is now, we’re going to have 10 different leagues played simultaneously across the country. And I say 10, we have nine regional associations, but now we’re going to take the Under 17 league Region One also.”
He further stated, “So that we have an opportunity to see two players from that region, we know if it’s a region that has a lot of talent, and has produced some former national players, so we want to be able to take the NAMILCO Under 17 tournament to Region One.”
According to the GFF, once they are satisfied with the Region’s performance after approximately a year, they will be allowed to apply to become an RMA. Their confirmation will only take place after the GFF Congress accepts their bid.
