“That scoreline doesn’t represent the league”- Forde

…Integrity check to be conducted on GDF vs Mainstay horror show

Story and Photos Jemima Holmes

Four nights ago, Lake Mainstay Goldstars FC endured what could be considered their worst 90 minutes on any football pitch, being on the receiving end of a 36-0 trashing at the hands of the Guyana Defence Force FC in the Guyana Football Federation’s seventh Elite League.
Naturally, the loss has sent shockwaves around the football fraternity, spurring conversations regarding the quality of the league.
As such, the Guyana Times Sport took the liberty of quizzing GFF President Wayne Forde on the occurrence during an exclusive interview in which he explained that in spite of their poor performances, the team has a right to be in the league.
Forde sympathized, “I want to, first and foremost commend the leadership of the Mainstay FC. It’s not easy to show up day after day and be beaten as badly as they have and having as many challenges as they have, and it’s a huge undertaking on their part, to play this league. You know, they do quite a journey to get here and we support them. Of course, we’re picking them up from Parika, we bring them here, we make sure they’re properly accommodated, and all that stuff. And we’ve gone even farther now because we saw how challenging it had been for them, and we’re providing a little bit more resources to make it easier for them.”
“They won the qualification, and they’re in the league and they have a right, like any other club, to be here, but they haven’t been able to perform in the way that I’m sure they would have hoped to. I don’t think they would have harbor any expectations of winning the league but clearly, I think they must have wanted to do as much better,” the GFF President reasoned.
While Forde went on to admit that the scoreline was a troubling one, in the same breath he maintained that it is not a reflection of the quality of the Elite League.
He turned his attention to Monday’s horror show, stating, “With regards to the last score line, we are very troubled by that, for many reasons. Of course, it doesn’t help the brand of the league, because we do have a lot of people within our stakeholder community, and some, even in the media, forgive me for saying that, that don’t always be as objective as they as they can when they report on these matters, and sometimes they represent these matters as though it is a default of the GFF. Now we can, if we have a process for a team to get to the league, we have to follow that process. We have to trust that process, and we know that that score line doesn’t represent the league, but this is just a club that’s having a really hard time because they’re unable to compete.”
The GFF Boss further divulged to this publication that the Federation will be engaging FIFA for an integrity check of the matchup.
“I’m saying that to say that we’re also conducting an integrity check of that match, because we have an obligation to do that, because goal difference will have an influence on second, third fourth. So, we’ve already started the process to do an integrity check. I think we’re about to submit the recording of the match to FIFA, to have their integrity department, have the software look at the body language and the position, because we have to do that. We have a responsibility to do things like that because it’s difficult,” Forde disclosed.
He continued, “We’re not pointing any fingers. But we have a responsibility when we see something like that at this stage of a competition, to make sure that it’s just that the team is either that strong, or the team was that weak and there’s nothing else going on there. We’re serious about these things because we have to protect the integrity of football.”
Highlighting that it is the GFF’s hope that they can drive intensity and competitiveness in the lower- ranked team’s; Forde was confident about correcting such for next year’s Season 8.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the Elite League is no League, and it’s not strong and these things but I can tell you, that clubs coming there will find out very quickly that you have to be prepared to play football, if not the first five teams will really teach you a lesson on any given day.”
The GFF President further divulged, “We want that that intensity and that competitiveness to go even deeper. Every league, there are clubs that are going to struggle, that are the lower end of the league, and many reasons for that. I believe we have a unique situation in Guyana where the opportunities are there for us to correct that, and you’re going to see. But you may not see, because a lot of it will be done in our planning and engagement with clubs. But I think we can fix that. I believe in season eight we can find ways to make it more competitive way lower down the ranking of the league.”
Slingerz FC currently leads the Elite League, unbeaten with 43 points from 15 games. In contrast, Mainstay are at the bottom of the table with -3 points in 15 games with a -166 goal difference.