The Guyana Football Federation doesn’t need an investigation

Dear Editor,
Reference is hereby made to the above caption as it relates to the publication of an article captioned “GFF launches investigation into Futsal shooting incident (SN 19.04.18). In acknowledging that “the Holy Prophet Mohammed had to go to the mountain, the mountain didn’t go to him”, by a similar token, it was a colossal mistake on the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) behalf to publicly state that: “A meeting would be convened with stakeholders and private promoters to regularise privately run tournaments, moreover street football.
Editor, in my estimation, what the GFF should have done was to document its conditionalities, publicise and circulate them to affiliates, the Ministry which holds responsibility for sport, and the National Sports Commission. In so doing, clubs, via their respective associations, and most importantly players and officials, would have known the Federation means “serious business”.
As a consequence of the incident that occurred at the National Gymnasium on April 14, 2018 and disrupted the finals of the PETRA-coordinated/Corona-sponsored Futsal finals, one can see “a ticking time bomb in the making”. The incident occurred at a Government-owned and controlled facility, without some semblance of decency and social decorum, as in the past, it left much to be desired.
Reiteratively and remonstratively, a high level of duplicity exists, since during the course of last year, a finals had to be aborted due to: “Crowd encroachment at the ungodly hour of 02:30h; while alcoholic beverages were being sold in defiance of the ruling from the Public Security Minister. Such sales must cease at 02:00h”. With this breach of security, occurring in a tournament co-sponsored by the NSC, did it register in the “mindset of the NSC Director that stringent policies, in collaboration with the GFF, prior to rental, must be in place?
Would both parties now sit together and decide upon a “menu of measures” for the staging of future tournaments? Of course, the Guyana Police Force, Fire Service, St John’s Ambulance Brigade/Red Cross are all equal partners in their respective areas of: crowd control security, evacuation, first aid and physiotherapy.
Editor, I may be wrong, but when I am I remain subject to correction. The Sports Director should, if he hasn’t reached with the Chairman of the Providence National Stadium, towards: “Contractual arrangements and obligations, ahead of rental”. Whereby (semi) international standards are always maintained, that is “Prohibition of selling beverages, in glass bottles”! I’m absolutely positive that the National Gymnasium, by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) standards, would not receive an approval as a venue to host a CFU Futsal qualifying leg, since basic amenities such as “Medical room, visible fire extinguishers, fire alarm, security room and adequate emergency exits would come up short”.
Finally, as a previous participant at a FIFA-funded, GFF-coordinated one-day seminar, “Stadium Management and Security, at the GCC pavilion, in 2008, the once world famous Bourda Ground was deemed unfit to host a World Cup Qualifier”. The rest is now history!
By the way, does the National Gymnasium have an official time of closure?

Respectfully yours,
Lester Sealey