“Where is the pride?”

Shabazz calls out club administrators, players

The seventh season of the Guyana Football Federation’s Elite League is now done and dusted, and again, it was the usual suspects who finished at the top of the competition.
As Slingerz Football Club (50 points – 18 games – 16 wins, two draws) lifted their second trophy in League history, the Guyana Police Force (40 points – 18 games – 12 wins, four draws, two losses) finished second, while 2024 champions Guyana Defence Force Football Club (39 points – 18 games – 12 wins, three draws, three losses) had to settle for third. Western Tigers (34 points – 18 games – 10 wins, four draws, four losses) and Santos Football Club (26 points – 18 games – eight wins, two draws, eight losses) completed the top five.

Following the League’s conclusion, Slingerz Football Club gaffer Jamaal Shabazz was quizzed about what can be done to improve the League, leading Shabazz to call out the participating clubs’ administrators.
“I think it’s important that the administration of some of the clubs take a long, hard look at themselves. We all know how to judge a coach; if he don’t win matches, the coach is not a good coach. That’s what the fans say. If a player miss a goal or a defender get dribble, the fans say ‘not a good player’; what are the yardsticks that we using to measure the administrator at club and national team level?” Shabazz questioned.
He continued, “The administrators allowed to get away with having mediocre squads, lack of sponsorship for their teams, lack of finance, no facilities. What is then the job of administrators? The job of the coach is to coach, the job of the player is to play, what are the administrators of these clubs doing to find funding? So that teams like Slingerz, like GDF, like Police could get even if it’s a match fee, it’s difficult. It brings the League down to three teams, maybe four if you check Western on a serious day. To go out and train; the players have lost that desire.”
As such, the former Golden Jaguars Head Coach had made a call for the improvement of the clubs in the League.
Shabazz passionately expressed, “We made a vow in Slingerz: no team that not training could come and get less than five from us because we have to make that statement. Because whether you getting paid or you’re not getting paid, this is the Elite League of Guyana, and guys have got to come to the League with a standard.
“I could’ve played; in fact, if the registration was not closed, I would’ve registered,” Shabazz joked. “Some of the guys on some teams, bigger than me. Where is the pride? But administratively, the administrators of clubs in Guyana have got to get off of their laurels and find ways to improve their clubs.”
Cognisant of the fact that clubs need monetary support, Shabazz also made an appeal to corporate Guyana to lend their support.
“We have all these corporate entities now in Guyana, coming for the oil; in the abundance of water, only the fool is thirsty. And I’m also calling Corporate Guyana to focus. You come into we country, you see the resources; help our people, invest in sports, invest in culture. Do not just take the profits from the oil and take it back to your countries. Invest in our people,” Shabazz urged.
The championship-winning team in the Elite League took home a $2 million grand prize after eight months of competition this year.