VICE- President of the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) Collie ‘Hit-man’ Hercules said that the suspended executives of the entity that governs the game of football in Linden will not recognise the various penalties handed down by its parent body, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).For not adhering to the decision of the GFF’s General Congress which is the sport’s local governing body highest forum for decision making, that prohibited them from holding their GT Beer Knock-Out tournament finals on January 1, in Linden, the entire executive of the UDFA with the exception of Sharma Solomon, were given a five year suspension from all football related activities.

Solomon, the Regional Chairman of Region#10 also holds the seat of UDFA President and he was given an eight year suspension.

However, in an interview, Hercules, who is also a vice-president of the GFF, said that the UDFA “Would not be recognising the suspension.
It was unconstitutional, therefore, we would’ve met today and we would be going about with what we had planned for football for the year 2014”

Asked what deemed the General Extra Ordinary Congress unconstitutional, Hercules explained “according to the constitution of the GFF, we at the Executive committee level should have met collectively to decide on when the Extraordinary Congress should have been convened but that did not happen.
It was handed down to the General Secretary (Noel Adonis) to inform the affiliates of the meeting; this was done by (Christopher) Matthias”

Meanwhile, Chronicle Sport contacted the GFF President to solidify Hercules claims, only to be met by Matthias in turn asking, “If the meeting was unconstitutional why did they turn up? If the meeting was seen as unconstitutional, why did they sign the attendance sheet showing that they were a part of the meeting? They acted in total disregard of the General Congress decision and as such, they were penalized.”

“What we want is for them to be truthful about everything and not lead people astray,” Matthias said while promising to host a press conference to give in detail the GFF’s findings on a number of issues.

“What is he saying” Hercules questioned when it was related to him what Mathias had asked, as the former National Striker pointed out “We had to be present so that we can then inform the other members that the meeting called was done not in accordance to the GFF Constitution.
“We had to sign the attendance record so that we have a chance to speak. But did Matthias tell you that we asked to be excused along with Ivan Persaud and Sharma (Solomon)? Yes, we asked to be excused from the meeting after telling everyone that it was not legal.”

Persaud, a native of the mining town who is also the GFF’s Vice President left the meeting according to Hercules with him upset over the handling of the situation.

“A lot of people don’t agree with what’s happening. The UDFA stands firm on its decision and we’re not moved by what the GFF is saying, we’re not losing sleep over it,” Hercules further pointed out.

Hercules said that the UDFA will be meeting with their affiliated clubs at the specially arranged meeting today, where they would outline to them in detail, the reason for their stands and how they would move ahead with the sport in Linden.

“Presently, the UDFA’s position is that this present executive is NOT recognising the GFF’s penalty. As far as we’re concerned, we did nothing wrong to be suspended in the first place. We will let the clubs understand that as well.
The good thing is that almost everyone on the executive is either the head of their club or a part of the club’s executive which makes things easy for us. So we’re meeting on Sunday to get our point across and to further plan our tournaments,” Hercules said.

The GT Beer Knock-out tournament which was sponsored entirely by Beverage Giants Banks DIH, was seen as the return of ‘year-end football’ to the place where it all started.

However, the tournament which fetched a $1M first prize was given its blessings by the GFF but the organisers were told to not host its finals on January 1, since it was noted that the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) had already booked that day though the two were played some 65 miles apart.
Written By Rawle Toney