Forde clears air on Richardson’s suspension from `Golden Jaguars’ CFU squad
Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson
Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) on Monday cleared the air on Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson’s suspension from being a part of the `Golden Jaguars’ squad for their two second-round engagements in the Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) Caribbean Men’s Cup.Guyana’s `Golden Jaguars’ will face Curacao today in Curacao and subsequently take on United States Virgin Islands (USVI) later in the week.
Addressing members of the media post-Ordinary Congress briefing on Monday, Forde refuted the news article carried in another section of the media which stated that Richardson has been unjustly sidelined from being a part of the `Golden Jaguars’ squad for their upcoming second-round CFU matches against Curacao today and their other match against USVI.
Forde in his response said the article was completely inaccurate and explained that the incident which occurred at Leonora, West Coast Demerara in the game between Pele Football Club and Alpha United Football Club had a measure of threat and violence to the officials of the game.
The GFF head said when the executive committee got the facts and report from the match commissioner, they felt that for something that serious, the Federation cannot allow a player to go on and represent the country when there are issues of threat to the safety of an official on the field.
For this to happen, Forde said, that individual will first have to be cleared by the Disciplinary Committee.
According to Forde, Richardson and the other members of his team that were mentioned in the match commissioner’s report have all been referred to the Disciplinary Committee and the only time they will be allowed to play in local or international competitions is if they are cleared by the Disciplinary Committee.
Forde said the CFU Caribbean Men’s Cup has many weeks ahead and once Richardson is cleared by the Disciplinary Committee and the national team’s management feels that he should be called up for further engagements, then his right would be protected to represent Guyana on the field of play.
Forde emphasised that the decisions taken by the Executive Committee are never personal, “we have to protect the image of the game and we understand that some of these players have a very strong and passionate following.
“We have to look at the image of football, both locally and internationally; we simply cannot have a situation where a referee is threatened to the extent that security is needed to take the field to restrain players, and within a matter of days, that player is allowed to be a part of the set up,” Forde stated.
Meanwhile, Richie Richards (Alpha United) has been called to the national squad as a second goalkeeper and Anthony `Awo’ Abrams has been called to replace Christopher Nurse who has indicated his unavailability for the games against Curacao today and USVI later in the week, while Samuel Cox has been named team captain.

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