FOLLOWING their withdrawal from the Georgetown Football Association (GFA)-organised Banks DIH sponsored Banks Beer Festival, the Public Relations Department of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has issued a press release stating their reasons for the withdrawal. One of the issues highlighted within the release in the present feud between the GFA and the Guyana Football federation (GFF), is the GDF calling on all parties to settle the score in the interest of football in Guyana. Meanwhile, when asked to comment on an article headlined ‘GFA affiliates call for Burnett to resign’ and published in yesterday’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle, president of the GFA Lt. Commander Vernon Burnett declined to do so, saying his track record speaks for itself.
Below is a full excerpt of the GDF’s press release:

NON-PARTICIPATION IN FOOTBALL COMPETITION
The GDF wishes to state that the ongoing impasse between the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA), which has reached a new low with the simultaneous hosting of two competitions, is reflective of a divisive football fraternity.
The GDF as a national institution cannot therefore be party to any initiative that seeks to promote divisiveness in whatever form. It is for this reason the GDF has decided not to participate in the 2011 Banks Beer Cup Knockout Tournament.
The GDF further urges the GFF and the GFA to reach a speedy resolution in the interest of football and that critical segments of the society, such as sponsors, leverage these two entities for this to be achieved.
We anxiously await the unification of the football fraternity so that our club can return to national competitions.