… says former national player
FORMER national footballer Jermaine Scott, now a United States of America-based Guyanese who is competing in the 22nd annual Kashif & Shanghai Football tournament, has joined forces with national captain Charles Pollard in seeking the removal of football politics and the implementation of youth development programmes to develop Guyana’s football. In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, Scott, who has represented Guyana from 1994 to 2002 at both the junior and senior levels before migrating to the USA, said there had been tremendous decrease in the standard of football in Guyana and an increase of the politics, which have hampered the development of the sport locally.
Noting that he has benefited from an extensive period in his career through the Banks DIH/Coca Cola schools’ football programme, he felt the discontinuation of same saw a reduction in the production of more quality players for Guyana.
“There is also a need for the sport to have its own facility and remove from the sharing and participating on cricket surfaces for football. Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago are smaller countries and they have over three football facilities.
“This will enable a more professional approach to training and participation in the sport, and failing to achieve all that and more, including discipline, will see our players being prepared at a disadvantage,” opined Scott.
He lamented that after playing in Guyana at the highest level he cannot see, unless there is a definite turn from the present saga –  Guyana’s football developing locally, hence overseas-based players will always get the first option to represent Guyana over the locals.
Scott, who has won three Kashif and Shanghai football titles with Beacon, Bakewell Topp XX and Doc’s Khelawalaas of Trinidad and Tobago respectively, has been participating in the New York Digicel Caribbean Cup tournament representing Guyana in recent times.