“THE year 2012 will be one of youth development as our main focus for development in the East Demerara Football Association (EDFA) and will see some new amendments to the constitution of clubs regarding voting.” That was the opening statement of the president of the EDFA, Aubrey Hutson, in an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport, where he gave a detailed overview of his association for last year along with the projections for this year.
Hutson, who has been the longest-serving president of the EDFA, will unveil a detailed proposal to the Association’s General Council for approval, with major developments for youth football being his main focus.
The EDFA will see tournaments being played from the Under-13, U-15 and U-17, along with a senior league being played with two preliminary rounds and concluding with two knockout tournaments.
He lamented that major emphasis has not been placed on youth football, since clubs have not seen the importance of the feeder development cycle and the effectiveness of developing young players.
He stressed that ‘it is time that we look and commence a development programme to develop players to play in the USA Leagues and past the Trinidad pro league limit. We can do it, but only if we have a strategic programme and all the stakeholders work hard towards same.”
Hutson made mention of last year’s youth programme, where he claimed that it was not too successful and he will be mandating the vice-presidents of the executive body of the EDFA to manage the various youth departments of the entire programme.
Asked about the implementation of the Georgetown Declaration and other implementations which were discussed at the FIFA WICWC seminars, Hutson stated that he was not in receipt of the Georgetown Declaration and, regarding the other implementations, none of the affiliates has commenced this process.
Hutson continued by saying “The association has in its membership, two English FA-Licensed coaches and they were expected, over the past years, to work in developing a programme that would assist in the development of the present status of football in the EDFA. However, they are still to coordinate this programme and he is waiting to have an update.”
Training of other key officials, coaches and referees will conclude the 2012 proposal which is expected to gain major support from the national body – the Guyana Football Federation – which disburses its funds from the FIFA grant and levy fees from national and private tournaments, to complement the funding of the 2012 proposal.
The EDFA 2012 season is expected to commence in early March and will see execution from the commitment of the general council, patrons, sponsors and other committed agencies to assist the development of football in Guyana.