EVEN though they finished second to Suriname’s InterMoengotapoe, reigning national club champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United were unceremoniously booted out of this year’s Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship by that governing body. According to Alpha’s president Odinga Lumumba, prior to the start of their group action, they were made to understand that the top team from each group and the best second-placed team would be advancing to the next round of the championship.
But to Alpha’s surprise, even though they finished their group on six points behind InterMoengotapoe who topped the group with nine points, they were not given a place in the next round of the competition, which will see teams advance to play in the CONCACAF and later World Club Championships respectively.
“Alpha has been for the fourth successive year, involved in the CFU Club Championship, which is the prerogative to get to the CONCACAF Club Championship, which in turn is a prerogative to get to the World Club Championship.
“When we went through the preliminary round, they had us contest a qualification round which we should not have played, since last year we reached the CONCACAF Club Championship with Puerto Rico Islanders from the CFU and that was strange,” stated Lumumba.
Lumumba said he sought an explanation from the authorities on this and was told that by virtue of Alpha being an amateur club, they were required to compete in the qualifying stage of the tournament, which they did.
However, the rules of the tournament which had four divisions clearly state that the winner and the top second-placed club of all groups, would go forward, hence when the authorities of Alpha looked at the chart, they were the only second-placed team with six points, hence they qualified for the next round.
Suriname’s InterMoengotapoe played unbeaten while Alpha lost one of their three matches, with Hubentut Fortuna and CBR Mining Milerock completing the position of the group in that order.
“Initially, it was on the CFU website, that the top-placed team and the best second-placed team would advance. But we got an email from the Acting General Secretary of CFU Damien Hughes, stating that for whatever reason only three teams played in the other groups, therefore our match could not count.
“What is amazing about this is that they (CFU) knew this. They knew that the other divisions only had three teams while our division had four before the tournament started, yet still they waited until we played our matches and then come up with this,” said Lumumba.
He added, “What happened in the case of Haiti, the two Haitian teams beat the Puerto Rican team, but when they faced each other, mysteriously they played to a 1-1 draw, so under this new rule that suddenly surfaced during the matches, the two Haitian teams qualified for the next round as they both got four points.
“This is a clear case of rules being interjected after the tournament got under way. Also they give the Haitian team advantages by letting them know that because they played in a group of three teams, they would qualify automatically and Alpha’s points would be discounted and we would be challenging that.”
Lumumba said it smells of a conspiracy and corruption and it is a bad day for FIFA and the rules of football. Alpha will be challenging the CFU’s decision to the highest level, including FIFA, CARICOM and domestic mechanisms respectively.
“It is my intention to involve all the governments on this planet and all the sports associations on the planet as well, about this wicked act that was committed against Alpha United by the CFU.”
“We have asked the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to intervene on our behalf as well, based on the rules which stated that the two top teams of each country which participates in that country’s national league tournament would qualify for the CFU Club Championships.
Neither Puerto Rican Islanders or Antigua Barracudas have participated in any national league football in their respective country and they too should be disqualified from the tournament and we asked the GFF to look into this matter, which they said they will do, as they themselves are in shock at the CFU’s decision,” said Lumumba.
Lumumba said he is giving the respective authorities a time frame which expires on Tuesday May 1, to readmit Alpha back into the tournament or they will be taking other steps to ensure that happens.
“What is appalling to know is that they allowed us to spend money to participate in the third match, knowing fully well that those games would not be counted, but we are waiting to see what they will do by Tuesday, before we take further action.”