MINISTER of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony on Friday expressed his ministry’s appreciation that resolution has been brought to the long standing impasse between the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and Guyana Football Association (GFA) that had reached the level of the High Court.

The GFA was fighting its parent body GFF to be given full membership rights and the right to vote.
Agreements that should see an end to the impasse were arrived at on January 10, following a meeting involving both sides which was arbitrated by a visiting team from football governing bodies FIFA/CONCACAF.
“The GFA and the GFF have been able to come to an agreement and we are very pleased that this is happening and that they have been able to resolve the matter,” Minister Anthony said. He expressed hope that the two sides could now move forward and real football development can take place in Guyana.
Dr Anthony praised FIFA/CONCACAF for deciding to get involved and bringing resolution to the impasse. He pointed out the dissimilarity of the FIFA/CONCACAF stance on the football impasse against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) stance on dealing with the cricket impasse in Guyana.
“What FIFA and CONCACAF have done is commendable and this is how regional and international organisations ought to behave with their local affiliates. I hope that this will be a good example to the West Indies Cricket Board because if they had come in and done an intervention like this many of the issues that we have relating to cricket probably would have been resolved by now. Unfortunately they have not done that and we still have issues,” Minister Anthony said.
In the absence of the WICB intervention, the Sport Ministry has been working to resolve the cricket impasse and is seeking to pass in the National Assembly a Cricket Bill that will serve as a legal instrument that covers the operation of cricket in Guyana. This Bill has already been tabled in Parliament and has been sent before a Select Committee.
Minister Anthony reported that the Committee met on Thursday to select a chairperson and Minister Anthony was so selected. The committee is to have its first meeting on January 14.
The GFA’s agreement to permanently withdraw all legal actions lodged before the courts against GFF by January 14, 2013 and GFF’s agreement to immediately reinstate full membership to the GFA upon the withdrawal of the aforementioned legal actions were among some of the resolutions agreed upon during the meeting among the two organisations and FIFA/CONCACAF.