IT is the moral and constitutional obligation of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to facilitate and promote the development of football in every community where practicable, especially for those associations that have an affiliation to the national body.

Unfortunately, for over a decade, the GFF under the previously led Colin Klass regime posited a blind eye and was ultimately responsible for the rapid decline and destruction of football and its structures in Essequibo. Today the game is a mere smokescreen in the region without a properly constituted body and meaningfully accessible gains from the GFF, quite devastating indications that must be of concern to the new administration once they are interested in the game’s national development.
It is with a breath of fresh air and optimism therefore that I wish to expressly congratulate Mr. Christopher Matthias following his election as the new president of the Guyana Football Federation and his post pledge for inclusivity, transparency and good governance. This new dispensation must provide an open and candid discourse with the grass-root constituents such as the Essequibo Football Association; in fact, the association has been defunct for a number of years resulting in the body being replaced by an IMC which is also quite dormant. The current state of affairs has led to the Association being stripped of its voting rights at the recently held GFF elections, a right that has also resulted in the complete neglect by the previous administration. To intervene and structurally support the keen footballers who remain in a state of hopelessness. As a sport enthusiast and once aspirant of the game that I would have played seriously at the youth level, I am deeply concerned and disheartened by the daily sight of a vast number of young and talented footballers who would display their skills at the ARCCG and at other communities along the Essequibo Coast, yet they are unsure when their prowess will be transformed unto the field in organised tournaments or being given the opportunity to gain further knowledge of the sport through coaching programmes or courses held by the GFF.
It was simply an unacceptable and unconscionable position which existed and must be swiftly reversed by the newly elected President, Mr. Christopher Matthias, who seems to have football at heart and who would have publicly expressed his willingness to engage with other stakeholders to take the game both locally and nationally to another level. The annual Kashif and Shanghai football tournament has been held for over 18 years and never once did the organisers host a game in Essequibo or for that matter, invite an Essequibo team to participate; it could have only been for one reason and that is the GFF’s neglectful and grossly irresponsible attitude towards the Essequibo Football Association that saw its crippling death and that of the fortunes and hope of those footballers that still aspire to represent their country one day.
Can Mr. Matthias rescue football in Essequibo? I am optimistic and so are many Essequibians who are willing to volunteer in an effort to recapture the glory days that former national captain Earl O’Neil saw when he came to Essequibo as a Coach in the 1990s. He rated me very highly during that time and indeed football in Essequibo has always been passionate among the players and fans. In fact, the new administration provides such hope and activism as Essequibians will no longer endure the wrath of the Colin Klass led administration that denied Essequibo financial support, sponsorship, hosting of organised matches, selection of players and even timely visits by the executives who seemed out of touch with the common problems that existed within the local associations such as the EFA or had deliberately misrepresented their functions as elected members of the GFA. Mr. Mathias’s election provides renewed hope to rescue football in Essequibo as I anticipate an early visit to the Region with the mandate to duly reconstitute the EFA along with charting a way forward so that football can once again prosper in Essequibo.
In fact, I would also suggest that the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, through the Honourable Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, recreate the Department of Sports in Region Two because since the departure about six years ago of Mr. Carl Brandon who was a dedicated and proactive officer, sports has virtually lost its enthusiasm, awareness and productivity between the office and the sport-loving populace.