THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) yesterday announced its plans for the 2013 season which kicks off on Sunday with a double-header at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground from 16:00hrs.Addressing members of the media at the GFF’s head office in Dadanawa Street, Campbellville, the Federation’s president Christopher Matthias said this year the Federation’s main emphasis will be on players, clubs, referees and coaches’ development.

According to the GFF head, these development programmes are already in the `pipeline’ since four local referees will wing out today to attend different courses abroad.
The four are: Maurees Skeete, Abdool Hamid, Ingram Johnson and Trevor Beckles.
Skeete will represent Guyana at a FIFA Under-15 tournament, Hamid will attend a FIFA FUTSOL 3 referee course in Jamaica, Johnson will attend a FUTURO 3 Fitness course in Aruba while Beckles will participate in a FIFA FUTURO 3 Fitness course in Aruba also.
The four referees all expressed their gratitude to the GFF for selecting them for advanced training which they all said will not only serve them well, but will also be of benefit to the GFF and the future of football in Guyana.
The referees also thanked their respective places of employment for granting them time off from their duties to attend the various courses.
With regard to the Federation’s plans for this year, Matthias who has been appointed to the FIFA Development Committee stated that a 32-club Nations Cup as well as a National Premier League will be staged. There will be competitions for all age groups (U-13, U-15, U-20 and U-23).
Matthias who has been invited to attend the next FIFA Development Committee on September 3 at the home of FIFA in Zurich, however, added that women’s football will not be left out and as such, an Under-17 women’s team will compete in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers set for August 19-25 in the Dominican Republic.
The GFF head reported that Ivan Persaud, Collie Hercules and Keith O’Jeer are the contact persons for information regarding Tactical and Technical Development, Developmental Programmes and Competitions and Venue Readiness respectively.
In brief remarks Persaud who benefited from a four-year scholarship in Colombia during the 90s said as it is right now, local football is in dire straits and unless something is done quickly Guyana would not be able to field an elite team for years to come.
He reminded those present that since Guyana joined the football world body in 1902 the country has not been able to field an elite team, ”so what we are trying to do is to educate our coaches so by 2015 we would have at least one qualified coach in every club in Guyana.
Persaud said with regard to technical development, the GFF plans to provide that opportunity by seeking scholarships for players and coaches.
He said the GFF has been making and will continue to make donations of football gear and equipment to schools, churches and those grassroots teams.
Hercules said that this new season will see the re-introduction of football at all age groups and he will ensure through advertisements and other means, they are all going to be well attended.
O’Jeer said after some amount of time, the GFF has come to realise that the task ahead is a “humongous” one especially when it comes to the financial crises that the new executives find themselves in when they took office. He is however optimistic that the GFF will succeed in their quest.
Matthias informed that when the new Executive took office, they discovered that there were financial irregularities but have since sought the services of Ram and McRae Accounting firm to do an audit of the Federation’s accounts prior to the last election of office-bearers.
Apart from that, Matthias said when the executives took office, they sought the need for a structured approach to football development “something that was lacking when we took office”, adding “I want to thank the entire nation for their patience; we spent a few months planning our programme for this year and are looking forward to good results.”