THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has finally dispatched official documents to the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) informing them of their suspension while providing in detail, the reason. Signed by General Secretary Noel Adonis, the GFF stated “I refer to my letter of 13th January 2014, notifying you of a charge of ‘gross insubordination’ brought against you in respect of your failure to comply with a decision of the Congress of the GFF in relation to the date set for the finals of the UDFA/Banks Beer tournament and to a subsequent response date 16th January 2014, received on your behalf from Mr Sharma Solomon.”

The letter further added, “Kindly note that after careful perusal and consideration of the response and other attendant circumstances, the Congress of the GFF, at a special Extraordinary Meeting held on 17th January 2014, at the GFF headquarters, has decided that you should be and are hereby, suspended from participation in the administration of football and all other football-related activity for a period of five years commencing from the date of the Extraordinary Congress.”
Solomon, however, received a separate letter with similar wording, informing him of his eight-year suspension from the sport.
Meanwhile, the UDFA did not acknowledge the letter of suspension from its parent body, as the Linden affiliate noted its executives posit that no disciplinary action should be taken against the President or the UDFA for ‘gross insubordination’.
In using the GFF’s constitution as a guide, the UDFA pointed out, according to Article 70 (2) of the GFF Constitution, the UDFA (and other Regional Associations, Leagues, Members or others) has delegated ‘authority to organise competitions.’
In the letter signed by its president Sharma Solomon, the UDFA mentioned, since there were no competitions organised by the GFF on January 1, 2014, the UDFA’s tournament could not cause any interference.
“Had the situation been otherwise, then (according to Article 70 (3) the GFF would have had authority to ‘issue special regulations’ since in such a situation – the GFF competition ‘shall take priority.’ According to Article 72 (1), the UDFA – as a member – is the ‘original owner(s) of all of the rights emanating from competitions … coming under (its) … jurisdiction, without any restrictions as to content, time, place and law,” Solomon said.
For two years, the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Banks Beer ran parallel to the Kashif and Shanghai Football Tournament and it’s on that notion, Solomon pointed out “in previous years, the GFF has allowed the culture of more than one Association conducting tournament finals simultaneously on the January 1 date without any subsequent disciplinary action taken against any Association; the GFF did not give official notice of any change in policy regarding the hosting of only one tournament finals on January 1.”
The UDFA’s contention is that there has been a clear show of bias in favour of one Association over another, referring to granting the GFA permission to host their tournament finals on January 1, 2014 while denying them the same opportunity.
Written By Rawle Toney