CFU chief wants cost of inter-regional travel addressed

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (CMC )– Caribbean football chief Gordon “Banks” Derrick says the issue of air travel within the region is hindering the development of the sport and needs to be addressed urgently.Pointing out it was important national teams in the Caribbean played each other as often as possible, Derrick stressed that the exorbitant costs of inter-regional travel was resulting in a reduction of friendly internationals.
“One of the biggest problems we’re having is travel and we have to solve that. I’m not certain how we are going to solve it but we have to. I went to Guadeloupe [recently] and it cost me US$550. I could have gone to Miami for cheaper,” the Caribbean Football Union president told CMC Sports.
“We have to work out a way to travel because you can train as much as you want but if you’re not playing games you can’t develop the weight and the speed which you need to compete globally.”
He continued: “Do I have the answer? No. But we need to knock our heads together, come up with a plan and decide how we’re going to get that done so that on a regular basis if Barbados wants to play Antigua it would be no problem, if Antigua wants to play St Lucia [no problem] and if St Lucia wants to play Cayman Islands [no problem].
“It should be a matter of picking up the phone and making the arrangements. I don’t know how that is going to be done but we have to work on it. Once we can get that solved, then it will be ok.”
Derrick assumed the reins of the CFU two years ago, in the wake of the cash-for-votes scandal that resulted in the resignation of Trinidadian Jack Warner.
The Antiguan said that since coming to office, his administration had sought to reform the CFU, creating systems to make the organisation more transparent and accountable.
“We have a fully operational executive committee and sub-committees – our audit committees, our internal auditors etc so we have everything online and all our financials are there,” he explained.
“We now need to start generating revenue itself for the CFU as a unit because right now to be honest, if it was not for CONCACAF’s assistance, it would be a little difficult for us to operate.
“But things are being put in place. We have some plans which hope to be announcing to the public in short order, and that will definitely help the Union to become stronger financially and be able to do other things to help develop our individual countries.”
The CFU is the regional governing body for football and comprises 31 members.

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