….Ivan Persaud to act as President

SELECTIVE affiliates of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) namely, Georgetown Football Association, East Bank Football Association, East Demerara Football Association, West Demerara Football Association, National Association of Women’s Football, Guyana Football Referees Council and Guyana Football Coaches Association, forming two-thirds of the General Congress, yesterday passed a “No Confidence” vote against President Christopher Matthias.

The motion which was unanimously voted on by the Congress saw Matthias being given ‘Marching orders’ and in the interim, Vice-President, elect, Ivan Persaud would act as President of the sport’s governing body in Guyana.

According to information shared at a Press Conference following the Congress, which was held at the Water Chris Hotel in Georgetown, one member from each affiliated association will be placed to temporarily fill the vacated positions in the GFF, since apart from Persaud, only Women’s Football Association President, Vanessa Dickerson is an existing executive member.

Other elected executives were either banned from the sport, as in the story of Collie ‘Hitman’ Hercules, or have resigned from their post as the case of Rawlston Adams, both former vice Presidents.

The representatives of Congress informed that within 60 days elections will be held to fill the various needed executive positions of the GFF.

Asked when Matthias would be informed of such findings of the General Congress, Persaud who chaired the Press Conference said, “we will write a letter to him and it will be hand-delivered on Monday morning to Mr. Matthias. We would like a response from him and then we’ll go ahead and institute or rule deriving from Congress”.

General Secretary of the GFA, Odinga Lumumba described yesterday’s decision to rid Matthias of his Presidency as a ‘historic day’, not just for football, but for all of Guyana since it shows that dictatorship would not be accepted.

Lumumba, who serves as Presidential Advisor to President Donald Ramotar on Youth Empowerment, said that though Matthias’s tenure as President of the GFF lasted for just over a year, his period at the helm was the worst in the sport over the last 20 years.

The Alpha United club President also pointed out that Matthias would’ve spent approximately $38M since taking office and has nothing to show for it while the sport has no stability in the country.

“Football has suffered for too long and we will not sit by and watch it die a natural death in this country,” Lumumba stated.

Matthias was absent from yesterday’s proceedings and his reasoning was that he was not informed though members of the Congress proved otherwise.

“We don’t expect him to just sit there, roll over and walk out of office. We expect him to pose a challenge and as such, we have informed FIFA and CONCACAF of today’s Congress and we will also inform them of the outcome,” Persaud said.

Matthias not aware

Meanwhile, upon being contacted via telephone yesterday, Matthias when told of the outcome of the Congress noted, “I’m yet to be officially informed about such happenings presently and I will wait on an official release from FIFA and CONCACAF before I can speak about it”.
“When FIFA and CONCACAF inform or contact me about anything then and only then I will make a comment, but presently, I’m not aware officially about what happened at the Water Chris Hotel”.

Media Locked out

Contrary to the first staging of the GFF’s Congress which was held on April 26, members of the media were locked out and kept at bay by security personnel present at the venue yesterday.

Several reporters turned up and were first told that it’s a “jacket and tie event” and that they (reporters) are not permitted to enter the area where the congress is being held.

Checks would’ve however revealed that not everyone in the room were affiliates of the GFF or even clubs in Guyana, but they were selectively invited to be part of and listen to the speeches being made while the media were not welcome.

(By Rawle Toney)