THE supreme legislative body of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) – The Congress – last Saturday beckoned to the wide-spread sentiments of the football fraternity and voted in Team Integrity, ringing in the dawn of a new dispensation for the ‘Beautiful Game’ here in Guyana.After weeks of intense campaigning among the 22 members far and wide the process to elect a new executive for the Federation culminated in a close finish (10 to 12) for the right to govern the sport for the next four years. The occasion at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston also ended the invaluable 14-month reign of the FIFA-installed Normalisation Committee (NC) under the Chairmanship of Clinton Urling.
The history of the oldest Federation in the Region would show that Wayne Forde is the 4th President within four years since the shackles of abuse for decades were severed by FIFA when the then President of the GFF was suspended for corruption in 2011.
His successor did not last long as a new Head was voted in when elections were held in 2013, but just after one year and about five months of his mismanagement the world governing body stepped in to bring a halt to the chaotic situation by installing the NC.
The tremendous and timeless works of the NC in bringing back some respectability to the sport must be applauded and the systems that they have installed within the structure of the Federation speak volumes for Transparency and Integrity.
In fact, the NC has prepared a solid foundation for the new executive to continue the positive evolution of the sport.
The membership of the GFF must come in for commendation as well for sending a clear message that football needs people of Integrity to govern the sport if it is to truly develop to its full potential.
The challenge now is for the Forde administration to take up the mantle with the passion and vision to empower the ‘Beautiful Game’ as they have declared in their impressive manifesto.
The composition of the team is inspiring and they are of proven integrity. One can only be optimistic for the bright future and ‘Good of the Game’ as we herald in a new era here in Guyana by the astute leadership of a recognised football administrator whose favourite line is: ‘It is not who is good for football, but what is good for football’.

By Ras Wadada