‘It’s their democratic right to protest’ – Infantino

A GROUP of aggrieved players and administrators peacefully protested outside the Pegasus Hotel yesterday where visiting FIFA president Gianni Infantino hosted a press conference to wrap up his one-day visit to Guyana.

Faizal Khan, football enthusiast and General Manager of the Georgetown Football Club (GFC), led the peaceful protest and stated that the FIFA president is being misled with regard to the way the game of football is being administered in Guyana.
The GFC, along with National champions Slingerz FC, former champions Alpha United and Pele FC had refused to participate in the second installation of the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) STAG Elite League, citing what they’ve called an ‘illegal’ move by the sport’s local governing body to include two clubs – Victoria Kings and Topp XX – boosting the league from eight to ten teams.

After months of uncertainty, CONCACAF, in a correspondence to the GFF, ruled that STAG Beer Elite League winner Slingerz FC and runners-up Alpha United were barred from participating in the CFU Club Championship because the two clubs were not in good standing with the GFF.
“President (Wayne) Forde, and what some of the guys are calling him now ‘president fraud’, refused constitutional arbitration over agreements made, which investment followed from that weren’t expected,” Khan said.

“Legally, Khan said, “what we’ve tried to do is respect the process … but the Federation has no respect for the constitution, hence today’s protest, which we’re glad the FIFA president saw.”.
Meanwhile, when asked by Chronicle Sport about the protest, FIFA president Infantino stated, “I think that since we are living in a democratic world and football is a democratic sport, you are free to have an opinion. That’s one of the good things about football, we are always open.”

According to Infantino, “We (FIFA) are in very close contact with Wayne (Forde) and the GFF and somebody might have different views on how football is run and what I could say is that they (the GFF) are making a different view today; certainly differently from the past.”
“We all make mistakes, Wayne sometimes a little less than me, but we want to do both and we have football close to our hearts,” the FIFA boss said.