PRESIDENT of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde says his federation is moving ahead with its investigation into the 2014 World Cup qualifier return game between Guyana and Mexico, despite former president Franklin Wilson calling it “a waste of resources”.
The Golden Jaguars had lost 3-1 to Mexico at the Azteca and local fans were anxious about their mouth-watering return game at the Guyana National Stadium during their historic run at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifier, but the GFF sold the hosting rights for the game, which was then hosted at the BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas on October 12, 2012.
It has been one of the biggest kept secrets in Guyana’s football since, and at the last GFF Ordinary Congress, the affiliated members passed a motion which was unanimously supported, for the Executive Committee to thoroughly investigate how much money was made from the ‘shift’ and whether or not an agreement was made to pay the players a percentage of what was received from the deal.

Wilson, the president of the GFF at the time, stated that while he welcomes and respects the right of the members of the federation to have information surrounding the Guyana vs Mexico match played in Houston, Texas, USA, he is adamant that all relevant information, pertaining to that match, is in the possession of the GFF.
But yesterday, Forde pointed out, “While I respect the former president’s views, I’m obligated to respect the members’ decision which was made at the highest decision-making forum in the country. It was a unanimous decision for us to move ahead and investigate the matter. So we have to peruse the mandate which is to investigate the matter as thorough as possible.”
“We have a consultant here, working on that and we will meet the 14-day process. Right now we are putting together the dossier for any investigator,” Forde added.
According to Wilson, it was not the desire of the-then GFF to just move the game but a number of factors resulted in such a decision being made, including meagre local funding, no funding from the-then Government, lack of resources to host the game along with the fact that Guyana had already lost out on the opportunity to advance further in the competition, as well as the necessity for the federation to supplement its income to meet expenses and indebtedness already incurred.
Wilson noted that the contracts that were entered into with Sponsports, the letter from FIFA granting permission for the game to proceed as well as one from the US Soccer Federation giving approval for the game to be played in their jurisdiction were sent to His Excellency, President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony.
“The GFF is also in possession of information on the sums actually received in cash. In addition, this information as well as documentation regarding the expenditure on the Men’s Senior National Football team during the period January to November 2012 was shared with the media at a press conference held at the GFF in December 2012,” Wilson reasoned.
Asked about if the documents are indeed in the possession of the GFF, Forde stated, “I’m not sure I want to comment on what Mr. Wilson means by ‘all’. I’m sure he will be able to elaborate on that if he’s asked by you guys (the media).”
Wilson is of the view that “there is no need to expend much-needed dollars to unearth what transpired when the facts that can lead to closure on this issue are already accessible and in the possession of the GFF. Closure of this would be a plus for all and sundry and Guyana as a whole.”
Forde only stopped short at saying that the GFF intends to thoroughly investigate the matter.