“This is simply a case of the GFF making an effort to protect its interest, which is first and foremost the players and its investment.”

WAYNE Forde, president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), is doubling down on his federation’s decision to prohibit players involved in the ‘Elite League’ from participating in tournaments outside of the country’s premier senior men’s football tournament.

It is a well-known fact of the GFF’s issue with the players participating in the Elite League and featuring in the various futsal and ‘street football’ tournaments, which usually are played amongst community-based teams.

In a letter dispatched to the 10 members of the Elite League, the GFF pointed to Article 2.26 of the league’s rules and regulations, stating that “players are not permitted to compete in any competitions outside of those sanctioned under auspices of the Elite League.”

The missive also stated “the GFF wishes to state emphatically that any Elite League registered player found participating in any other tournament other than the League, without prior and express approval of the Federation, will be promptly sanctioned as deemed necessary.”

The Federation’s move received mixed reactions from football fans, with many, especially on the social media platform Facebook, sounding their voices and sharing their opinions.

While it found favour with some, more so those in the diaspora, the move was also deemed as a form of dictatorship, since it is believed that the GFF is not taking into consideration that players look forward to participating in the other tournaments as a means of income, since the prizes are usually very attractive.

Speaking exclusively to Chronicle Sport, Forde said it was unfortunate “that people will label something like that as a form of dictatorship; I think you would have to question the motive and the judgement of that individual.”

According to the GFF president “this is simply a case of the GFF making an effort to protect its interest, which is first and foremost the players and its investment. We may not be offering a professional salary, but each player enjoys $3500 as a match fee which is more than doubled what they have been paid in the beginning of the Elite league and they are given a meal at the end of the game.”

“On the one hand you’re going to have some people saying it’s a form of dictatorship, but on the other hand you’re going to have those same people criticising the quality of the league and if we’re making an effort to improve the quality of the league, then the players have to show up and practice. This is not a ‘scrubby’, this is a league and while Guyana has ventured into professional football without putting certain fundamental in place, I think we are doing everything to make this work.

“We were providing that meal by having it catered, but we are now giving it to the club so to avoid the issue of timing on delivery which were some of the challenges we had to deal with in the first leg of Season Three,” said Forde, while making it known that “we’re a small federation, we have many programmes to develop and we’re really making a lot of investment into this programme and I think we have a right to demand what should be a very natural expectation.”