…CFU president says football in the region will be difficult to sustain without fans

By Rawle Toney

WITH sports around the world returning with restrictions on spectators, Randy Harris, president of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), believes however, that in the Caribbean, football administrators will not be able to sustain the game without fans.

Harris pointed out that unlike the rest of the federations affiliated to the sport’s global governing body, football in the region is heavily dependent on the support from FIFA and spectators.

“The fans in the Caribbean are critical for us to do well. We have not yet understood that if we want to benefit from the game, that we have to develop our footballers, and our administrators,” Harris candidly stated, while stressing that unlike cricket, “we (football) can’t attract television at this time, so our basic income is people coming and supporting the game.”

The CFU boss further told Chronicle Sport that “in other words, in a situation like this (with COVID-19), if we weren’t getting assistance from FIFA, we’ll be dead!”

FIFA announced, on June 25, that their Council had unanimously approved the FIFA COVID 19 Relief Plan, which was designed by the FIFA administration in close cooperation with representatives of the confederations.

In a media release, FIFA stated that across its three stages, the global support plan will make available up to US$1.5 billion to assist the football community.

In the first two stages of the plan, FIFA provided for the immediate release of all Forward operational cost payments to member associations and, subsequently, for the opportunity to transform Forward development grants into COVID-19 operational relief funds – with a minimum of 50% of released funds to be allocated to women’s football .

FOOTBALL’S RETURN IN JEOPARDY!

Meanwhile, Harris, when asked about football’s return in the Caribbean, taking into account that the sport had returned in all the professional leagues globally, stressed that the game in the region lacks finances and specific funding, which limits them from emulating what is done at the professional leagues.

While COVID-19 numbers in the Caribbean does not measure-up as compared to the rate of infections and confirmed cases to that of Europe and other places where the game has returned, Harris believes that the CFU and its members would like to keep the numbers in the region at a minimum, since the statistics are only given from the number of test done.

According to Harris, the protocol set-up by the health officials, by the countries at large, would not include more stringent measures to minimize the risk for players in a contact sport.

Cricket, he stressed, “may get away with it, but football is a contact sport and we have to ensure that whatever we do, we put everything in place to make sure that our players are safe.”

“If you look at some of [the] measures that were employed in Europe, you would see how difficult it would be for the Caribbean to just romanticize and start football right away. There are so many protocols to be put in place and a lot of them will be difficult for us in the Caribbean, both from a financial and resources situation, to be able to put in place,” Harris said.

While the rate of infection in the Caribbean is significantly less than the places around the world where football has seen a return, Harris was adamant that this doesn’t necessarily mean that there might be a lower risk of contagion, and a safe space and the possibility of football being played with certain measures in place.

“The statistics of COVID-19 in our region has been very-well-managed and we want to keep it so, because we are given these statistics on testing and it is not a situation where everyone can be tested. We just don’t want to take any chances; we’re glad with the position our countries (in the Caribbean) are in at the moment, but we want to be careful and to let a little more time go along to see how things would turn,” said Harris.

The CFU president is of the opinion that presently, “it is more damaging to restart football competition, and then some time down the road we have to stop it again. It is better to give this situation a little bit more time to see how it goes, and give the players and the people who are participating in the sport an opportunity to regain their confidence to be involved.”

FIFA COVID-19 RELIEF FUND

In FIFA’s ‘COVID-19 Relief Plan’ a universal solidarity grant of US$1 million will be made available to all member associations, and an additional grant of US$500,000 will be allocated specifically to women’s football. In addition, each confederation will receive a grant of US$2 million.

Member associations will be able to apply for interest-free loans, amounting to up to 35% of their audited annual revenues. In the interest of solidarity, a minimum loan of US$500,000 will be available and a maximum of US$5 million. In addition, each confederation will have access to a loan of up to US$4 million.

To ensure effective oversight of the plan, there will be strict controls on the use of funds, audit requirements, as well as clear loan repayment conditions.

A FIFA COVID-19 Relief Plan steering committee, which will be headed by Olli Rehn, the deputy chairman of the FIFA Governance Committee, was also established to supervise the administration of the scheme.