THE Georgetown Football Association (GFA), under the leadership of Otis James, has proposed one of their first major tournaments for the month of March. According to the president, James, the GFA Mega League, which has been on the association’s cards since 2019, now has the opportunity to become a reality. However, it will not be without challenge since the COVID-19 conditions are still in effect. Guyana’s footballing activities returned in December but not without restraints. The association, which is governed by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), has chosen to put forth the senior league first because of the attendance uncertainty which looms at the junior level. Added to that, all major international tournaments– 20 years and under– have been postponed by football’s world governing body, FIFA. This also means the grassroots level of the sport will take quite some time to return to its regular programming.

Meanwhile, the GFA boss is very ecstatic that a glimmer of hope has revealed itself at the end of the tunnel. The Mega League, once approved by the National COVID-19 Task Force, (NCTF) has the support of the GFF and corporate Guyana to get the ball rolling. James said, “I was planning to do it in February, but with this guideline in place, it will actually take all the money to do testing and all kind of things. So, at this time, we really can’t say directly if we could still stay with February or we might be able to go to March to do whatever we can do to get this League on the ground.” “I’m very frustrated because after taking the presidency for a year, being in the football arena so long, accustomed to going to my Friday and Sunday football and often, nothing is going on.

So, I think if it is frustrating for me as an executive, then much less a player who has nothing really to look forward to. But I will assure the members of the Georgetown Football Association that just as we get a green light, which I’m working on presently now, we will have football back on the pitch,” the GFA boss stated. After James was elected to head the GFA in November 2019, the association had a full development schedule in the blueprints for the 2019/2020 season, but the pandemic made a major upset. Those plans have been postponed but are in the pipeline ready to flow if the 2021 season unfolds. In 2020, he was optimistic that the sport could resume with the Mega League in August, but the NCTF was not convinced about the safety of not transmitting the virus.