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As a concerned affiliate, I know that there is so much more wrong with local football than just our senior male national team. The humiliating 10 – 0 Score line was a result of months of poor planning and bad management by the worst executive in St Vincent football history.
I would like to briefly list some of the complaints and shortcomings of this current administration that has made me become a very concerned affiliate;
Communication:
There are no proper channels of communication between affiliates and the secretariat/the executive. Emails and phone calls are constantly ignored altogether or handled in such a nonchalant manner that gives me as an affiliate the impression that my concerns do not matter whatsoever.
I have been to ff meetings where affiliates have complained about emailing the secretariat on countless occasions only to be ignored.
I’ve also sat in meetings and have seen pertinent questions being asked by affiliated members of the general body, only to have their questions completely ignored and over looked in some of the most disrespectful manners by executive members.
Questions about the national teams:
1. What role/s (if any) does our current Technical Director play in relation to our senior national team? He is clearly neither at local training sessions nor does he travel with the said team. These should be the most important games our national team plays (world cup qualifiers), and our current technical director is nowhere to be found.
2. Do we have a selection committee that is responsible for the selection of national players and if so who are the members of this committee?
3. What are the criteria’s for national selections? I am aware that more than 3 players from Bequia United that is currently in the first division of the national club championship have been selected for national duties while the current champions of the premier division (Hope International) only has 2 players being selected.
4. Why does our current senior team head coach feel it necessary to be on social media (namely Facebook) on a regular basis arguing with every person who mentions “Vincy heat” in their posts?
While on the topic of the national team and the secretariat, I must address the halfhearted correspondence done by the ff as it relates to the death of Dwaine Sandy. While opinions of Sandy’s life off the field can vary, there is no questioning his contribution to our national teams at almost every level (U15, U17, U20, U23, Senior) over the years. Three paragraphs; one has four lines, one has three and the other has two. The letter was not even signed and stamped by anyone at the FF. This goes a long way to show how high in regards the FF held Dwaine’s contribution.
Affiliates and Clubs:
I am disappointed that more affiliates aren’t disappointed with club development locally. We have been having senior male competitions for the past several tournaments with no youth or female tournaments at any level. If not for leagues like Breakaway’s Tournament, female football maybe obsolete in this nation.
Club licensing requirements over the last few seasons have made it mandatory that my club have a female team and a youth team, even though there has been no competition for them. We as affiliates are responsible for holding the ff accountable to us as we are to them and demand that we have tournaments for teams they are forcing us to maintain.
I am not even going to get started on the inconsistencies surrounding club assistance that should be coming from the FF. At this point, if my club did not have a commercial sponsor we would be out of business. Most people outside of football may not fathom the cost associated with running a football club and how difficult it is to attain regular funding. One entire uniform (1 pant, one jersey, 1 pair of socks) can cost from $90 to $200 each; premier clubs are required to have a senior male team, a female team, a reserve team and a youth team. In all we are looking at 70 -100 players across all divisions. Each player needs a uniform. The cost of training equipment, transportation and all other miscellaneous expenses must be covered, and this is way before the tournament even begins.
Fish usually rots from the head and I am fearful that we are only getting worse as a sport, and it all starts at the head. I am concerned that our affiliates are either uniformed or don’t care enough to be informed about what is happening in our sport. 10 – 0 does not happen unless we as a nation make it happen by being sloppy and lackadaisical at every junction in our footballing affairs. The affiliates are responsible for holding the executive accountable and that is not happening. Until this is done, I expect us to continually deteriorate in standards.
10 – 0 is only the beginning.
A Concerned Affiliate
