With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to force to a total lockdown of the local sporting sector, Guyana Football Federation (GFF) General Secretary Ian Alves, revealed that the federation has formed a working group to formulate plans for football’s eventual return.
This was disclosed during a brief interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to Alves, “We have plans formulated to roll out as possible as soon as we get the green light.
“The plans are in the infancy stages and will be updated by the current situation and what also occurs in the future with the virus.”
He added, “Once we come out of this situation, we will make maximum use of whatever time is available. We must also take into consideration that the clubs should be given opportunities to prepare for tournaments, they can’t just run back out on the field and play, they should have some form of pre-season training.”
The GFF via an official release on March 13th, had opted to suspend all tournaments for the March-April period. They have now decided to suspend all activities during the month of May, inclusive of their constitutionally mandated Ordinary Congress which was scheduled to be staged before May 31st.
The cancellation was communicated to the respective member associations on May 5th. The respective decisions of the federation came on the heels of the world governing body FIFA, as well as local confederation CONCACAF, suspending their respective activities and events in effort to thwart the spread of the virus.
Alves disclosed that the federation and the Government of Guyana have not been in discussion regarding a timetable for the relaxing of the current curfew period in anticipation for the possible return of the sport under structured guidelines.
“There has been no engagement at the moment, until this year clear and until the climate is right for that. Everything will be on a hold until then, everything including training sessions. The current situation has already reduced the possible playing time for tournaments, serious adjustments will be made to endeavour which tournaments occur inclusive of formats and duration that will be determined by how much time is available.”
According to Alves, the financial fallout for football will be the same for the other sectors, adding, “We don’t get massive crowds at games, so any financial fallout is basically what is affecting everyone. However potential sponsors maybe hesitant to offer the kind of support that they may offer otherwise.”
Alves disclosed that all CONCACAF tournaments inclusive of the Women’s U17 Championship which Guyana was set to feature and developmental programmes, have been postponed until further notice. He added, “Everything postponed and usual they will get back to us when decisions are made.”
