HERE IS A LETTER OF PRIVATE CORRESPONDANCE I WROTE TO THE PRESIDENT OVER A MONTH AGO! I RECEIVED NO RESPONSE! IT WAS NOT MY INTENTION TO GO PUBLIC WITH THE EMAIL HOWEVER AFTER THE CARIBBEAN CUP DISAPPOINTMENT PEOPLE DESERVE A INSIGHT INTO THE REALITIES: Dear Mr Matthias & Mr Rodrigues, I am writing to you concerning the recent NCN interview that a number of national team players both in Guyana and overseas have contacted me regarding to express their levels of disgust and how they feel disrespected. The comments that seem to be in question relate to minutes 8:00 - 14:00 of the part 2 of a interview you conducted on NCN: https://youtube/watch?v=OaxP406Im-o&feature=youtu.be The perceived interpretation of these comments seem very hurtful and disrespectful, to all national team players home based or overseas. Firstly who are the GFF to decide who is Guyanese enough to represent Guyana. According to the FIFA constitution, that you Is frequently referred to, all of the 2011/2012 senior mens national team players pass the requirements to represent Guyana otherwise they simply would not be allowed to participate. I was born in London England, my father, my grandparents, my uncle my sister, my nephew, my cousins all are born and reside in Guyana. I would love for you to stand in front of my father and my grandfather and tell them that I am not Guyanese enough to represent the national team. I am extremely proud to represent Guyana, it is in my heart and in my blood and I will not let you nor any other person take those moments away from me. Where ever I travel as a player Guyana always takes the credit and I continue to bear the flag overseas with pride. When you represent Guyana and put on the national jersey you are not a employee of the GFF or Christopher Matthias, you become a servant of the country and represent guyanese people (home or foreign) and your family. You wear the Jersey with pride, and play with heart, passion and determination all the standard requirements necessary when you go into battle for your country. Your comments appeal to small minded people of a ignorant nature, they remind me of the ignorant white supremacists in the United States who refuse to accept Obama as president because he is a black man and not a white American. Your comments breed ignorance, segregation and fascism against your own people, Whilst it is your job to unite everyone together and fight for one cause, yet here you are facilitatiing division and segregation. As a president it is your job to generate funding and engage with sponsors all over the world, because football is a global game. There are successful Guyanese all over the globe, if you refer to them as foreigners do you expect them to part with their hard earned money to support and sponsor a federation that does not recognise them as their own people? Institutional fascism is exactly how i describe your comments and I am grateful for your public display of emotion, as this provides a level of clarification to the lack of communication that you have continued to display thus far. A lack of honesty, A lack of forthcoming, A lack of transparency, all characteristics that you initially promised us would be the foundation of your administration, yet 15 months later here we are. Off the back of the 2014 World Cup Qualifying Campaign, the GFF had a product/ Team that was marketable globally. You had something to take to businesses and say this is what we achieved with ZERO FACILITIES, NO LEAGUE, FEW CERIFIED/QUALIFIED COACHES, A STRUGGLING ECONOMY, A DEVELOPING COUNTRY, the federation was in possession of the BEST FOOTBALL ASSET, a team performing beyond its mean. What would that team have been able to achieve with a little investment? It is the job of the administration to generate funds through marketing engaging with investors globally, not to sit and wait for handouts and bonuses from FIFA. If that is your sole source of income for running a national program, that is extreme failure. A Senior Team capable of success would fuel production at every level with the right investment. It would generate investment leading to money for facilities, money to educate coaches, money for DEVELOPMENT. You continue in the interview to say: If you call where we were in the world ranking development, then we have a different understanding of what development is Let me also clarify this....... the stipulations are unforgiving in terms of obtaining a work VISA to play in the top football leagues in the world. You can produce the best U13 or U17 player. If your country is not ranked in the FIFA top 100 and that player has not started 75% of national team fixtures in the past 2 years, they are not getting a WORK VISA for the top leagues in the world. So to state a improved world ranking is not a improvement, development or progress is ludicrous because the world RANKING opens a window to the rest of the world for players. Use USA youngster Juan Agudelo as a example, Agudelo was set to join Stoke in the English Premier League when his contract with New England Revolution expired, but was not granted an automatic visa because he had not played 75 per cent of United States Senior Mens National Team Competitive games over the past two years. What chance do we young Guyanese have in reality? Feeding false hope and lies to the public. Unless players are in a situation where they are able to go overseas and make a living from football there is no money in the sport in any caribbean league let alone Guyana. Trinidad has the highest paying domestic league in the caribbean where the top players earn 3000 US a month maximum, the rest of the world 500,000 US a week. Guyana needs to position themselves in a place that allows for the transition of talent. A local domestic club cannot even gain bred by selling a player in this instance. Players aspirations are being completely restricted by the actions and decisions the federation are choosing to make and the biggest factor is the information those in possession of the constitution are choosing to relay to the public . Not relaying the VITAL information to the masses but simply using others as scape goats. I think if child development is the potential plan then the parents should be well informed of what it will require for their child to make it to the highest level of competitive football, if it is possible and what is being done to ensure that the window of opportunity is open for them. Well if you continue to allow the World Ranking to drop there is no window. You then say: the importation of foreign personnel, to play as a national team, and after they leave we have nothing residual remaining here Why as the president of the GFF would you use such derogatory terminology on national TV, to describe established national team players, who have created history in this country? To represent Guyana, you must obtain a Guyanese passport. To obtain a Guyanese passport you MUST meet specific criteria to show evidence that you are in fact a Guyanese. If the Government recognise you as a citizen why are you so against it? we have national players who see there names and do not know their names, national players who do not know that the football field is rectangular and not square. and we need to have players when they see their names they know their names Why would you go on national TV with empty facts and start bashing national team players with no concrete evidence and is this the kind of conversation you really take onto public TV when discussing football? The game is played with a round ball not a pen and paper. Academic intelligence has no reflection on football ability, some of the best players were the worst academically, everybody is blessed in different ways. Even if this were true, you can take these individuals aside and help to them development academically, why would you go on public TV and attempt to humiliate the individuals in question and completely discredit the reputation of the senior mens national team. players cant fill out a immigration form The most educated people can struggle to fill out a immigration form, especially if you are not accustomed to frequent travel. The Senior Mens National Team have not played for 2 years, you have never travelled with us prior to this time, how do you know who can and cant do this? You are abusing people on national TV based upon hear say? In your own words as you stated: gossip has been used to control and enslave most if not all of the football fraternity. You choose to use the same means of communication that you attempt to slander? Take the individuals aside, help them progress, then go on TV and tell the people what the players CAN now do and how intelligent and bright they have now become. Instead you are talking about something you have made no attempt to change. 15 months and you were unable to help senior national players fill out immigration forms, highlights your own inability to implement and administer change. Intelligent viewers will see this. Our present technical director Mr Mark Rodrigues, said we need to stop assembling national teams and build them Guyana wants to reach the World Cup and follow in the likes of Trinidad and Jamaica, Costa Rica, are you familiar with the squad of players that these teams had when they reached the world cup????? 80% overseas based players. Costa Rica has Joel Campbell, a tremendous talent from arsenal now playing in Spain, your saying they shouldnt select him for the national team because he comes and leaves? The United States of America Mens National Team should not select Brooks, Green, Diskerud, Chandler, Jones, Johannsson, ????? If a country like the US with 3 full fledged professional leagues, 100s of stadia, and the well established amateur collegiate system still select as many as 6 overseas based players who are we to frown upon such actions? In Guyanas biggest game in its football existence vs Mexico in Estadio Azteca in June 2012 Guyana had a squad consisting of 8 overseas based players and 14 home based players, for the biggest game in football history. 60% of the squad was home grown. We are talking facts and stats here, you mention 15 foreigners in your interview, this is complete nonsense. Mr. Matthias you claimed that monetary resources are wasted on foreign players. How so? What money? It is easy to make unsolicited claims about a topic that fuels at least some of the domestic sentiment towards foreign born players. If you believe foreign based/born players is the problem with Guyana National Team then the solution is to close up the borders and become the first fascist isolationist football nation in the history of world football. The technical director whom you appointed Mark Rodrigues is based in Tampa Florida is he a foreigner? You have employed a foreigner to assemble a national team but you dont want foreign players? JP Rodrigues is Mark Rodrigues nephew, also based in Tampa Florida, is he a so called foreigner? The lady jags are 90% foreign based players and coached by Mark Rodrigues, your appointed technical director, this is a total contradiction and quite frankly irrelevant to the National team programs. You are president so you should know these facts, so I have no idea why you speak with such football ignorance. If you pass the criteria to be recognised as a citizen by the country and the FIFA constitution, you are good enough, and can add value to the program then you should be available for selection at the perusal of the head coach. Dictating a players availability because of their private life or where they choose to reside or more importantly where they earn there daily bread is quite frankly none of your business. Many people leave Guyana, in search of work, for better financial gain, family situations, better schooling for kids. Are you going to begrudge every person who no longer lives in Guyana?? Its absurd to retain such a mentality and so frequently talk about the word DEVELOPMENT. Another comment you make is..... bring in foreign players, assemble a national team, and then take them abroad, and when they reach such a point they go back to their respective countries, Many foreign players, who it is very evident you have spent no time talking to want to help the development of football in Guyana by opening academies and working with local teams, to increase professionalism and bringing their experiences to the national and domestic program. How can this happen when YOU the president are in fact resenting them for even being able to play and represent the country. Lets not forget, the same National Mens team being disrespected on TV put the GFF in a situation to negotiate a deal with discussions of 1.2 million US dollars, the players achievement made that kind of deal possible to negotiate. Never before in the history of Guyanese football has anyone ever created such a situation where Guyana could sit at a table and engage in discussion relating to negotiating such monies OF 1.2 MILLION US DOLLARS for football. The GFF failed the country in there ability to close the deal, and the 1.2 million deal diminished and we are left wondering how much was actually received. The consistent failure has been the skills of the executives in the GFF, not the players, home born or foreign born. The players have consistently far exceeded expectations based on preparation and facilities. If nothing residual is left it is because you are not engaging the players in a manner that allows them to come back to Guyana and help develop and grow the game, instead you talk about them with disrespect and refer to them as Foreigners. It is your job to unite, not to segregate, chastise and encourage ignorance and fascism. If you only spend time in Guyana you will not be aware of the impact and awareness that World Cup Qualifying campaign brought to Guyana as a country. I am telling you I have had to show more than 100 people using my iphone where Guyana is on the world map because before that they had no idea. Even Brazilians who I play with in my team, had no idea Guyana bordered there country until now. Just imagine if the executives had sealed the deal for 1.2 million US dollars for Guyana Football, this alone would change the whole picture of Guyana Football, IF the money was utilised in the correct manner and not exploited. The foreign players were crucial in making this possible. Would you still resent sending for them had this deal come to fruition? Thats the reality, we were so close, to a bright future and now we choose to turn our backs on the very individuals who put us on the map. This is the first time you have chosen to engage in conversation regarding the Senior Mens national team, you have gone in the newspapers, you have discussed us on the TV, but you have yet to engage us individually or collectively, you go on to the TV and criticise us rather than engage in conversation with positive leaders with a GENUINE love of the game. I chose not to respond publicly, because I for one cannot understand the need for the level of ignorance towards the game and the disrespect towards the players, and I am hoping there must be some kind of misunderstanding in the interpretation of how things were heard. However I confronted it exactly how I heard it. To be publicly abused on TV by a federation that still owes the players money for 2+ years is not something I will accept quietly and as the National Team captain at that given time I will continue to fight for the enititlment of all the players. I am blessed enough that every morning I wake up for the past 12 years, I go to do the job I love and play football professionally, not all of my national team colleagues are able to do so, I hope they do not give up the fight. Im intrigued by FIFAs standing on fascism in football the constitution of FIFA must heavily frown upon such actions. Football is taught from experience, not from a text book or a internet article. The games changes year to year and unless the personnel involved in the development are operating day to day in that environment then the national program will never develop because the people writing and administering the manuscripts are dinosaurs. If there are any apologies or if the interview was misinterpreted, I hope this can be clarified at the earliest convenience. Also I hope the 2012 jags can receive the rest of the outstanding monies that were promised, however without being honest and transparent regarding the money that was derived from the Mexico fixture I am not sure about how you will come to a conclusion regarding that issue also. The current administration is failing at generating funds and turning to point the fingers and say money is being wasted on foreign players ? What money exactly? Complete disrespect and a deflection of the true reality. A whole Generation of quality national team players are being FORCED into obscurity (Konata Mannings, Ronson Williams, Kester Jacobs, Dwain Jacobs, Gregory Richardson, Dwight Peters, Derrick Carter, Trayon Bobb, Colin Nelson, Shawn Beveney, Awo Abrams, Daniel Wilson) and the football fraternity should not allow that to happen. Regards Christopher Nurse Guyana Mens Senior National Team Captain
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 17:50:41 +0000
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