Warner aims to heal football riftsThursday, March 4 2010
ISSUES surrounding the development of football in the region, confronting unique challenges and charting the way forward dominated discussions at the 33rd Ordinary Congress of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) held over the weekend in Trinidad and Tobago.
At Saturday’s Congress it was quite clear the CFU President, Jack Warner, intended to heal all rifts within the Caribbean Football family as he initiated moves to reinstate Antigua and Barbuda.
The Caribbean island was suspended from all CFU activities in 2007 following a ruling by the executive of the Caribbean Football Union. While addressing Congress Warner told the 60 delegates present that the time for healing had come.
“It is time we heal, we cannot quibble over the past, we must look to the future and start charting our way forward. This situation with Antigua and Barbuda has dragged on for too long. As not only President of this Union, but as a Caribbean national, it is my dream, my vision and objective to create an environment in which we can co-exist and move forward, I would have failed in my mission if this situation isn’t resolved quickly. Our stories in this region, may be singular, but our challenges are the same and our destination is the same.”
Warner will be travelling to Antigua next month to meet with the executive of the Antigua Football Federation in an attempt to resolve the matter. But conflict resolution was not the only thing on the CFU president’s agenda.
At Saturday’s Congress the CFU delegates requested that Warner approach FIFA, the world’s governing body for football, with an appeal to further expand the “Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF initiative.”
The initiative is a two-year development programme approved by FIFA for the region. the programme offers US$10 million for development in Central America and the Caribbean, with the aim to strengthen and enhance the infrastructure of 11 fledgling leagues. Warner, who is also a vice-president of FIFA, says he is obligated to adhere to the request of his membership. “We have all seen the potential of this programme, but we cannot exploit or see the benefits materialised within a two-year period. I will make a case to FIFA on this matter very soon.”
During his opening address, Warner urged his membership to raise the standards of the game and its competitions in the region saying there isn’t enough participation.
“I know that many of you have complained about the cost of participating in the regional competitions. Your grievances have not been ignored. I am advising our executive committee and by extension the CFU membership to explore options to streamline the costs of participation in our regional competitions.
“How can we emerge as power players if we cannot first emerge as a competitive region? To do this we must ensure that our competitions are efficacious and successful on all levels.”
The president’s plea and proposals were well received and have resulted in 24 members now participating in the Digicel Caribbean Cup.
But Warner pointed out that there is an inverse relationship between the standards of the competitions and the standards of the game being played in the region. Warner believes that for the competitions to improve the federations must first resolve fundamental coaching issues.
The future is now. Let us start now, let us implement a number of coaching courses. But despite this we must reform the coaching programme in the region if we have to survive. To survive we must adapt to the changing needs of the game, let us not be left behind.”
The next Congress of the Caribbean Football Union will be held on February 12, 2011 in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
