By Avenash Ramzan
Described by president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Wayne Forde, as “groundbreaking”, approval was granted for the setting up of a National Insurance Policy for players and officials countrywide.
The matter came up during the Federation’s Ordinary General Meeting on Monday at the SleepInn International Hotel in Georgetown.
“It was another exceptional Congress. We had some important matters of business on the agenda today; most importantly was the presentation and approval of the National Insurance Policy. This is groundbreaking for football,” Forde said.
He continued, “We now have a mechanism through our partnership with Assuria Insurance where we will be providing insurance coverage for players and officials throughout the football fraternity.”
Forde added that over the next couple of weeks the GFF will be meeting with each of its Member Association “to work out the mechanics of implementing this programme.”
“So this is significant, not just for football, but for sports in Guyana and we’re hoping that we can have it implemented in the shortest possible time,” Forde said.
Among the other issues that came up for discussion was the 2012 Mexico/Guyana game switch, and the presentation of what Forde dubbed “a clean audit” to the members.
“The other important agenda item that we were able to achieve was the appointment of the Audit and Compliance Committee, which is an important arm in world football. FIFA has insisted, as part of our compliance requirement, to have an Audit and Compliance Committee installed and we’ve done that today,” the GFF boss reported.
Federation Cup
The GFF also shared with its members the launch of the Federation Cup, which would be played in August 2019.
“During the Federation Cup there would be no other football played in Guyana. So that’s going to be a big project and we’re hoping to make some specific announcements on the format, the timeline. It is a tournament that will be played during the month of August of each year,” Forde said.
