Former Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Franklin Wilson on Wednesday morning submitted his list of candidates to contest the GFF elections, slated for December 9, 2023.
Presidential candidate Wilson and three other members submitted their list to General Secretary of the GFF, Ian Alves at the football headquarters in Dadanawa Street, Campbellville, Georgetown.
Wilson functioned as acting president of the GFF during 2011-2012.
See list of candidates below:
President– Franklin Wilson
First Vice-President– Vernon Burnett (former President of the Georgetown Football Association)
Second Vice-President– Ramesh Persaud (Santos FC)
Third Vice-President– Gregory Wickham (East Demerara Football Association)
Ordinary Members: George Clementson (Victoria Kings FC), Christine Schmidt (West Demerara Football Association), Althea Scipio (former General Secretary of the GFF and Georgetown Football Association), Raul Jerrick (Ann’s Grove FC) and Otis James (Georgetown Football Association).
At this point, it is unclear if any other slate has been submitted. The deadline for submission is midnight on November 9, 2023.
‘Potent slate’
Moments after the list of candidates was submitted, Wilson told media operatives:
“We believe it is a very potent slate. (It is a) very competent slate, made up of very experienced persons from across the membership of the Guyana Football Federation.”
“Every single individual would have been involved in football for quite some time, at varying levels. We believe that the experience we have at the administrative level, as well as the financial and other levels, would be able to complement each other and build football in Guyana.”
“Over the years, we’ve been struggling to piece things together on a consistent basis, and we do believe we have what it takes to propel that process and maintain that trajectory.”
Wilson highlighted that the focus of his slate is not to take football back to “what it used to be”, but rather “take it where we know it should be and where it can be.”
The former head of the East Bank Football Association said that among his plans is to foster a united approach where all stakeholders- the nine Regional Member Associations, the 10 Elite clubs and the three affiliates (Coaches, Women and Referees)- are engaged in the development process.
The detailed plans will be shared with members in due course, Wilson said.
“We need to be all-inclusive. I’ve said that before as acting President and I still believe that’s the mantra that will take us forward,” Wilson reiterated.
“We will be pursuing that in a vigorous way.”
Aside from his stint as the GFF head, Wilson has served football in numerous capacities, being President and Secretary of two Regional Member Associations, Public Relations Officer of the then Guyana Football Association, member of the FIFA Development Committee, the CFU Marketing and Media Committee and the Concacaf Futsal and Beach Soccer Committees.
He has also held administrative positions in Cycling and Powerlifting.
