Courtesy: Stabroek News

Daggers drawn!

Kumar,Major trade accusations as Futsal stoppage continues

By Duane Fowler

Saturday, June 2nd 2007

It might have well been the calm before the storm. Both sides, the Director of Sport and the Organisers, saying that they were hoping for an amicable solution, adherence to all rules, working together, quick restart to the Futsal tournament which was stopped for several infractions of the rules of the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, and so on and so forth.

Mere hours later, the Director of Sport and Promoter Aubrey 'Shanghai' Major were at daggers drawn, levelling accusations at each other with no real indication of when the competition might resume. Major was in a 'telling off' mood yesterday accusing Kumar of not having the interest of the sport at heart. Pulling no punches, he said "Neil Kumar is a very wicked man; he gave us the royal run around to get the venue.

"He never came to any night of the competition. Now he has me running around again to get the new contract to sign, all the while telling the media that the tournament should resume soon when he has no intention of seeing this competition restarted."

Major was less than complimentary on Kumar's interest in the game calling him "a good actor" and saying that "the day Neil Kumar is out of sport, it will be a great day for sport altogether."

But all of this may have its genesis in a previous disagreement between the two. Major says Kumar signalled his dislike for football when he refused to allow the National Football team competing in the Digicel Cup, usage of a bus owned by the National Sports Commission (NSC) although the Minister of Sport had consented for the vehicle to be used to transport the players.

In fact, Major, who is a member of the NSC, says he has refused for almost eight months now, to attend Commission meetings as he "refuses to sit in any meeting with a man like Neil Kumar who constantly undermines the Minister and Permanent Secretary and doesn't have sport at heart."

He also took a swipe at the Commission itself saying "the NSC has done nothing since I have been there except maybe stop this tournament." Major's comments came minutes after a meeting between himself and Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony was postponed owing to a pressing engagement the Minister had.

Major though, lauded the efforts of Minister Anthony and added that he was looking forward to working with the Minister.

The Director of Sport for his part said today that "These guys (the organizers) have been promising to meet all the conditions like having police at the venue, but they are lying. They have no respect for the patrons."

Kumar said he gave no commitment to restarting the Futsal competition by this weekend. "I said the new contract is with the lawyer (K. Juman Yassin) and when it is completed, it will be circulated to all the Commission members who will then have an opportunity to vote on adopting it," Kumar told Stabroek Sport.

He added that he was trying to expedite the process and even has the Administrative Officer, Gervy Harry, working hard in this regard despite a death in his family. Kumar says he has met on the issue with the Minister of Sport who "is letting the Commission do its work."

This new controversy has ramifications of its own, as Guyana's national team for the Caribbean Football Union's Futsal Championship is to be selected from this tournament and if it is cancelled, the local team could be left in limbo. Also, Guyana is host of this year's CFU Futsal C/ship and the CASH is the venue identified for the championships. All of this is precariously balanced on whether the differences between these two power brokers in sport in Guyana, can be resolved and if so, can it be done in a timely manner?



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com