The choice is yours

Affiliates of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation will sit tomorrow at the Media Centre of the Arnos Vale Playing Field to elect a new executive of the sport here for the next four years.{{more}}

Unlike the 2007 and 2011 exercises, these elections have been dwarfed and obscured by the pending general elections set for December 9.

Like the national political set-up, the process of electing a new body to run the affairs of football is crucial, as the sport is at a crossroads.

No longer are the football elections seen as a matter of course, but decisive and definite statements of administration, as the sport has grown in significance over the years, thus demanding a higher level acumen from those who take up the posts.

Those who are vested with the right to vote for the positions up for grabs have to decide if they are going to stay with the old guard which has served for the past quadrennial, mix and match to suit or clean the house totally.

Reflecting on the immediate tenure of the Venold Coombs-led executive, it could be concluded that there were as many successes as there were administrative failures.

The outgoing executive was able to organize several tournaments: Under-13, Under-17 and Under-18, Under-20, national club championships, national inter-community league, as well as women’s competitions.

Over the past four years, there was no shortage of courses coming our way: grassroots, D licence, women’s football, referees and the list goes on.

The successful sojourn of the Under-23 men’s outfit in the Olympic qualifiers, the Under-20 women’ s team’s berth to the final phase of the Caribbean Football Union’s tournament, along with the senior male and female teams winning the Windward Islands tournaments are some of the on-field successes.

In addition, the procurement of professional contracts by two of our young footballers – Oalex Anderson and Myron Samuel with the Sounders 2, in the United Soccer League, must be listed as indirect progress of the national football administration.

There have also been some bits and pieces of minor achievements, inclusive of the purchase of a bus, as well as the relentless pursuance of obtaining a home for football.

However, many of the efforts on the field were blotted by the numerous instances of negative publicity.

For too often during the past four years, professionalism became a foreign language, with some of the inner operations unfortunately finding their way into the open for ridicule.

As head of the organization, Coombs found himself to be the composer, choir master and at the same time, the lead singer in many of the choruses of indignity.

The November 2013 episode, which warranted affiliates, the executive, at least one member of CONCACAF as well as then auditors, to interface over some financial matters, must go down as another of the downgrading of the custodians’ tenure.

Also, during the quadrennial, one committee member, Guy Lowe, was fired by Coombs.

The period also saw the firing of general secretary Trevor Huggins, and the resignation of Lloyd Small as first vice-president. His was not without some parting shots, denigrating the operations of the SVGFF.

Small’s replacement, Kenton Olivierre, also resigned after migrating, but not without revealing some causes for concern within the set-up of the organization.

Also, the fact that on several occasions the head of the organization had to be in the media to quell accusations reflected some levels of instability within the SVGFF.

No one can forget the infamous taped cuss out during a meeting of the executive last August, in which Coombs lambasted his third vice-president Elroy Paul Boucher.

And, most recently, the current executive has presided over the worst period in terms of preparation of the senior national team for the World Cup qualifiers.

These are some of the highlights over the past four years.

Lumped together, they cast shadows over the national football administration, as trust was also found wanting among executive members.

To those who are seeking to unseat those currently holding the positions, no one will settle for this type of renegade type of conduct, as football has become injured in the process.

But critical in the decision making is the issue, that of leadership.

The toss-up is between the sitting president Coombs and his challenger Roddy Dowers.

Both in their capacities at all levels have served the sport in St Vincent and the Grenadines to some degree of achievement and are worthy opponents.

Coombs’ sometimes callous style of leadership has left some persons close to the sport to conclude that the modern day demands of football have outlived him.

On the other hand, his contender’s only success at football has been restricted mainly to his local club, Hope International.

Our football is at a crossroads; hence an executive with the combined acumen, configured to take us to a higher level of attainment, is what is needed, not persons who are in there mainly for their self-interest.

This lies in the hands and hearts of all the affiliates of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation who tomorrow will cast your votes, but ultimately, the choice is yours.