SVGFF to know fate on July 23

The executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation will know July 23, the outcome of FIFA’s ruling on the Gavin James issue.{{more}}

This was confirmed to SEARCHLIGHT yesterday by general secretary of the SVGFF Trevor Huggins.

“We were told by FIFA that the ruling will be known by the 23rd, as the matter is in the hands of the Disciplinary Committee,” Huggins disclosed.

Huggins reiterated that all the necessary documents were forwarded to the governing body for their perusal.

However, concerns are that with the draw for the third round of competition set for July 25 in Petersburg, Russia, there will be little time for the SVGFF to appeal in the event that the ruling does not go in its favour.

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ football was thrown into a state of defence, after the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) lodged a protest to FIFA over the eligibility of James.

The eligibility of James came into question after he did not possess a Vincentian passport to be presented at the two World Cup qualifiers June 10 and 14. James was born in Britain of Vincentian parentage. Instead, James’ British passport was presented to the two match commissioners in both instances.

The first leg drew 2-2 here at the Arnos Vale Playing Field on June 10 and 4-4 when the two teams met on June 14 at the Guyana National Stadium.

St Vincent and the Grenadines, however, prevailed on the away goals rule and a place in the third round, before the GFF lodged its protest.

The GFF is basing their action on rule 19.3, which governs the 2018 World Cup campaign.

The rule states: “The only document considered to be valid proof of a player’s identity and nationality shall be a passport that explicitly states the player’s day, month and year of birth. Identity cards or other supporting official documents shall not be accepted as a valid means of identification. The participating member associations shall present each player’s valid national passport for the country of the participating member association to the FIFA Match Commissioner on the day before the match. A player without a valid passport shall not be entitled to play.”

But at a recent press conference held by the SVGFF, its head, Venold Coombs, said, “I am confident that we will prevail with the Gavin James issue ….If we have to fight it all the way to FIFA Appeals Committee, we will.”

If FIFA rules in favour of Guyana, they will earn a 3-0 win and advance to the next stage of the qualifiers, while a fine will be imposed on St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Seven different African countries – Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Liberia, Sudan and Togo – all fielded players during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers who did not possess the valid clearance, thus forcing FIFA to award 3-0 wins to their opponents.(RT)