NSC Chair not impressed with SVGFF’s operations

Chair of the National Sports Council (NSC) Jules Anthony is not impressed with some of the operations of the executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) and is calling on that organization “to put their house in order.”{{more}}

Anthony made the request in light of some administrative protocols which the SVGFF faced ahead of last Tuesday’s match between St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, in the second round of the Scotia Bank Caribbean Football Union senior men’s Caribbean Cup.

At the root of the discord was user fees owed by the SVGFF for use of the Arnos Vale Playing Field for the World Cup qualifier between SVG and Trinidad and Tobago on March 25.

“There were some outstanding fees from previous games that the National Sports Council requested be paid, and which was only paid about 11 o’ clock on Monday,” Anthony told SEARCHLIGHT.

He said that although the match would have gone ahead, there was some delay in the marking of the field, because of stand-off in the non-payment of the outstanding fees.

Anthony noted that correspondence was sent to the SVGFF’s secretariat, outlining that a percentage of the user fees was to have been paid prior to last Tuesday’s match.

The NSC said that the SVGFF’s secretariat was tardy in their response to the request, hence the near stand-off.

Anthony, who served as a committee member on a previous executive of the SVGFF, led by Joseph Delves, said that the SVGFF needs to honour its commitments when it comes to the use of the NSC’s facilities.

“You can’t just use a facility like this and don’t expect to pay,” Anthony reasoned.

In recent times, the NSC has applied the user fees which have been on the books since 2007, when the three facilities – Arnos Vale One and Two, Sion Hill and Stubbs Playing Fields – were upgraded for Cricket World Cup.

Manager of the NSC Jomadean May, in a previous interview with SEARCHLIGHT on the matter of user fees, stated then: “The fees were always in place; it is that they were never enforced.”

May had also indicated that whilst the tariffs are in place, organizations were open to negotiate with the NSC on the fees.

The NSC manager had also stated that one cannot depend solely on the Government to carry sports in St Vincent and the Grenadines, but that other stakeholders must play their part.(RT)