Presidential candidate for the upcoming St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation’s elections Renson Haynes, believes he and his team have the acumen to advance the sport, once they are given the opportunity.

The team of Haynes, Leslie Millington, Debson Cruicksank and Tamara Barrow, see themselves as the “ game changers”, hence are calling on affiliates, clubs and leagues to allow them to do so, when they vote on January 27, 2024, at the Federation’s Electoral Congress.

The Haynes- led team thus aims to be the “ difference makers”, through the roll out of a strategic development plan for football in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

High among their priorities is the upgrading of infrastructure.

Haynes in highlighting the need for more access to playing facilities, said “as expressed in our manifesto, we plan to assess the facilities required to host additional matches, training, presentations, and meeting”.

Revealing that discussions to this end are in train, Haynes added: “We are already in discussion with potential stakeholders to explore the viability of this venture which include the corporate sector (with) particular attention given to ensure the lighting of more fields, through the Fifa Forward 3.0, while we also prioritise ongoing maintenance and upgrade of the current infrastructure with collaboration with the government and FIFA”.

Underscoring the dire need for more and improved facilities for Football, Haynes pointed to the issues faced with some playing fields being inaccessible to footballers, in light of preparation for World Cup cricket matches here in June of this year.

“ We see what is happening now with some fields out of commission for Cricket, therefore we need more quality surfaces; there is also no indoor facility where players can master close control, playing in tight spaces and quick decision making,” he reasoned.

Haynes said once elected he and his team will look thoroughly at the technical aspects of football.

“We are committed to develop our programmes to align and support the long-term Player Development framework of Concacaf and FIFA… “This entails programmes for all age groups from primary school level to senior level; a comprehensive curriculum for grass root development and equipment support via Concacaf Generation Amazing and other similar programmes”, Haynes related.

As a means to this end, Haynes’ team will implement grass roots festivals during the school vacation with some emphasis on developing more female footballers.

This will go hand in hand with a programme which enhances the technical abilities of coaches.

“The objective for the next four years is to have more qualified coaching staff by providing advanced coaching courses regardless of the age or division they are coaching… “Our strategic target is to increase the number of certified coaches at club level and establish a professional coaching structure with qualified technical staff”, Haynes emphasised.

Other salient areas to be addressed are social responsibility development, organisational capacity development, referees development, as well as encouraging partnership development.

But one of Haynes’ major promises is to double the prize monies for the winning club in the National Club Championships, from $25,000 to $50,000 and providing increases as well for winners in the other divisions.

Haynes pointed out that all of his opponents in the presidential race have served either as president or vice-president in the past and have failed, hence it is fitting that he be given a chance to “correct their wrongs”.

Asked what are his plans should he and his team not succeed in the elections, Haynes told SEARCHLIGHT, “ I am here for the love of football, and will work with anyone, likewise if I am successful I am willing to embrace and work with others even though they are not part of my team”.

Apart from Haynes, the others seeking to be elected to the post of federation president are the incumbent Carl Dickson; Marvin Fraser; Wayne Grant; and Otashie Spring.

Haynes is a former national Under-17, Under-23, Under-20, Under-23 and senior player. In 2021 he was appointed interim manager of the Senior National Men’s team for the 2021 Gold Cup Qualifiers, and the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.

A co-founder of the Awesome FC, Haynes is the CEO of the Awesome Sports International.