Peace pact ends football wars?
There is hopeful news on the long beleaguered football front…but viewers know that we’ve been down this road before. News 5’s Patrick Jones has the latest.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
Football players, fans, and supporters across the country may have reason to celebrate. The reason? The Football Federation of Belize and the estranged B.P.F.L. have kissed and made up. The truce, brokered at a meeting in Belize City last night, attended by Prime Minister Said Musa and Minister of Sports Francis Fonseca, has left embattled F.F.B. President Bertie Chimilio breathing a sigh of relief.
Bertie Chimilio, President, F.F.B.
“First of all, I would like to say thanks to everyone who has supported the Football Federation of Belize and football in general. We hope that his problem will be behind us. But most of all I want to thank God. I believe without his involvement this would never have happened.”
But while divine intervention may have played a role in solving the impasse, it will take additional human effort to iron out the remaining differences which will eventually lead to the full reinstatement of the B.P.F.L. For now all we know is that B.P.F.L. players can join the national team without being sanctioned and that, provisionally at least, that professional league is back in FIFA?s good books. Chimilio says the executives of both organisations will hold meetings in the coming weeks to complete the process so that everyone should be using the same score card when Belize plays Canada in the first game of the World Cup qualifying match in June.
Bertie Chimilio
“I think one of the sticking points that was settled yesterday is the fact the Football Federation of Belize is the parent organisation of football and is the organisation that runs and controls football in this country. Like it or not, we all have to adhere to the policies of the federation and I believe that finally that came home and the rest is just history. The accounting and the not having general council meetings, all of those were left on the wayside and we hope that with this new path everything could work out for the betterment of the game and for the betterment of football in Belize.”
And just as news of the breakthrough started to filter out, the bank of Nova Scotia Bank stepped up to put its corporate dollar where its mouth is with a five thousand dollars donation to help the national team prepare for the games against Canada. Pat Andrews is the Managing Director.
Pat Andrews, Managing Dir., Scotia Bank
“We are pushing and hoping that Belize will win. I mean to say we have to give our people them a good feeling.”
Patrick Jones
“You’re assisting them in their quest to qualify for the World Cup. Could the national team expect further assistance from Scotia?”
Pat Andrews
“Well I tell you something, I am sure that because of this exposure they will be having in Canada, I am hoping that our people in Canada will be able to get some mileage out of this also. And once we get that, I think that I will be prepared to consider it for sure.”
“We feel that we should support our Belize selection. And when Dr. Chimilio came to me and told me that Belize would be playing against the Canadian selection, I joined hands with our people in Canada and we thought it would be a good opportunity to big up both Belize and Canada.”
Chimilio says that with the B.P.F.L. now back home, there is no reason to look back, but to embrace the future with hope.
Bertie Chimilio
“I have never looked at it personally. It’s a vindication for football. There were a few folks that though they could have manipulated the game, they though that with their big time money and probably political influence they could have done what they wanted to with the game, and that’s not so. And I want to send out a strong message that this should never ever happen again in Belize.”
Patrick Jones for News 5.
Chimilio says the F.F.B. is looking at at least ten players whom they would like to see try out for the team. The national selection facing Canada will be announced at the end of the month, but the guys currently trying out will play an exhibition game against a visiting team from Peten, Guatemala this evening in Belmopan. And if you’re wondering if now that the impasse has been settled the home game can be moved back to Belize, Chimilio says it is too late, as the arrangements to play both games up north are already final.
News 5 sought comments from B.P.F.L. Commissioner Maito Perdomo, but he declined saying he needs to meet with his executive before making any public statements.
