B.N.F.A. dissolves executive, will hold elections
It took them a while but the Belize National Football Association has finally gone public with recent decisions that will have serious implications for the way the world’s most popular sport is played in Belize. News 5’s Jose Sanchez reports from a press conference held this morning at the Radisson.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
With the B.N.F.A. under ninety days of caretaker administration the acting executive sought to explain to the public just what the future holds for Belizean football, one man not likely to be around is acting president Dr. Bertie Chimilio.
Dr. Bertie Chimilio, Acting President, B.N.F.A.
“I will do my best along with the folks who surround me to assist in football and after that my term is up, I will be gone and just pass on the baton to somebody else.”
Reynaldo Malik, Executive Member, Bz. Football League
“I think being in Dr. Chimilio’s position, it was only right that he be given the chance to address the media as no one else has done so since Saturday and put into proper perspective exactly what happened at the Saturday meeting and to show that he has no ill feelings towards the general assembly of the Belize National Football Association, even though we found it necessary to take a rather drastic action of dissolving the executive.”
Dr. Bertie Chimilio
“The general assembly met because of ongoing problems within members of the executive. They realise that problems with members of the executive, it has nothing to do with football; it is personal. And they being the highest legislative body of football in Belize decided to let us move on from here, rename the president as the president and they co-opted Mr. Rodriguez to work with me and I keep my general secretary and treasurer and I have two to three other people to assist me with football.”
Jose Sanchez
“And that will be for the next two months?”
Dr. Bertie Chimilio
“The next ninety days until elections.”
But putting elections aside, there are other issues that need immediate attention.
Reynaldo Malik
“As manager of the male selection, it is of great interest to me that we acquire the services of another coach. Of course we have the under twenty-one team, who are supposed to travel Guatemala in late November early December. We had a programme set up, myself and the past coach Leroy Lewis, had set up a programme where the under twenty-one team should have been in training already. As a matter of fact we would have been completing two weeks of training already. However, with his resignation from the post, we have had to back track a bit from these plans.”
But football must go on and Chimilio already has an idea of who might be the next technical director.
Dr. Bertie Chimilio
“Coach Santana is a Brazilian coach. He played in Belize with the Juventus team. He has been coaching over the last five to six years in Guatemala. He’s done pretty well with teams over there, but he’d like to come back to Belize. He wants to settle in Belize and he wants Belizean football, coaches and the entire administration to go on.”
Jose Sanchez
“It’s possible he’s going to be the new head coach?”
Dr. Bertie Chimilio
“It’s more than likely. There’s just a few things we need to discuss with the new committee and we’ll move on from there.”
Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.
Members of the B.F.L. executive made it clear that any decision on a new national coach will be made collectively and not by Chimilio alone.
