Football wars pit BFL against BNFA
It is Belize’s most widely played and watched sport…and also its most lucrative. But football in Belize, beset by humiliating losses at the international level and almost constant conflict locally, is on the brink of crisis. News 5’s James Adderley sat down with officials on both sides of the issue to see what the future holds.
James Adderley
“Good evening, I?m James Adderley and we want to welcome you to this special edition of Sports Monday. Fans all across the nation converged on the various stadiums countrywide, looking for football excitement only to find bitter disappointment. Believe it or not the BFL football season this year has been put on hold for the third time, only this time it could be truly detrimental to the sport. Here?s what the fuss is all about.
Maito Perdomo, Commissioner, BFL
?Earlier this year after the National Programme was finished, we got five of our players suspended from the National Programme and from all football being played in the country. The first thing that we got after investigating it was that that decision was taken by the executive of the BNFA, they did not have a disciplinary committee in place. You have members of that executive that are on the National Selection Committee also, and they were present at the game in Honduras, where they charge them for conspiracy and for not attending a technical meeting. Whilst the players agree that they made some mistakes, we at the BFL, the executives and even the owners, thought that the sanctions were very, very harsh.?
?The appeals committee met with them and they didn?t even sit down and hear them. They referred it back to a Disciplinary Committee that wasn?t in place. That?s when the BNFA executive at that time scrambled and formed a Disciplinary Committee and put a member of that Disciplinary Committee that was on the National Selections Committee.?
James Adderley
?Would the BFL be right in the interest of Belizean football to stake four hundred players against three players, to bring football to this particular position? Why for three players, this kind of harsh reaction to the BNFA when there are a whole four hundred body…??
Maito Perdomo
?This is what led to other things that were bothering us that were dangling in the air before, the unconstitutionality as Mr. Waight mention of the time that BNFA executives should be in office.?
James Adderley
?Couldn?t the BFL have waited until the January twentieth general assembly??
Maito Perdomo
?Well that is another issue that statutes call for the general assembly meeting of the BNFA, which includes us and all the district affiliates, to be held in December of every year. He pushed it until January twentieth. There was a meeting scheduled for executive of the BNFA…
James Adderley
?But is a month that…?
Maito Perdomo
?Yes if you are abiding by the statutes. They always come down with statutes, so let?s deal with the statutes.?
Reynaldo Malik, BFL Executive
?In the statutes of the BNFA, it clearly states that the term of office for the elected executive is two years. This present executive of the BNFA has claimed that they have a mandate for four years. Now in order to change from two years to four years, there must be a vote by the general assembly of the BNFA to change this statute from two years to four years.?
Nick Pollard Jr., a former BNFA commissioner is now advisor to the BFL on the statutes for the BNFA.
Nick Pollard Jr., Former BNFA Commissioner
?For you to amend any article in the statutes, like what Dr. Bertie Chimilio said to the press, that they had sent up a proposal, I recall reading this I think last week in the newspapers, where he was quoted as saying that they had sent up a proposal. Now I read that and indeed you must send up a proposal, but it has to be written proposal. It?s right in the statutes, I think it?s Article Ninety-One, that you must prepare a written proposal and it has to be sent to the twelve regional chairman for them to agree to. Then that is put on the agenda and they will vote on it. They cannot provide that BFL with a copy of that written proposal, there is no written proposal.?
?We must make it very clear to our audience that we can?t blame FIFA for this. FIFA has in place the statutes that are in Belize with safety valves in all areas. The executive of the BNFA has the power to sanction, but because you can have a tyrannical situation where an executive is overpowering situations, the safety valve is the general assembly, where they can take a matter back to the general assembly to overrule the decision of the executive, the same way the appeals committee can overrule the decision of a Disciplinary Committee. So we can?t blame FIFA because the statutes are there. The last thing I need to clear to the public, all these gentlemen were asking for is their general assembly meeting, that?s all
James Adderley
?January twentieth it was promised.?
Nick Pollard Jr.
?But then the general assembly meeting is December.?
James Adderley
?Twenty days after December…it?s getting harder for me to understand that, but…?
Nick Pollard Jr.
?James, I became the president of the BNFA in 1991 and prior to that all meetings of the BNFA general assembly have always been held in December.?
Of course folks this show could never be complete without a word from the embattled BNFA President, Dr. Bertie Chimilio.
Dr. Bertie Chimilio, President, BNFA
?The BFL apparently had a meeting on Thursday night. We got this letter at eleven o?clock Thursday night delivered to the home of one of my members and I did not see the letter until Friday morning. So when I called an emergency meeting of the executive and we decided that based on what had happened to stop games and hope to resolve this matter. The BFL has been out of place, they have been wrong to do what they did. They make have had the gut feeling to do it, but they need to know about football purposes. Just to do things for the sake of doing it is definitely wrong and anti-football.?
James Adderley
?Mr. President, I must say that the ordinary man out there in Belize?s confines is looking for football play. It there a way, from your lofty position, that we could return to football play this very weekend??
Dr. Bertie Chimilio
?James, football could have returned Sunday had the league humbled themselves and realised that they had made a football mistake. We could have sat and burned the midnight lamps Friday night and games would have been played Saturday and Sunday, but the league must understand that there are ways to do things and you don?t send and give instructions to your parent body, the way they have done, saying they need new elections, they don?t recognize the sanctions and they will use the players anyway. No way in the world that happens. When I asked for the advice of FIFA and CONCACAF, I will not say what advice they gave me, the Belize National Football Association executive decided to go for an apology. If I had taken the advice of my people abroad, this would have probably been a full-scale war. So there is time, things could be straightened out, people need to recognize when they have made a mistake. If they are being influenced by outsiders to do something, this is not the time to do it. If we are unconstitutional, then why have been playing football for the last two years? Why have they been playing football for the last two months? Why have they been playing football for the last week.?
?We made a decision in November at an executive meeting, statutes give us that power to confer and call ordinary and extraordinary general assemblies and that is what we used to do our work. So we?re not having general assembly because the executive has been too busy.?
Well there you have it folks, while all the noises are being made, there is no ball bouncing anywhere officially in a semi-pro tournament here in Belize. We?ll just have to wait and see how this thing plays out. Of course everybody must know how important football is to our Belizean community and lifestyle and those in charge must make the hard decisions to get this thing back on track. Of course we will hold all accountable, bring back our Sunday pastime. We want to tell you that Sports Monday returns to its normal time slot next week Monday, that?s it for now.
In a release late this afternoon the National Sports Council announced that its offer to mediate the dispute has been rejected by the BNFA.
