Despite mandatory physical distancing required to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Grenada Football Association (GFA) is continuing its club engagement. Over the weekend, President of the Association Cheney Joseph held virtual meetings with club leaders in the Conference leagues. On Friday June 5, clubs in the Central and Southern conferences were engaged while on Saturday June 6 clubs in the Eastern and Northern Conferences met to discuss the way forward. Meeting participants were keen in their contributions with over 40 members in attendance at the two meetings.
The meetings examined a number of issues including an update on the FIFA Global Covid-19 Fund, GFA support for clubs and the way forward post Covid-19 with the President seeking recommendations for the latter. Clubs leaders agreed that it cannot be business as usual and eagerly offered their suggestions.
As it relates to club structure, Executive Member of Hurricanes Sports Club and member of the GFA Women’s Committee Amanda Scott said despite the unprecedented times, clubs should see it as an opportunity to fully comprehend their role in the football eco-system, and “go beyond the modus operandi of existing for just 90 minutes on the field of play.” She said the clubs and GFA need to work together to create a concise blueprint for club development to get to the point where a promising grassroots footballer can see a clear path to ascend to the highest level of play.
Glen Alexander of Combined Northerners says what may help is a concise checklist to pinpoint each club’s area of weakness in development and creating avenues of support through training in areas such as marketing, revenue generation and constitution development. As it relates to the field of play, Alexander called for urgent protocols to be developed for the new way of conducting football post COVID-19.
Touching on competitions, Fontenoy FC representative, Seymour Redhead expressed his appreciation for the meeting and recommended the merging of competition amongst conferences to improve the quality of football.
President of Sunsetters FC Arco Mark called for the reinstatement of all clubs to the General Council and stressed the importance of good representation both at the board and club levels.
At the end of the meeting, the majority of members in attendance agreed to work on improving their structure and indicated a willingness to receive additional support from the association in the development of their clubs. President Joseph applauded members for their positive feedback and expressed satisfaction that the objectives of the meetings were met.
Finally, it was also decided that the General Council Extraordinary General Meeting of the GFA will take place on Saturday June 13 via a virtual setting.
