The newspaper wishes to recognize the effort of the attorney Lionel Welch in financing semi-pro football teams and working with our youth. This is by contrast with the other attorneys of substance, who ignore the community where they made/make the millions and live the lives of the rich and famous.

One of the reasons Mr. Welch has sustained his program is because of direct management involvement. There has been a failure in Belizean sports where middle management is concerned. By “middle management,” we are referring to the individuals who are given the responsibility of handling the financing offered by big business. Middle managers have too often given in to the temptation to siphon off resources for their own personal benefit, instead of forwarding the resources to the players.

Belize football took a step forward this week in the Copa Centroamericana, and there is presently an atmosphere of optimism in football circles. For us to continue forward, football has to continue weeding out people who are corrupt and entitled. We just came out of fifteen years of that.

Belize is a small society, and everybody knows everybody else’s business. Nobody’s perfect, but in sports, as in politics, there are people who are almost incorrigibly selfish and insincere. When such individuals attain positions of power, resentment and ill-feeling begin to grow amongst the people at the base.

Belizean people of means will now want to support football, which is a very good thing. Not all of these people will want to involve themselves as deeply as Lionel Welch. The middle managers will therefore be important if football is to continue moving upwards. The middle managers must behave with honesty and love for the good of our youth, in the first instance, and for the good of our society as a whole.