BELIZE CITY, Mon. Aug. 27, 2012
Belize District Football Association (BDFA) Chairman Sanja Pitts has a handful of problems in getting the Association on a good footing, considering the new set of requirements facing players with regards to registration under the new Football Federation of Belize (FFB) directive, which has put August 31 as the deadline for registration of players with the federation. According to a press release from the FFB, all district association tournaments should begin in September, in order to be completed in time for the Interdistrict Tournament which begins in January. But a frustrated Sanja visited our sports desk this morning to reveal that players have not been responding; and he thinks the FFB needs to help more in educating the football family about this new initiative.
In years past, registration of players was something that was done when a competition was about to be held by the respective district football association – whether it was in the “Junior” and “Senior”, or the 1st, 2nd or 3rd division male, or the female category. Each team would submit its roster of players along with the required team registration fee, which was normally a token figure of perhaps $10.00 or $25.00.
Of late, with the increasing cost of hiring referees and policemen, and administrative costs of transportation, record keeping and communication with team coaches and managers, tournament organizers have been charging in the neighborhood of from $200.00 to $500.00 for registration of each team in a tournament.
This year, the FFB has come up with something new; and it has been a hard sell so far in the Belize District, and perhaps elsewhere. Subject to the discretion of the BDFA and other district associations, each amateur adult player in each district is now required to pay $20.00 to be registered with the FFB; otherwise, they are barred from participating in any official tournament conducted by the FFB affiliate. Non-amateur players (in the Premier League) must pay $30.00. For the BDFA, the fee has been adjusted to $10.00 for U17 and U15 players, and $5.00 for players 13 years and under. The Premier League submits the registration fees to the FFB; but the registration fees are to be retained by the respective district associations to help cover their administrative costs. However, so far, says Sanja, no male players have come forward to be registered with the BDFA. And it is his belief that a number of other district associations are experiencing similar problems.
The FFB has declared that, in keeping with the new rules of UNCAF and CONCACAF, it is necessary for every player to be registered from now, in order that their names may be eligible for participation in the international tournaments next year. It will not be possible for any new player’s name to be added next year to the list of players that may represent Belize in any international tournament for that year, be it U15, U17, U19, U23 or Female.
The BDFA has managed to get a Female tournament under way, so there will be no difficulty where the females are concerned. Five female teams have registered their players in the BDFA’s “W” Cup, which kicked off yesterday, August 26, with 2 games at the Hattieville Village football field. Those players are all now registered with the FFB, and will thus be eligible to participate in the FFB’s Interdistrict Female competition next year, and thereafter in any international female tournament that they may be selected to participate in.
The 12 Premier League teams have also submitted their $30.00 per player registration fee to the FFB, in order to participate in the tournament which got under way yesterday.
So far, the situation has been quite different with the male youth players in the BDFA. It’s a chicken and egg situation. With no set dates advertised for the BDFA male tournaments, the male teams have not been coming forward, and neither are the players. But with limited operating funds and without a list of registered players to form the teams, the BDFA has been reluctant to announce an official starting date and any prizes that might be offered for the various male tournaments it would like to hold, in U12, U15, U17 and U19.
“We may have to request the FFB to push back the deadline for registration,” said Mr. Pitts, who seems to be taking on the burden singlehandedly of late in the BDFA. “In fact, I don’t think it would be practical to expect to start our male competitions before the end of September.”
Sanja confided that there is some more brainstorming to be done to come up with a workable plan for dealing with the tough economic situation among prospective players who should be registered with the BDFA.”Everybody else in the Executive is busy with their other commitments,” continued Sanja, “and there are not funds available for an office or a secretariat to conduct the business of the BDFA. I don’t want to embark on a situation and have myself on a limb with financial commitments that I can’t meet mid-way into a competition.”
From what he has presented so far, it seems that Mr. Pitts has been able, through the efforts of long time female football coordinator Anthony Phillips, to get the BDFA “W” Cup off the ground. And the Premier League has also kicked off its tournament. But the FFB may need to look more closely at the problems, largely financial, faced by the district associations, or at least the BDFA, in accomplishing registration of U12, U15, U17 and U19 male players and getting the respective district tournaments under way.