The initial response of the UDP government, in the person of its newly appointed Executive Sports Director, to the announced CONCACAF expulsion of Belize from the CONCACAF Champions League tournament, does a lot to reinforce long-held suspicions that indeed, there is a cozy relationship between Football Federation of Belize (FFB) president, Dr. Bertie Chimilio, and the political leadership of the governing United Democratic Party. If the government does not quickly prove otherwise by its actions, the evidence will be convincing.
It is a fact that, during the many turbulent years of the FFB’s standoff with the BPFL, and then with the National Sports Council, the legal advisor on record for the FFB was then practicing attorney Dean Barrow, then Leader of the Opposition. But at that time Mr. Barrow was also the attorney for the companies of Lord Michael Ashcroft. Things have changed drastically in recent months, now that lawyer/client obligations no longer direct or restrict the actions of Prime Minister Barrow’s government in regard to his past clients. Presently, the Belize Government is “at war” with Ashcroft. But there seems to be no souring of its relationship with Chimilio.
If one listens to the words of Executive Sports Director Anthony Michael, one would get the impression that Belize’s only football problem is with an approved stadium. Bertie is fine. According to Mr. Michael in a Channel 5 interview on Monday night, May 12, “Dr. Chimilio has indicated to me that it’s (not) a ban from FIFA or a ban from CONCACAF; but rather it’s a temporary suspension for this year, because our fields are not up to par. FIFA will then come next year and re-evaluate if we have made any investment or we have brought any of our fields up to FIFA standards. Then Belize will be allowed to play CONCACAF and international matches again.”
The issue grabbing everyone’s attention at the moment is CONCACAF’s action, but it is not the major problem in Belizean football. If the present government seriously intended to address the real football problem, then this CONCACAF “suspension” should be treated as a golden opportunity to intervene in the FFB, without getting blamed for suspension from CONCACAF (FIFA).
The major problem in Belizean football for much of the last decade has been with the unpopular, dictatorial and unaccountable leadership of the FFB; and the only apparent reason why the previous government was reluctant to carry out its threats to intervene in the interest of the sport, was the fear of suspension from FIFA, the parent body of CONCACAF. Now that CONCACAF has already suspended us, what is holding back the present government’s hand, if it is serious about rescuing football in Belize?
Some questions need to be asked about the sincerity of the present administration where football is concerned. We have asked these questions before, and they remain relevant. We quote below from an Amandala article titled “Football politics; Bertie and Said” of Wednesday, July 18, 2008:
“It is now over five months since Belizeans elected by landslide a new government to ‘put things right’, after the most horrendous betrayal of a people’s trust occurred during the ten years of the Said Musa PUP administration.
“But Belizean football players and fans countrywide have suffered during those same ten years under the most un-popular, un-transparent, and un-democratic (also dishonest, in the opinion of many) administration of FFB President Dr. Bertie Chimilio. And regardless of how the various PUP Sports Ministers tried to ‘put him right’, they were overridden by the ‘head honcho’, then Prime Minister Musa, who apparently thought it politically expedient to let Bertie go on ‘doing his thing’, to the detriment of the young footballers of Belize. ….
“The UDP silence on this continuing debacle in Belize football, and their prominent ministerial presence alongside the most reviled ‘leader’ in the history of Belizean football, could be cited as strong indicators that there may indeed be some truth to the rumors that un-popular, un-transparent, and un-accountable Bertie is ‘the UDP’s boy’. If that is so, it would not be very good for the image of the UDP and Prime Minister Barrow, whose battle cry has been ‘honesty, transparency and accountability.’”
For years now, the plea from football fans and players countrywide to government has been, “Let FIFA suspend us; just remove the despot from our football leadership, and hold free and fair football elections.” Now that Belize has been suspended by CONCACAF, our government official representative is instead pledging to fix a stadium at the request of the unaccountable FFB using the Belizean people’s hard-earned taxes. To paraphrase our national hero, the time to save your credibility, is before you lose it. And on this football matter, the UDP government is dangerously close to losing it. Our advice to our Government architects: Fix the badly leaking roof overhead, and the broken down door to the office, before you spend our money on expensive new furniture.