SVG hosts FIFA seminar

St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be the venue for a FIFA Professionalization seminar.{{more}}

The seminar will take place this Friday and Saturday at Grenadines House and will see participation from members of regional executives of FIFA, including St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and host St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

St. Lucia will be represented by five delegates, Grenada three, so too will be St. Kitts and Nevis and Suriname.

Host St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation has leading its delegation, President Joseph Delves, along with First Vice President Ian Sardine, Third Vice President Ashley Cain, General Secretary Ian Hypolite and Committee Member Cerlian Russell.

The four FIFA officials, who will facilitate the seminar, are Kevin Pipe, Chris Collie, Daryll Warner and Howard Mc Intosh.

This professionalization seminar is part of a FIFA mandate, in which its member associations and federations have been served notice to bring their operations to a level that will set the tone for an overall optimum standard of efficiency.

In September 2009, a similar exercise was conducted in St. Lucia, resulting in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation coming up with a set of resolutions contained in a document called the Coconut Bay Resolutions.

Among the resolutions posted by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation back then, coupled with specific time lines, were a Strategic Debt Management Approach, the Professionalization of the SVGFF’s Secretariat, the employment of a General Secretary, the upgrade of the SVGFF’s Information Technology, the training of a cadre of 200 coaches by 2012, the professionalization of clubs, as well as the start of a professional Football League by 2015, among others.

Whilst some have been met, others are yet to be fulfilled. Thus far, the employment of a full time General Secretary and resolving the legal barriers of the Goal Project are some of the pluses, whilst the development of Women’s Football and the Public Relations/ Communications arm remain uphill struggles for the local administrative arm of the sport. (RT)