Longstanding football administrator Gregory Castagne has answered the call of his fellow clubs to serve on the Barbados Football Association (BFA) board and will contest the seat of Junior Vice-President.
Several club representatives including Castagne of Pro-Shottas Club were present this morning at the BFA office in Wildey, St Michael where they handed in their delegation forms to contest the March 20 elections at the Annual General Meeting.
Castagne, who has served in the teaching profession for years and has been part of the sport since 1973, said that he believes this is the right time to give back and serve in a way that will develop and raise Barbados’ football.
“I am here mainly because I have been asked to run for the position of Junior Vice-President and I accepted because it is a time to serve and perform in a way that I think is going to better football in Barbados. We have been stagnated for a couple of years and I think what we have are clubs, many of whom have served in the BFA and community level who have a very good idea of what we need to do to go forward and how we need to work as a team.
“So, I see myself as part of a team that is for the development of football in Barbados, especially at the youth level and I believe I have something to offer. I am going to offer my expertise in whatever manner to help us move forward as a team that will lead to a better level of performance in terms of the standard of football and help it move from where it is today,” Castagne told Barbados TODAY.
He explained that the way programs were administered by the BFA, especially at the youth level, was not professional and therefore change was needed. He added that for him the youths were the future.
“The emphasis is on the future and developing the youths in a holistic way, so the future is with the youth and the future of our country is with the youth. I don’t think the programs they have put in place recently have been done in a professional manner, so I think I’ve always been involved with youth as a teacher, also many other ways and I think right now what I would like to see changed is that this becomes the centre of our programs and done in a way that is transparent and continuous,” Castagne added.
The clubs also drafted a letter that outlined a couple of motions they put forward on the table that should result in some changes when the AGM comes around.
General Secretary of Whitehall Football Academy and former BFA junior assistant secretary Simeon Alsopp told Barbados TODAY that the clubs want to see some changes and these will be discussed at the next AGM where the positions of junior vice-president, junior assistant secretary and treasurer are up for grabs.
“We are here to hand in our delegate forms to the Barbados Football Association and to put forward a motion for some changes that we need put on the table at the AGM. On the agenda basically, we are asking the BFA to defer the annual membership fee because we have not played football in two years. We are also asking the BFA to look into some matters that arose in the press recently.
“We need to know if there is going to be a nominations committee handling this process. The last election caused a lot of trouble and we don’t want it to end back up in the same place. We are also asking about some of the things that were recommended at the FIFA consultation meeting and we need to address these matters with immediate effect at the AGM,” Alsopp said.
A total of 26 clubs have signed a special document that would allow them to get what it is they are asking of the Randy Harris-led BFA administration, especially where the statutes are concerned. Alsopp made it clear they have sufficient signatures to move the motion that the statute be altered to indicate that the executive members are not supposed to vote and only one club, one vote.
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