FIFA Com-Unity Seminar opens at
Cara Lodge Hotel
...need for strategic analysis and
direction to shape game
- Dr. Anthony
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By Franklyn Wilson
Another in the series of global Com-Unity (The Power of Football) seminars facilitated by the World Governing body for Football FIFA and organised by the local federations and associations commenced in Guyana yesterday at the Cara Lodge Hotel, Quamina Street.
The seminar, which will conclude tomorrow, is aimed at bringing together the various stakeholders within FIFA member associations and in this case Guyana , to understand its vision of how they can be greater involved in positively impacting the promotion, administration and development of football development in Guyana .
A six-man team of facilitators are carrying the sessions which are also interactive in nature as they seek to get a good understanding of the operations and relationships among the stakeholders of the sport here.
The team comprise FIFA Development Officer ( Caribbean ) Harold Taylor, Serge Dumortier (FIFA Development Manager for CONCACAF and CONMEBOL), Les Dickens and Jorge Baptista (FIFA Communications Instructors), Alberto Almirall and Hamish Miller, FIFA Marketing Instructors.
Sports Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, who declared the seminar open in his remarks, stated that despite the international prestige and economic developments that can accrue from football it remains a relatively underdeveloped sport in Guyana and to a large extent in the Caribbean .
“If we are going to change this status then we need to shape the game and to achieve this in Guyana would mean that we need a strategic analysis of where we are.”
Dr. Anthony went on to outline a few areas that could be concentrated on which include a strategic direction (plotting the course for the future), strategy formulation (positioning the organisation in the competitive environment), strategy implementation (the roll out of the organisation's choice of competitive strategies) and strategy evaluation.
“If we are going to shape and develop football, then we have to have a different attitude, outlook, strategy and an aggressive implementation style…”Anything less will condemn us to the status quo, which is not good enough.”
Guyana Football Federation president Colin Klass in his remarks said his organisation was honoured to organise the event as they seek to identify and correct a number of real or perceived issues and problems affecting the further development of football in Guyana .
“We are of the opinion that such a programme was necessary for Guyana since it is clear that disunity and lack of cooperation and consensus in many instances do exist….”Based on the success of the Com-Unity Seminar in Africa and other parts of the world, we approached our FIFA Development Officer Mr. Harold Taylor who today along with FIFA and the GFF made it a reality.”
Klass posited that it is the belief of the GFF that if there is unity in our efforts as is the case of Trinidad and Tobago , Jamaica and some of the other member associations, there is no stopping the progress of football development in Guyana .
Also delivering remarks at yesterday's opening were Taylor and Mayor of Georgetown, His Worship, Hamilton Green. Yesterday's session focused on relationship management which saw presentations by representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Director of Sport Neil Kumar whose prepared speech was read by GFF General Secretary George Rutherford since he was unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. Rutherford also did a presentation on behalf of the Federation.
Today's session will focus on communication which would see participants learning about FIFA's vision on the subject, general communication strategy, public relations, dealing with the media, duties of the media officer, crisis management, media and events and a workshop for the media.
Marketing is the area of focus for the final day tomorrow.
Areas that will be dealt with include what is marketing? what is our product? Football's target market, creating a plan; television, sponsorship and creating a brand.
Com-Unity support: Awareness of the importance and value of football for social, educational, cultural and economic development and a communication platform in a county; cooperation and communication between the member association and the government, NGO's, humanitarian and international organisations, the partners, media, and the football community; recognition of the importance of communication by the member association; attraction and retention of member association economic partners and sponsors.
Com-Unity also communicates knowledge regarding: relationship-building between member associations and the government.
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