After that the Montserrat team jumped on a bus and went to its hotel - while the Belize selection went to the Biltmore for a Press Conference.
That's where Senior Vice president of the FFB, Bernaldino Pech presented the media with a letter from Markus Kattner, the Deputy Secretary General of FIFA.
Dated today, the letter explains why Sunday's match "cannot take place." The gist of that letter was also posted on FIFA's website as a statement on the situation. Here's what that had to say:
"The FIFA Emergency Committee decided today…to suspend the Football Federation of Belize with immediate effect on account of severe governmental interference. The suspension means that the return leg of the qualifying tie for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, due to be played in Belize on 19 June between the home team and Montserrat, has been postponed."
It continues to explain that ion 8 June the Government cautioned FIFA that the FFB is not authorized to represent Belize, and that FIFA wrote back, warning the Government that what it was doing amounted to government interference.
FIFA gave the FFB until 30th. June to settle the matter or it would be referred to the FIFA Emergency Committee. But that timeline had to be aborted yesterday when (and we go back to the FIFA Press Release for this):
"government wrote to FIFA….saying the Belize police would "not be providing any services to the Federation with respect to the security of the visiting team and officials at the match" to be played on 19 June. ??Under these circumstances, and due to the interference of the government of Belize, FIFA cannot take the responsibility of letting the match take place."
The statement continues:
The match has therefore been postponed to a new date to be confirmed, but no later than 10 July 2011, provided that the situation is back to normal regarding the FFB and the suspension has been lifted by that date. In the event that the match cannot take place by that date, the national "A" team of Belize will be excluded from the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil preliminary competition.??The suspension will be in place until the Belize government reverses its decision."
Thats the end of the statement form FIFA - a statement that sent shockwaves through the global and local football community, after all Belize has just played and won the very first match of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers…and now, this!?
At the press conference at the Biltmore - Team Captain Shane Orio was still upbeat. He said the line about the match only being postponed, gives him hope:
Shane Orio, Goalkeeper/Captain
"line number one because at the end of the day it still gives hope and there is always a light and we hope that the government would review their actions and hopefully they could come to agreement and like I said before at least let us play this game and then if they have any problems they could take it up from there."
Bernadino Pech, Senior President - FFB
"The reason that FIFA took this approach is because if the government of Belize cannot guarantee the security of this visiting national team - cannot guarantee the security of the FIFA officials and guarantee the security of our own local Belizeans then they had no other recourse but to proceed in the manner in which they did."
"I just cannot imagine even as I stand here, I just cannot imagine a government that would purposely seek to derail the dreams and aspirations of a nation because irs not only the footballers that are affected it is all those fans who support football - all those individuals who want something to cheer about."
Shane Orio, Goalkeeper/Captain
"Most of us are emotional because at the end of the day with all due respect, I don't know if the Prime Minister or Minister of Sports ever been on the field at Dangriga at Alejo Beni Park barefoot playing football from a child - watch TV and have that dream of playing international football but I think it's unfair for them to asks us to sacrifice something at
the end of the day they are not a part of. After a 5-2 win and again I am happy for Deon and now happy that a Belizean and is name will be down in the history of football for the rest of his life. Not only for scoring the first goal but also I think it's the first time a Belizean has scored an international hat trick. So again these are positive things and at the end of the day I think that anybody with a right set of mind and right thinking could look at this situation and see that at the end of the day it will only benefit us the players."
Sports Minister John Saldivar who has freely granted interviews throughout the fiasco - declined comment today.
A few details for context: The suspension right now is only temporary - to see if the government and the FFB can works out their issues before July tenth.
By procedure the suspension must be of the FFB, but it is expressly because of what FIFA calls "severe government interference."
And what does a suspension involve? Well it's very serious: it means During the period of suspension, the FFB will not be able to be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions, including at club level, and also not in friendly matches." Belizean players on contract with international clubs - there are three of them - can continue - but players who are not presently on contract cannot sign unto a contract during a suspension.
Aslo, according to the FFB, assistant referee Ricardo Ake - who was already in Mexico to officiate the U - 17 World Cup final also has to be recalled.
Email
Print