7 News Belize

FFB, the Possibility Of An Alternate Future
posted (October 12, 2017)
On December second, the FFB will have its 11th Ordinary Congress to elect a President and a Vice President. Sounds simple enough, but the last two attempts to do this failed miserably.

It's one more ugly blemish on a Football Federation that's publicly perceived as chaotic. And into this mess steps two relative newcomers - who want to clean up the FFB, and restore some beauty to the beautiful game.

They publicly launched their campaign today and 7News was there:

Jules Vasquez reporting
Daniel Fabro and Frank Sharp are businessmen, but also football lifers - and now they want to save football in Belize by offering themselves as president and vice president of the FFB:

Danny Fabro, Aspiring for FFB Presidency
"You could say that our beautiful game has gone from grace to grass to even...Well just to think that a mere 50 or so years ago Belize could more than hold its own against the likes of Jamaica and others in this region. It was not long ago we could rally our powerful neighbors such as Mexico evenly without fear or favor. As a matter of fact it was recently that Belize was the second weakest in Central America behind Nicaragua. We are not even there anymore."

"Ladies and gentlemen we can do better than this. We must do better than this. We must heal its wound to the pride of our nation, for the sake of generations to come we must do better."

Frank Sharp, Aspiring for FFB Exec. Post
"I cannot emphasize that our intentions; Danny's and mine are noble and true, but also practical. I intend to do my utmost best to see our football family reconnect through the rebuilding of trust and confidence among all the members of the FFB at all levels."

It's a heartwarming and heartfelt pitch but football elections are a muddy ordeal - the last election was tied for 22 rounds without a winner. Now, football elections are pretty simple, 20 delegates vote, so the winner needs 11 votes:

Danny Fabro, Aspiring for FFB Presidency
"But it boils down to 20 delegates who will decide who wins - and these are the people the public needs to become familiar with and express what they want , because really the sport belongs to the public. It has been hijacked for years now from the public."

"We have been at it for over 8 weeks already meeting privately with all the delegates. We have met most of them on multiple occasions both face to face and on the phone. There is only probably about 2 or 3 members that we have not met yet of the 8 members. So we have been doing our ground work also behind the scenes."

Frank Sharp, Aspiring for FFB Exec. Post
"The people we've met with have all express absolute frustration at the support that they have gotten. There are no programs, there is no funding and there is no follow through on promises. I can tell that if we are involved, if we tell you something is going to happen, it's going to happen."

So - while they have the endorsement of a big name striker and other personalities in their promotional video, what makes these two outsiders think they can break into the bloodsport of football elections?:

Danny Fabro, Aspiring for FFB Presidency
"We are very much aware that the task we are trying to accomplish is a big one, because there are a lot of vested and monied interest involve and it is our hope that by going public with it with this campaign that the public will become involve in what is the entire process which has always been a hush-hush process and that way maybe we can pry away some of those delegates from looking out for their best personal interest and possibly putting the sport and the country first."

And with their supporting cast, these outsiders held this press conference to make a public pitch to try and change the entrenched culture of organized football in Belize:

Danny Fabro, Aspiring for FFB Presidency
"And every time the public hears about football, it's usually negative and it's usually an infighting and we are hoping that we can overcome that."

Frank Sharp, Aspiring for FFB Exec. Post
"If the football family is happy with the state of football today, we are not the option. If they are looking for a new direction, a new vision, I think we present a new fresh vision."

Fabro and Sharp also launched a manifesto and a plan of action. They did not have any noted FFB personalities or delegates at today's event.

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