Derrick Named New CFU President

Details

Football

Wednesday, 23 May 2012 02:30

By Ian Magic Hughes

Antigua St John's - General Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) Gordon “Banks” Derrick was appointed president of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) at the 2012 FIFA Congress in Budapest this week.

Two other Antiguans, Neto Baptiste and Reverend Oral Thomas, were also assigned positions on the regional football body.

They were nominated by the president of the ABFA, Everton "Batow" Gonsalves.

Baptiste, president of the Freemans Village Football Club, was named to the CFU Appeals Committee, while Thomas got appointed to the CFU Ethics Committee.

Gonsalves, Derrick, and the head of women's football in Antigua & Barbuda, Gwendolyn Salmon, are in Budapest for the high-level meeting.

The FIFA Congress, the most-critical gathering of international football's governing body, used to assemble every two years. But since 1998, this gathering of the global football family has taken place annually in an extraordinary meeting.

The introduction of annual meetings allows football’s "parliament" to influence decisions concerning an ever-growing number of issues.  

Yesterday, Antigua & Barbuda was a key name among the delegates, with the three appointments and a near miss for one more position.

Everton Colts, another Antigua & Barbuda nominee, narrowly missed out for the disciplinary committee.

Before leaving for the Congress, Derrick told reporters at a press conference held to update on Antigua & Barbuda’s Benna Boyz' progress on the Road to Rio, that he was confident he would be president.

The team leaves for the IMG training facility in Sarasota, Florida this weekend.

Baptiste told CARIBARENA.com that Gonsalves asked him if he would accept the nomination before the president left for Budapest, and he gladly accepted.

“I thought that this would be a great opportunity to spread my wings in the sport that I have been involved in for years,” he said. “When the president asked me, I saw this as a great opportunity.”

According to Baptiste, this is a new age for football administration in Antigua & Barbuda.

The Freemansville president said, “These appointments demonstrate that Antigua & Barbuda football is getting the recognition regionally and internationally. It also shows that we have people here that are capable to manage at the next level, and we must demonstrate that we have the capacity to lead."

He added, “We must do a good job so that we can pave the way for others to follow. I know I will be grabbing this with both hands, because we cannot afford to fail for the sake of those who will come after us."



Derrick’s appointment as president of the CFU comes just a week before the ABFA holds its own general elections on the final day of May.

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