Wharton’s advice

Disappointed is how Brittons Hill manager Fabian Wharton feels about the events surrounding the nomination process for the Barbados Football Association’s upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled for August 9 at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium.

During an interview with Barbados TODAY, Wharton said he was asked to run again this election having done so during the last AGM in 2016. However, he explained that his sole focus right now was on running the Transport Board and Brittons Hill Club and therefore he would not run again.

“I have been approached. People have been calling me for the last week. But I am extremely disappointed that matters of football have to be now brought to the public. I am sorry this could not have been resolved internally because it doesn’t do anything good for the sport, these ramblings. Now you are hearing all of these irregularities with the nomination process.

“If that is the case why not just, given that COVID interrupted, and for the sake of transparency, just start the whole process over. You don’t have anything to lose, instead of trying to fight the process, so you start the process all over, you shorten the time frame for the nomination, let us say a week or two the most for the nominations to be in. Get the clubs to come forward and sort out themselves and just do the whole thing over properly, instead of trying to bring the association into disrepute,” Wharton said.

He added: “It makes everybody in the sport look bad. So, I would highly recommend that for the sake of the sport and for the transparency of the process, that they start the process all over again and consider using an independent body like the BOA (Barbados Olympic Association) or a committee from the Ministry of Sport.”

Wharton explained that this entire situation was nothing new having experienced challenges in 2016 when he ran for presidency.

“I would have had challenges when I ran as well. There were so many issues in that election, people said I should have voiced my concerns in public. But the sport is bigger than anyone and I love the sport. These are problems that have not just started. These are problems that have happened in many elections before and it is time that we get this right once and for all as a body and as an organisation. This is the time to put it right and go forward once you have a chance to make real change.

“We just need to be transparent and do what is best for the sport and stop studying the individuals. Individuals will come and go, the sport of football will remain. So the most important thing is not to allow certain individuals to tarnish the sport that has done reasonably well over the last fifty years,” Wharton stressed.

In addition to pointing out that what is currently taking place is nothing new, Wharton also identified this as a weakness in the governance structure of the BFA.

Wharton also strongly believes that with a president like Randy Harris at the helm and the right people around him, football could do even better than it’s currently doing.

“You will have a situation where unless you are going to use an independent body, a totally independent body to conduct your election, that regardless of whatever association it is, the persons that are in control of the organisation will control the election. Because at the end of the day they are the ones running the organisation.

“It is a structural governance issue. I don’t want to get into personalities and all of that, I am just looking at the issue. There is something bigger going on here that I want people to pay attention to. The whole structure, the whole governance around it,” Wharton said.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb