GFF criticized for no medical personnel at women’s tournament

Fruta Conquerors women’s coach Delon Williams, has lambasted the Guyana Football Federation [GFF] for the lack of medical personnel at the commencement of the Always Women’s Championship which prevented an injured player, Amanda Mc Kenzie from being treated promptly.

Williams, during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport, said, “It was embarrassing. The GFF had no medical personnel at the game, and I thought all of that would have been in place. This does not reflect well on the federation as she could not receive medical attention until she went to the hospital, which was the Diamond Diagnostic Center. I had to personally look after her until she went there. She was taken to the hospital by a GFF coach which took us about 30 minutes.”

The Fruta Conquerors star McKenzie, suffered a sprained knee during a practice match against the Guyana Police Force at the National Training Centre, Providence on Saturday.

The match which did not feature any medical personnel, was staged after the competition got off to an unfavorable start following two walkovers. Efforts to solicit a comment from General Secretary Ian Alves proved futile. Calls to his cellular phone went unanswered up to press time.

According to Williams, “You [the GFF] are contradicting yourself. You are being stern on other tournaments with regards to the regulations needed and you as the governing organization didn’t have any medical personnel at your own tournament and the worst part is it’s a women’s tournament. More attention should and needs to be paid to these events. We don’t normally have women tournaments and when we do we should have everything in place and in order especially medical staff.” He added, “The women don’t play sufficient football. They have not played for the year and they need the medical assistance available. This looks very bad. She is out for the tournament and now have to go and look at the bone specialist. She is out for the remainder of the year. If we had a medic at the venue, the injury would have been treated earlier instead of waiting to take her to the hospital.”

Asked if anyone from the federation has contacted the management team to ascertain the condition of the player, he said, “Someone from the GFF called yesterday but didn’t identify who it was so I am not sure who the person was.”