The Saint Lucia Football Association (SLFA) says it is committed in moving ahead with its developmental goals and policies.
Lyndon Cooper, the Association’s president was asked about the impact seminars and training sessions had on members and affiliates, and their effectiveness in passing knowledge.
“Due to all the training that we have done in the last two years, we have seen an improvement in the areas of deficiency, and we anticipate that those programmes are going to correct those shortcomings for us. Basically, it has been taking too long because of the pandemic and the slowness in reopening the structures,” said Cooper.
The coaches, he said, are responding favourably to the latest levels of certification, and have been receiving commendable feedback as they impart knowledge of the game and effective training sessions to their respective clubs.
“It has been good since we have been achieving our objective in terms of getting coaches that want to coach in the national set up to be certified …because there is a day coming that only certified or qualified persons are going to be able to sit on a bench in an organized or sanctioned SLFA competition,” the SLFA president explained.
Cooper adds that the coaching sessions have allowed for an improvement in the standard of football on the island, in order to push through with the implementation of the SLFA’s strategic plans.
Lately, there have been reports alleging internal disputes between the SLFA and some club affiliates and referees. Cooper says that while the ‘rumor mill’ has been churning out more disputations against the association, there is a lot of hidden evidence that the complaining parties have not brought to the fore, in order to provide clarity on those matters.
In response to reports that a few clubs were sanctioned by the SLFA for non-compliance to specific rules and regulations, Cooper denies that any club was subjected to such disciplinary measures.
“No clubs were sanctioned …that’s not true, and there’s absolutely no truth to that,” he declared. The SLFA boss claims that there were no ‘disciplinary letters’ issued to the clubs and dares any of the club representatives to provide copies of these letters.
In the build-up to the World Cup Qualifiers (WCQs) amongst regional states, the SLFA was put under pressure concerning Saint Lucia’s non-participation in these qualifiers. However, currently the SLFA’s technical team is preparing several national teams to compete in tournaments over the next year or so.
Cooper explained that arrangements to appoint a head coach has been on the cards since January this year, but “the negotiations are taking longer than anticipated”.
He said currently, the focus is being directed “on all the teams that are active in 2022 for regional and international engagements.”
Some of the major upcoming tournaments for the year will include CONCACAF U-14, CONCACAF U-15, CFU U-15, and the Nations League.
Summing up the association’s programmes over the past four to five years, Cooper said, “The SLFA has achieved over 98% of its programmes and its strategic plan”.
However, he laments that “What we have not managed to achieve is to qualify for a World Cup [FIFA], and that is where the ‘sticking point’ is for the SLFA leadership.”
Moving forward, the SLFA president asserted that the association’s ultimate goal is to have a national representative team qualify for the World Cup. Subsequently, he says: “We want to take a look at the strategic plan next year and see if we have to change it. But it’s my intention to make a number of pronouncements when we go in two or three weeks’ time to our annual congress …where we discuss the strategic vision of the SLFA.”