By Paul Nicholson
February 17 – A fourth candidate has announced that he will run for the vacant presidency of the regional governing body for the north and central Americas and Caribbean, CONCACAF. Gordon Derrick, president of the Caribbean Football Union since 2012, has thrown his hat into the ring.
Derrick’s entry, if not unexpected, brings a different complexion to the election, coming from the heart of Caribbean football, traditionally the power brokers in the region with their 31 member votes out of a total of 41 votes in the confederation.
He will be up against Canadian FA president Victor Montagliani, and two other contenders from the Caribbean; Bermudan FA president Larry Mussenden (currently on duty in Zurich hearing the appeals of Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter) and businessman and Guyana U20s Women’s coach Mark Rodriguez.
Derrick came to prominence in the CFU taking over from Jack Warner following the cash for votes scandal in the Caribbean when Warner supported Mohammed Bin Hammam for the FIFA presidency.
In a letter to national federations Derrick acknowledges the troubled position CONCACAF finds itself in. “CONCACAF is scandal-tarnished,” he says. “The reputational damage threatens the commercial viability of football, undermines confidence in administrators, unfairly impacts players and officials and has turned off supporters.”
But he says this is a situation he has been through before as an administrator and that he knows how to come out the other side: “I came to office amid the first wave of scandal in football, which unfolded at the level of the CFU. The Caribbean, in this regard, was ahead of the curve, instituting complete reforms four years ago. I know firsthand that effecting change is no easy feat.”
Derrick has been a member of the CONCACAF Statutes Reform Committee and a key player in the final draft reforms that will go before the confederation’s extraordinary general meeting in Zurich on February 25, ahead of the Extraordinary FIFA Congress the following day. CONCACAF will vote for a new president in May at their annual Congress in Mexico City.
Reflecting a background that saw him represent Antigua and Barbuda as a player, Derrick’s proposals for the confederation have a strong emphasis on developing playing opportunities across the region under his campaign banner ‘A time to build up’.
Included in a list of 11 commitments are promises to: “Develop Women’s football at the institutional and sporting levels; to develop and support Grassroots initiatives with laser-like focus on female and youth programmes; and Infrastructural development across the countries.”
He also signals a shift in the way regional funding is allocated “to design equitable development programs based on need”.
Perhaps the most basic commitment he makes is the one that this region probably needs to demonstrate it respects more than any other: “Fidelity to the CONCACAF Constitution”.
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