There has been a major shake-up in the Barbados Football Association (BFA) with the top two officers losing important positions.
At its first executive council meeting since last month’s annual general meeting, president Randy Harris was replaced as chairman of the association’s finance committee by national senior team manager, Fabian Wharton.
Harris, who has endured a rough baptism since assuming the BFA’s top post last year, only managed to secure four votes to 11 by Wharton among the association’s council members in the run-off to chair one of the major sub-committees.
The finance committee will now have two other new members in long-serving football administrators Jabez “Jack” Bovell and Basil Gittens. The other member is Edwyn Wood, whose position is mandatory as treasurer. Bovell and Gittens got 10 votes each but BFA’s senior vice-president Al Walcott was also knocked off the committee, mustering only five votes.
However, according to the BFA’s constitution, Harris is entitled to sit as chairman of any committee meeting he cares to attend.
Another important development was the removal of Walcott as one of the Barbados’ delegates at all meetings of FIFA, CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
Walcott was beaten nine votes to seven by former BFA president George LasCaris, who only recently relinguished his honorary life vice-president status to sit on the executive council as the Barbados Cup representative.
LasCaris will now join Harris and new BFA general secretary-designate, Canadian Joyce Stewart, at next year’s FIFA Congress in Brazil, just before the World Cup finals kick off.
LasCaris and senior assistant secretary Charles Husbands are the new members on the BFA’s consultative committee which is headed by Harris and also includes Walcott and Bovell.
The personnel in most of the other committees remain the same but former national coach Thomas Jordan has replaced ex-FIFA referee Barney Callender on the fixtures committee, which is still chaired by Ashton Chapman.
Meanwhile, Harris will head a BFA three-man delegation to a CONCACAF summit in the Cayman Islands this week.
Harris, former Barbados defender and national coach Edward Smith and Husbands, who in his capacity as acting general secretary, are due to leave the island tomorrow.
Smith is tipped to become the BFA’s new technical director once he is seconded from his substantive position as a football coach at the National Sports Council.
