NACAC involvement in Athletics Association election saga imminent

The track & field fraternity in Antigua & Barbuda is bracing for a potential visit from the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NCACA) Athletics Association.
This is according to sources close to the Antigua & Barbuda Athletics Association (ABAA), who said the American and Caribbean body has shown an interest in the ongoing dispute between the national athletics association here and a number of clubs who had written to NACAC over grievances with the recently held elections.
Some clubs and individual members of the local association, had pulled out of a planned meeting with President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), EP Chet Greene, and the Athletics Association scheduled for Monday.
The meeting was organized in an attempt to bring an end to the ongoing feud between the two parties.
Reports however indicate that the clubs and members were instructed by NACAC not to attend the planned meeting but to, instead, await further instructions from the body.
The disgruntled clubs and members have reportedly requested the body’s intervention in the matter.
Greene, when contacted for comment, confirmed that the planned meeting with the clubs and individual members did not materalised but refused to go into detail.
The document requesting an audience with the NOC head was signed by at least five clubs and 10 individual members and labelled the recently held elections invalid.
The request also called for the resignation of the new head, Everton Cornelius, while demanding fresh elections.
A number of clubs have argued they had been disenfranchised during the association’s AGM held on February 16, and alleged that they were not allowed to vote during the now controversial meeting.
In a legal opinion commissioned by the aggrieved clubs and individual members, attorney-at-law Vere C Bird III, cited the association’s failure to call quadrennial meetings within the stipulated period of four years from the last meeting.
He also highlighted the “failure of the ABAA to serve a proper notice of the meeting of February 16, 2017, pursuant to its constitution”.
Hurricane Power Sports Club, Roots Sports Club, Panthers Elite International, Team Force, Barbuda Falcons, and the Antigua Pioneers Sports Club all signed the document that was submitted to the NOC.