Derrick addresses Miami airport incident

General Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA), Gordon Derrick, has addressed the circumstances surrounding a recent incident in which the manager of one national team inadvertently boarded a flight from Miami to Antigua, leaving behind the team over which she had been placed in charged.
Derrick, speaking to the issue on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show this week, said a number of people came together to ensure that the players, who were being supervised by at least one coach in Miami, was more than comfortable until they were able to get a flight into Antigua the next day.
“All of the kids were fine, the parents were notified, they were in a hotel where they ate thanks to Ambassador Gilbert Boustany who jumped on a phone call to help us and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Max Fernandez who were very much on board and everything went smooth,” Derrick said.
“The kids slept well, they ate and they were on a flight and came in the next day so let’s not see it as a negative,” he added. 
The General Secretary added that the FA will move to put measures in place that would ensure similar events do not occur in the future.
Derrick also hinted that the slow removal of the Carnival stage from the Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG), may negatively impact the planned starting date for the 2017/18 domestic season.
“Recreation grounds hasn’t been cleared yet. Carnival has been finished for nearly three or four weeks and I don’t think we have to meet with the minister [EP Chet Greene] to have the grounds cleared. We called to let them know what we would like and they said yes, they are working on it, but it is going slow so I don’t think that requires a meeting,” the GS said.
Derrick had said previously that the FA was targeting an early September start date for the upcoming season.