By Neto Baptiste
A hearing between the Liberta Sports Club (LSC) and the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association’s (ABFA) disciplinary committee on Wednesday was postponed after the club sought clarity surrounding the legality of the committee.
President of the LSC Kenneth Benjamin said the club through their legal representative Loy Weste, sought clarity on the make-up of the committee while asking for documentation regarding when and how the committee was constituted.
“Our lawyer asked the chairperson, Craig Christopher, and he couldn’t say who the members are and said he [Liberta’s lawyer] has to ask the general secretary [Rohan Hector] who was there. The general secretary said there was Mali Richards and there was one other guy’s name that he couldn’t remember because the guy’s name is long. Loy Weste [the lawyer] then asked when did the meeting happen and the general secretary didn’t know. So, the chairman took chairmanship of a committee and you don’t know the other members,” he said.
The LSC was invited to the disciplinary hearing after missing their first two matches in the Premier Division as they refused to take the field before getting clarity on the FA’s reimbursement policy.
The club had written to the FA seeking clarity on the policy after the governing body announced it was still in the process of finalising insurance coverage for registered members.
“If the executive had put their egos aside and asked, ‘gentlemen, what are your concerns’, we would say x, y and z. If they said ‘Liberta Sports Club, if someone gets injured and you pay, we are only going to reimburse you 70 percent’. Can a player be reimbursed if you get injured in practice? ‘Yes, that is part of the whole process’; and simple as that the matter could have been resolved,” he said.
Benjamin said the team was positioned to take the field last weekend but were stopped in their tracks in light of the scheduled meeting.
“The boys want to play football and they came to the club and we said that if they have issues with insurance, then we will address that. Now, we have said to [the ABFA] that this is what we understand in terms of the reimbursement, and the boys want to play you stop them from playing Saturday but I am saying to you that the boys are ready to play. This has nothing to do with the questions we have to ask so let the boys go and play their football,” the president said.
The former West Indies fast bowler said the club sent a letter to the ABFA on Thursday requesting the information on the committee and is hoping the hearing could be held by Friday.
