By Neto Baptiste
Premier Division title contenders Grenades FC are in doubt for their encounter against John Hughes FC on Sunday, following a dispute over scheduling in the competition’s groups stage.
Coach of the Jennings team and former national striker Derrick “Pretty Boy” Edwards said the executive is set to make a decision ahead of Sunday’s 6pm clash after they had written to the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) since February 7 and are yet to receive a reply.
“I can’t say right now if we’re going to show up this weekend, so myself and the president [Chester Hughes] and the manager [Shaun George] will sit down and chart the way forward. It is going to put the competition in a tailspin because if we get at least one more club to side with us then there is big problems,” he said.
Edwards said that according to how the teams are seeded due to points, Grenades should play Green City FC on Sunday but instead, they are scheduled to face John Hughes. He said the club is preparing to involve officials from regional and international governing bodies like Concacaf and FIFA.
“We also have a lawyer involved with the whole matter because at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s right and it just looks like match-fixing because the team we’re supposed to play coming up weekend, we’re not playing the team. We’re playing another team and in the other round, the team the top team is supposed to play next weekend, they are not playing that team, they are playing another team. We were supposed to play Bullets in our last game but now we have Villa in our last game. Old Road was supposed to play All Saints United in their last game but now they have All Saints in their second to last game,” he said.
Edwards said the clubs should have been consulted before any changes were made.
“Now we reached the group stage where we’re supposed to play certain teams, they shift up the groupings. We’re saying that you can’t do that now the groups are seeded and the teams are seeded in the positions they are supposed to play and what time they are supposed to play, you change it up. We didn’t get any communique but at the end of the day, we are saying that you have to make a decision via the committee and as far as I know, it didn’t go back to the committee for the changing,” the coach said.
On the current schedule, Green City receives a bye this weekend. Grenades currently trail defending champions All Saints United by one point on the standings.
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