Liberta Sports Club chairman voices concerns and threatens to withdraw from FA Premier League

President of Liberta Sports Club, Kenneth Benjamin

– Advertising –

By Neto Baptiste

President of the Liberta Sports Club, Kenneth Benjaminthreatens to withdraw the Liberta Blackhawks from the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) First Division if a number of issues raised by the club are not resolved.

According to the former West Indies fast bowler, the club have raised concerns over the promised second installment of the FIFA Covid relief fund and the notable prolonged absence of ABFA chairman and former national player, Everton Gonsalves.

“We wish him good luck; we want him back, but I think – and I ask the president before the end of the week – that he must resign. It’s seven months and he has to let someone write a letter and if he can sign, then fine. We don’t know what his problem is and as I said we wish him all the best but for the football to continue Everton’s Gonsalves ‘Batow’ must resign as soon as possible,” he said.

Gonsalves was reportedly ill and traveled abroad for medical treatment shortly after the FA election held in April this year.

Benjamin went on to point out that with the Premier Division set to start on Saturday, his club have yet to receive the promised second installment of Covid funds.

“We want our money. The second installment, we want it because the Liberta Sports Club never neglects to pay our registration fees and our insurance. So you give us our money and tell us what it costs because you don’t know how many players we register, so how are you going to deduct the money? We want our money and we’ll write you a check [for] the amount we owe you. We also want it for accounting purposes and it’s our money, so we want it,” he said.

The Liberta Sports Club manager also raised concerns over player insurance and a form issued to players asking for personal details.

“We don’t see an insurance company, we don’t know the coverage and we don’t have any insurance details. It’s just a form with the ABFA logo on it and it just asks players to fill it in with their name, age, if you’re a student, working, your gender and your signature, and I don’t know what that is is for. What do players sign up for? The last time one of our players got seriously injured was around $12,000,” Benjamin said.

The FA Premier League is set to start on Saturday with a triple-header at the FA Technical Centre, with the Premier League due to start on Friday and the Second Division on Monday.

– Advertising –