Burrell to help lead rescue of CFU — once he has served his ban
ZURICH: Jamaica’s Horace Burrell may have been one of the Caribbean football delegates punished for their role at the notorious Bin Hammam election conference but, once his ban is over, he will take up a leading role in rebuilding the disgraced Caribbean Football Union.
Nine officials have been appointed a ‘normalisation committee’ after an extraordinary congress organised by world federation FIFA in Zurich to pick over the rubble left by events in May and the uncertainties over the organisation’s finances.
Former CFU president Jack Warner walked away from the game rather than answer FIFA ethics committee charges over bribery allegations. Other officials from CFU member nations were suspended, reprimanded or warned.
Burrell, the suspended president of the Jamaica Football Federation, who will regain his status on January 16 next year; Ronaldo Jones, president of Barbados’ Football Association and Minister of Education; and Jean-Yves Bart of Haiti are the three most recognisable figures on the nine-member normalisation committee whose work is expected to take five months.
Also on the committee are Luis Hernandez of Cuba, Victor Daniel from Grenada, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, Larry Mussenden from Bermuda, Everton Gonsalves of Antigua and Barbuda plus Rignaal Francisca of Curaçao.
Congress charman Bart said: “I am proud to have been part of such a historical achievement and expect the decisions taken at the Zurich meetings will result in a brighter and better CFU.”
The CFU has 30 members of which 25 are also FIFA members.
The normalisation committee is to appoint an interim CFU general secretary and review new statutes proposed by its legal committee then organise elections for a new executive committee by May 15.
Also the committee must appoint a legal committee, a finance committee and a football committee, while also making recommendations to the membership as to the legal domicile of the CFU.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: “I am very pleased that the representatives of the CFU have reached an agreement in order to move forward and to look into the future, for the good of the game in the region.”
