Following some hic-cups where coaches and players were locked out of Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG) for the past two weeks, the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association’s (ABFA) Elite coaching programme will move to a new venue today.
ABFA’S Youth Development Co-ordinator Micah Samuel said a misunderstanding with the dissemination of information resulted in the ARG gates being locked for the past two Saturdays.
Samuel said while that matter has been resolved, the Elite programme has been switched to Police Recreation Ground (PRG) today to facilitate a masters football tournament as well as Premier Division matches at ARG.
“There was a hic-cup as it relates to the gate being closed. Apparently some information got crossed and some people got the wrong impression. Consequently it ended up with the gate being locked and we couldn’t get in, so the children couldn’t get to practice,” Samuel said.
“However, we have re-located our practice to the police playing field at Tomlinson this Saturday.
“This is basically to avoid the heavy traffic that will be at the Antigua Recreation Grounds this Saturday.
“The ARG would be utilised to host a masters’ tournament and also the ABFA’s Premier Division matches that will be played in the afternoon.
“The masters will be using the facilities in the morning which would be the same time we would normally be using it, so we have decided to re-locate to the police playing field.”
Samuel said arrangements have been made to provide transportation to take the participants to PRG for a prompt 9 am start today.
With the consistent use of ARG, some persons feel the Elite programme can be staged in various communities across the islands on Saturdays.
But while Samuel agrees the programme can be hosted in different communities, he said it would still pose a major challenge to the ABFA to get the fields prepared to stage the coaching clinics.
“It will take a bit of administrative work and some healthy organisation. A lot of people would have to do some leg work as it relates to moving goal posts and making sure the field is in adequate condition for the players to play on,” Samuel said.
“It can be done, but like I said, it will take a bit of work to have this done.”
The ABFA’s Elite programme is a specialised coaching clinic, targeting 25 youngsters each in various age groups, including Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 boys.
