By: Jemima Holmes
Strident claims that “Hutson must resign”, “Mistreatment of our athletes”, “The AAG needs to answer” only scratch the surface of the scathing criticisms that the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) and its President, Aubrey Hutson, faced over the weekend as Guyanese athletes competed in the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games, held in The Bahamas.
But despite being embroiled in controversy, Guyana’s 18-member team produced 8 medals at the Games, one more than last year’s tally of seven – a fact Hutson had hoped would have been focused on, instead of the ‘petty’ games being played on social media.
The AAG Boss faced the proverbial music on Tuesday, after calling a press briefing at his private business office in Light Street, Alberttown. There Hutson not only lamented the unfair and unsubstantiated judgement the Association has faced over the past few days, but ‘came clean’ on what prevented the Guyanese athletes from arriving in Nassau, Bahamas on time.
“Most of it is information that we know is not accurate, and my disappointment is that we are taking away from the glory that these athletes would have brought to Guyana over the last Easter weekend,” Hutson lamented at the emergency press briefing.
He added, “I say this for me, because I really and truly feel that we, as Guyanese, cannot enjoy ourselves watching our athletes perform the way they perform and feel good about ourselves without someone having to create criticism over some administrative glitches that would have taken place in getting the team to the CARIFTA Games and getting them back home.”
Travel woes
The story began on Friday last (Good Friday) when reports emanated that the Guyana-based CARIFTA athletes were ‘stuck’ in the Land of Many Waters, the AAG not being able to secure a flight to the Games, which were set to begin on Saturday.
“We know we were able to get through with the ones coming out of the USA. We were able to easily get the ones coming out of Jamaica, because those seats were primarily sponsored by persons outside of Guyana. So, the overseas-based tickets were secured,” Hutson said about the overseas- based athletes arriving earlier than their counterparts.
He continued, “When it came to the contingent to leave Guyana, we continued to face one issue after the other, and I’m wondering if my true regret is saying to those athletes and coaches, which include manager and physio, that ‘Look, we’re not getting tickets, ya’ll need to stay home’. But I know how hard they train, I know how hard they work, I know what CARIFTA means to them.”
According to the AAG Boss, their first hurdle was receiving sponsorship late. “Our first issue started off with late sponsorship. We did not receive sponsorship on a timely basis, and I can afford to say without any fear of contradiction that we got our first major payment one week before this team travelled from the Guyana Olympic Association.”
This claim of receiving GOA sponsorship one week before is backed by reports on the presentation in several daily publications dated April 2nd, 2023. However, Hutson did not see this as a point of contention since, as he went on to explain: “And we got our second major cheque on Holy Thursday, which is the day before Good Friday, after the banks were closed.
“However, the AAG always has its ways and means of making things work, like we did last year, even though we faced the same criticism, I don’t know for what reason. The team went, the team performed, the team got back home; but because one person or persons were sought after for sponsorship for the team, it became a political football; and we see the same thing happen here again,” he explained.
Hutson’s account of the travel fiasco claims that, upon receiving sponsorship, the Association moved to secure flights with an agent on the Friday before the Games. And the agent had said the flights were secure, but the AAG was later informed that the seats were no longer available.
“From that Friday, we realized that the only seats available were via Miami, so we attempted to procure visas for the athletes to travel,” he related.
This plan fell through the following Tuesday, given that they were not able to secure visas – a topic which Hutson was careful to handle delicately. He said about the unfortunate occurrence, “They [The US Embassy] really would have loved to help, but they simply can’t, and I must say, too, the AAG enjoys a great relationship with the US Embassy, and we’ve seen releases in the media that would kind of want to drive a wedge in that relationship.”
Another avenue arose when the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) informed that they had a charter flight leaving Antigua for The Bahamas, but getting to Antigua proved to be another issue for the AAG.
While that option fell through on the basis of the Guyanese contingent being greater than the capacity of the charter, the other option of flying to Cuba on Friday with Fly Always airline arose.
“We thought it was a golden opportunity, because we know how hard those athletes work and train, so we took the opportunity,” he said.
As many would now know, the charter from Cuba to The Bahamas had clearance issues with regard to landing, and as such, the Guyanese athletes were placed in the pressure situation of arriving at the games late.
Fast forward past the competition weekend and the very same issues that arose with the flights to the Bahamas recurred with getting the athletes back home. On this matter, Hutson admitted, “We could not find any [better options], and hence I informed the Director of Sports, Vice-President also of the GOA, and the Chairman of the NSC. The response that I eventually got is that the Government of Guyana is interested in getting the athletes back home sooner than Friday, and they will take over the responsibility of getting them back home.”
No mistreatment of athletes
Over the weekend, a particular photo that made its rounds on social media showed a few Guyanese athletes housed in a private home in The Bahamas. When probed about the AAG’s alleged mistreatment of those athletes, Hutson was quick to respond in the negative.
Hutson contends that the Guyana Bahamas Association, who assisted with tickets for the athletes travelling from Jamaica, were the ones housing the athletes who arrived ‘too early’ for the Games.
“The tickets that they got, the athletes were arriving before the Games Village opened. So they took it upon themselves that, as they were going to come early, they were going to house them; and Thursday, when the Games Village opened, they were going to join their counterparts in the Games Village,” Hutson revealed.
Perturbed by the allegations, the AAG President explained, “They took photographs, they were enjoying themselves, but those photographs were used now to paint a negative light on the entire team. Now, that person must have some ulterior motive, because I’m looking at this photograph and I’m saying, ‘Where in this photograph is a sign that these athletes are uncomfortable and being mistreated?’
“The person who the home belonged to was so upset about it; that people are using this kind of information to destroy the good that we in Guyana worked so hard and tirelessly for. Getting three gold medals at the CARIFTA Games is no means an easy feat,” he added.
9 million?
Also making its rounds on social media was a missive from the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), expressing disappointment with the mismanagement of the CARIFTA team. Embedded in that missive was a claim that the AAG received Gy$9,000,000 for their CARIFTA expenses.
The GOA statement read, “These notions were further corroborated by statements attributed to Mr. Hutson in the Press which indicated the AAG received all the required funds amounting to the nine million (9m) dollars budget required to cover all of the related expenditure.”
When probed for a breakdown of this hefty sum, Hutson explained that the sponsorship received for the Games never amounted to $9,000,000.
“We would’ve sent out a budget for $9,000,000, we would’ve received $3,000,000 from the Guyana Olympic Association and $3,000,000 from the National Sports Commission. The NSC cheque went into the bank today, because of the time that I received it on Thursday, but we are grateful because we know we have creditors out there who would wait for their payment,” Hutson explained.
“The point I’m trying to make is: nobody gave us $9,000,000, and we know we produced a budget for $9,000,000; but with the cost that we had to pay for airfare now going all through these different routes, that $9,000,00 gone through the window a long time ago,” he declared.
All’s well…
All in all, despite the exchange of opinions over the past few days, Hutson was guarded in how he expressed himself about the various Associations and entities involved. By his own admission, Hutson says there is no ill-will between any of the parties mentioned. His missing a meeting with GOA Executives on Saturday last was chalked up to his personal responsibilities, since he had to work.
“I want to openly and publicly say I share a great relationship with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the National Sports Commission, and I share an equally great relationship with the GOA. While both entities may not be too pleased with the way things are going administratively, I think it’s a work in progress,” the AAG President boldly stated.
He further stated, “People who have a beef to grind with the Government are trying to drag track-and-field into it and creating a lot of mayhem.”
It is Hutson’s intention to now produce financial statements of the CARIFTA spending to absolve himself of any wrongdoing. “But it’s my intention to meet with the GOA once all the financial reports and stuff are completed, and it should finish by this afternoon, for them to see all of our income and all of our expenditure as it relates to CARIFTA,” he said.
With Guyana being successful at the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games, the hope is that all will be well and end well.
