By Neto Baptiste
Gordon Bank Derrick
Antigua – At its 35th Ordinary Congress held here Tuesday, Gordon Banks Derrick received overwhelming support from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). He is one of three Antiguans elected as members of the newly reconstituted CFU.
The General Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA), Gordon Banks Derrick took the presidency big spot, while former national player and sports journalist Neto Baptiste was chosen as a member of the CFU Appeals Committee at the body’s 35th Ordinary Congress held in Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday, May 22, 2012.
Dr. Reverend Oral Thomas, a member of the Swetes Football Club, also found favour at the congress as he was elected as a member of the Ethics Committee.
A fourth Antiguan nominee, Everton Coates of Sea View Farm FC, missed being elected to the Disciplinary Committee by a single vote.
Derrick replaces Trinidad and Tobago’s Austin “Jack” Warner, who resigned from all his football positions in June last year, following his suspension by the world football governing body, FIFA.
Derrick got the voters’ nod ahead of Cuba’s Luis Hernandez, Barbados’ Ronald Jones and Trinidad’s Harold Taylor.
The general secretary, who has been employed by the ABFA for over eight years, said he was confident going into the much talked about elections.
Grenada’s Cheney Joseph was elected first vice president and Bermuda’s Larry Mussenden is second vice president while St Lucia’s Lyndon Cooper was chosen as third vice president.
The executive committee includes Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Anthony Johnson of St Kitts & Nevis, Hillaren Frederick of the USVI and Maurice Victoire of Martinique.
The CFU was thrown into controversy in June of 2011 when it was rocked by bribery scandals involving then Asian football boss Mohamed bin Hammam.
Bin Hammam was banned for life by FIFA after he was found guilty of bribing presidential election voters, just months after he helped secure the 2022 World Cup for his tiny Gulf homeland.
The scandal forced him to abandon his campaign to unseat FIFA President Sepp Blatter and ultimately led to him becoming the most senior official convicted of corruption in the governing body’s 107-year history.
A FIFA ethics panel ruled after a two-day hearing that the executive committee member conspired to pay Caribbean officials $40,000 cash bribes in May 2011 for their support in the election.
