Benna Boys match fees to be paid soon, says Derrick
By Neto Baptiste, Antigua Observer
"Footballers will be paid in “short order”.
This is the word from General Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) Gordon Derrick, who added that a new payment agreement is also being finalised and is expected to come on stream shortly.
“Remember I told you it is going to take some time because we are trying to put together a proper document and get back to the players before they get back to us. They have been working on it and everyone is happy and we have time now, so we want to make sure it is in place for sure and operational before the next round,” he said.
“The match fees that were there before, as you know the game (against Grenada) just finished, so we are doing the accounting and we expect to have them paid out in short order,” he added.
Reports had indicated that some senior players refused to turnout for training until the outstanding match fees owed to them were paid by the ABFA.
As a result of their “no show” at training sessions they were replaced in the squad ahead of third round action in the CFU Caribbean Cup Men’s Tournament.
The players, Derrick said, are owed for only four matches.
“There were two games prior (to the latest CFU Caribbean Cup Group A) and there are two games now, so that’s four games total and it’s $150 per game, so you are talking $600 per person and that’s US (United States dollars). It’s not a lot of money in terms of outlay, but it is due to them and they should have it, but it’s just that our cash flow was a bit tied up, so we are trying to free up our cash flow and get things sorted out,” he said.
Antigua & Barbuda advanced to the next round of the Caribbean Cup following a 5-1 trouncing of Grenada at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on June 7.
The Benna Boys will now be grouped alongside Curacao and Martinique.