“Our president has been up here with us and has been involved with the team more than he should have been because of his ban,” said by one of Cayman’s national football players according to the Cayman Compass Friday’s (June 11) newspaper.
The anonymous comment, was one of many reported in the article, which was evident that several players from the men’s national team was frustrated with executives within the Cayman Islands Football Association.
The accusation that CIFA president Alfredo Whittaker was in Florida with the national team was confirmed by Whittaker but he denied breaching his six month ban which was set by FIFA two weeks ago after the governing football body found Whittaker guilty of misconduct and inappropriate behaviour towards a match official during Cayman’s World Cup qualifier against Canada.
FIFA stated in their initial release on the sanction that Whittaker has been banned from exercising any official activity in connection with Cayman’s national-team competition for six months.
That release was issued on the 28th of May; one day before the national team left Cayman to play Aruba in Florida. Despite that, Whittaker still boarded the plane and stayed at the same hotel (IMG Legacy), where players reported that he was interfering with team selection.
“Personally, I will never get involved in no coaches decision [with their] lineup” said Whittaker.
CIFA is currently campaigning to appeal FIFA’s $55,500 fine and will be meeting Monday (June 14) to discuss the national players speaking out against the association.
Update: CIFA responds in the press release below.
Cay 3 Sports 