Emotional Shabazz resigns – – cites family commitment

Jamaal Shabazz cited family commitment and a calling from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) to assist the ‘Soca Warriors’ as reasons for his resignation as Head Coach of Guyana’s Golden Jaguars.
The candid Shabazz made the revelation at a lengthy press briefing held at the Radisson Suites in Queenstown on Wednesday to discuss the motive behind his resignation, which was submitted to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) earlier this week.
After talking extensively on his tenure and a variety of issues relating to the game in Guyana, the devout Muslim broke down in tears towards the end of the press conference, as he bade farewell to Guyana in the notable absence of high-ranking officials of the GFF.
He had to be consoled by Golden Jaguars manager Mark Xavier, Fitness Trainer Americo Falopa, Assistant Coach Wayne Dover and football promoter Kashif Muhammad, who shared the head table.
Shabazz, who is in charge of club side Caledonia AIA in Trinidad and Tobago, earlier said that with his contract with the GFF coming to an end, he was called upon by the TTFF to join the national team’s coaching staff to play a more meaningful role in his country’s football development.
“The present coaches were there on an interim basis and it is the view of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation that I can help the staff and help the team to qualify for the World Cup. So this is the first reason. I had a very short time to make this decision, and when I analysed the situation with Guyana and with the Federation and the chaos, we must not hide what is happening between the GFF and the GFA, and the whole uncertainty in terms of a pathway forward for football, I felt that in the interest of my family and my own future, I had to make a decision to return to my country,” he explained.
Shabazz admitted that it was a tough decision, since he had grown to love Guyana as his home away from home. “It was by no means an easy decision because I’ve come to love this country as my own, and none of you would have experienced the anguish and the torment when Guyana beat Trinidad and Tobago on November 11 (11.11.11). You stayed here and made merry, but I had to go home and face the brunt of it in Trinidad and also my family,” he said.
Shabazz added, “It was a difficult moment for me, and it was bitter sweet, but I stood up and I have always seen myself as Guyanese because as I told you before when the boat brought us here as slaves and indentured labourers, they didn’t bring us as Guyanese or Trinidadians or Jamaicans. They brought us just as that- slaves and indentured labourers. So it was by no means an easy decision to walk away from this because I see Guyana’s football as one that has tremendous potential. When I came here first through Kashif and Shanghai to see some games, I was so impressed with the talents. So, when I was offered the job I took it with the full confidence that this country can achieve a lot. I still think s.”
Travelling and the instability that comes with it was also a factor considered by Shabazz when he made the decision to call it quits.
“I would tell you that in the last 15 months I’ve travelled to 26 countries and I’ve never spent more than seven days or eight days in one place, including Trinidad and Tobago. So you can see the type of instability for my own family. It has been difficult for them, and I think the turning point for them was when the mothers of some of the players that I love were very, very abusive [towards me] after we lost to El Salvador 3-2 and one member of my family was in the crowd, and they became even more distraught,” he said.
Common Ground
The outspoken Shabazz also used the opportunity to call on the GFF and the Georgetown Football Association to collaborate in the interest of football, rather than allow their actions to create an atmosphere of disunity in the sport.
He said that the “chaos, disunity and treachery that exist, we cannot place a blind eye to it, and we in Guyana like to place a blind eye.”
“Look at this situation; I was here in August 2011. The situation with the GFA and the GFF is now over a year and it is not solved. And we cannot see why men, who have the same interest or who claim to have the same interest, because if we have the same interest, which is Guyana and Guyana football, then we would relook our position. We must understand the difference between interest and position. You hold a position, I hold a position, but our interest is the same, so if our interest is the same, [why] can’t we find common ground?” Shabazz reckoned.