 So we begin this edition of the Sports Max Zone with football following multiple reschedulings to St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation will have their elections on Thursday with five men vying for presidency. The elections were set to be held last November but were changed initially to earlier this year but now to the 21st of March after FIFA recommended constitutional changes be adopted before a new Executive Council is in place. After a visit to the Ireland's Federation, FIFA's Chief Member Association's officer Kenny Jean-Marie insisted that the recommended guidelines for new statutes and the revised electoral code be completed by the end of 2023. The five men in contention are incumbent Carl Dixon who will be challenged by former President Marvin Fraser, current Vice President Otashi Spring and Wayne Grant along with former National Player and Senior Men's Team Manager Renson Haynes. Now joining us for a chat ahead of the election is Roxelle John who is running for second Vice President on the slate of Marvin Fraser. Roxelle, welcome to the Sports Max Zone. Great to have you on. We have spoken on this issue several weeks ago and we are now revisiting this story because the election is pretty much at our doorsteps. Can you first of all, Roxelle, address what we just mentioned about FIFA intervening and reckoning that there has to be some changes being adopted before the election is held? Can you take us through that process and if the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation followed those instructions? Good afternoon, Lance and Amira and thank you for having me on your whole renowned Sports Max Zone program. Well, to be quite clear and frank, these are statutes and constitutional changes that were overdue. They were required to be done a number of years now and leading up to the elections, FIFA definitely wanted to ensure that we did not go through another few years without statutes change, constitutional change and yes, eventually after some portion of prodding, those statutes and constitutional changes were implemented and now we are in a process where we can go forward with the elections as you have correctly said that were put off twice already. Yeah, can you talk to us quickly about the issue of slates though because I remember late last year there was a recommendation or more accurately a proposal from FIFA not to go with the slate route but as I see it, the slate route is being used here for these upcoming elections. How do you explain that? Well actually Lance is vice versa in the statutes that were adopted and possibly I should say offered to us by FIFA, they recommended that we go through these elections with the use of slates. Now I believe from FIFA's estimation they would have taught from looking at the MAs across the world that it may be easier for slates to carry out mandates. Now we're talking about slates who are like-minded, who are the same vision, same energies and understand what is required to push the product forward. In all essences, this is probably what FIFA wanted. Sometimes it may work in some jurisdictions, it may not be ideal in other jurisdictions but the affiliates when it was proposed with the statutes that came to us, the affiliates did not agree with that because the perception was that there are individuals who individually can make a collective group and carry football forward. In the case of Marvin Fraser and our team, we propose, we are still proposing that we go forward with our group because what we have seen and what we are seeing Lance is as you said you have five members running for the post of presidency, three of whom are on the outgoing executive. So take that into context, a president and vice president, the top notch brass of your outgoing executive all running against each other which tells us that there is something wrong, there has been something wrong and this has led to probably the position where Symbi's and Granny's football is at this stage. So we are still pushing a slate at this team, Fraser, because we want to make sure we go forward with individuals who are like-minded with quality vision, who are professionals and who can take Symbi's and Granny's football in a new direction, a positive direction. In a moment I will try to get from you the pluses of your slate and Marvin Fraser going up for the presidency and you are a part of his slate. But a quick comment here on the fact that you are a practicing journalist, I gather that FIFA has no restrictions against journalists being involved in this kind of administration of their sport, which makes it okay I guess. Has that ever been an issue for you? Would the football public in St Vincent and the Grenadines be embracing of a journalist being a vice president of the football federation there? Because you know what our job is. Our job is to uncover stories and to advocate truth, righteousness and accuracy and there is a potential conflict of interest if you are involved unless you won't be a practicing journalist if and when you get the position. But there is an issue there that appears questionable to me on the outside of it. No issues with the total lands because this is just by the way my major breadwinner is basically a sports coordinator at the St Vincent and Grenadines Community College. I'm also the associate's degree in sports sciences coordinator and new program at the college where we are embracing athletes and trying to give them an opportunity to push forward. Journalism isn't a major aspect here and I don't see it as a factor whatsoever because we when we do our jobs lands we do it professionally and we say it as it should be said we are fair and we are kind and I do not think and do not see this being an issue. What I see I do is a plus, a definite plus in terms of communication. One of the issues that we've had with the outgoing executive communication with affiliates, communication with the cooperative body, communication with the Vincentian public, information being disseminated late or not at all and that kind of stuff. So in this profession and this aspect of my life so to speak I can enhance that product if given the mandate by the affiliates. Communication if of course elected into office. What are some of the other areas you feel that this current administration has not explored and has not done their best and you and your team again if elected will be working on? Well, there are so many, there are so many areas that we need to get on board with Mariah as we look into this election. St Vincentian football needs to be professionalised. We definitely need to look better to the public. Our competitions seem to look very normal. There is no senior distinction between a club or a league, a major league. Some of the major leagues are very, very well organised and sometimes our own national leagues don't look that way. We have to have a proper grassroot programme. We have to involve the schools and have a proper school programme that can add and lead into the national product. There must be administrative development. It's been a cry. It's been a cry in terms of what comes out of the office. We have quality individuals there, but are they guided? Are they given the opportunity to develop? Are they given the support that is required? Technical development, listen, Tion Gordon has been trying his utmost best. His technical staff has been excellent. They've been trying very, very hard, but they have not. And I say that with no uncertain terms, they have not been given the support that they require to take the St Vincentian granny's product forward. The football product in this case, he has developed and he has been trying to develop the Vinci way and that Vinci way has been been retarded in getting the route needed to go forward because they are not getting the support. Educational support is required. Our national teams need more support. I heard you yesterday speaking about the female entity of Jamaica football and what is required to get them back on board. That is quite similar to Vincent granny's. We have a number of national past national players and female players in the diaspora who refuse to come back to St Vincentian play under the administration that are out going because they're not being treated well. Yes, we need to know that we have to apologize for what has happened and take and take it for. We have to know, create a better environment between these players and let them feel a part of the corporate body. St Vincent granny's national football do not have a sponsor, a corporate sponsor pushing, pushing this league. We have lost individuals and sponsors who were part and parcel of the product. Now we have to reignite and encourage them to be back part and parcel of this national product, the game of the people as penned by one of our past football enthusiasts. It's no longer that it doesn't have that effect. And so we have to create that and other stuff. We're also looking at a technical center, a technical development in the technical center. We, in our long term plans, we are also looking at a semi-professional league. We must look at a grassroots program that develops the youngsters all the way through. And we also had ideas of infrastructure development as we go forward. And you know, most times when people come on this show before they're elected, they have a lot of plans. It sounds beautiful. But talk to me about what this team Marvin Fraser has that can get corporate St Vincent and the Grenadines to of course support their ideas because we know without money, it's very, very difficult to of course get any plan into action. So what does this team Marvin Fraser have that can get people to support? So team Fraser, anyone in St Vincent and granny's will tell you the team Fraser has quality because on a daily basis, the eight members of team Fraser, we contribute and we maintain high levels of professionalism and quality in what we do on our daily job. And most of us are involved in in sport. We have a very clear vision. We have very high integrity. We are hard workers. We push to make sure things happen and we're very professional. Let's let's look at it. We can break it down very quickly. Mr Fraser, he has he was in the presidency for 15 months, and that was when football was on the lips of every single Vincentian and not any football, football family only every single Vincentian because football took off and was going. It was great. Yes, Rohan Thomas, Jr. He was the manager of the senior team where we were doing really, really good in the 2009 campaign. Remember when we when we almost got to the go up? He was in charge of that. Should I talk about Roxell, John? Sports enthusiasts, development. I'm talking about I'm about development, I'm about professionalism. I'm about the given opportunities. Lance, you get you get my reports every single day after after a day in the field at the community college. Roxell, we see that very often. So we have the quality to push this product forward without any doubt. Right. And were you involved with cricket at some point in time? I'm a sportsman all the way through. I was involved with cricket. I coached the national teams to the championship honors. So give me whatever you want to give me. I represent Vincent in the best way for the best possible results. Right, because earlier today in my research, of course, before I came on set, I was, you know, trying to get a background about you. And one of the articles that, of course, came to my attention was when you were assistant manager of the under 19 team. And that did not end too well. Do you think that would, of course, affect you going up now in any way? Not at all. Not at all. What has happened over those years? I resigned on principle. And this is one of the things that we are. We are advocating integrity and principle. And once we stand firm to our morals and our values, there's no question about the people, of course, same business and grannies. I've seen what I've done for the same business and grannies community college sports program. They see what I have done with all other organizations to which I've been involved and connected to. I have an excellent rapport with all of the associations in St. Vincent, cordially or even further than that. So that's not an issue. We have a quality when it comes to professionalism. I don't think there are many who can class with what we have offered and we are going to offer and we are offering the affiliates. We have quality, we are telling affiliates, give us the opportunity to put that quality not only in our daily lives, but on football. We need to move football forward. And this is what Team Fraser is offering. Yeah, Roxelle, you just referenced it just now, the fact that there were times a couple of decades ago when St. Vincent and the Grenadines football was significantly stronger than it is today. You're currently ranked, I think, 173rd in the world, which is like seven spots below your, or above your lowest ever ranking. So you're in the bottom part of your historical rankings. Your highest ever ranking in world football would have been 73. So we can see that you're about 100 places below that. What has gone wrong over that time? Because that highest ranking, I think, happened in 2007. What has happened during this period to plummet St. Vincent and the Grenadines football to the position it is in at the moment? And what specifically are the things that your team would want to address in trying to rebuild it? I know you touched on a few just now, but if you could be a little bit more specific and a little more hands-on with exactly what the plan would be. All right, so, Lance, I'm happy you said that, because I was in Jamaica in 2008. And I'm sure you remember that when St. Vincent and the Grenadines defeated Jamaica for the first time. I think we were the first Caribbean country to defeat Jamaica in Jamaica in about 21 years, 23 years, two-one. I was the manager of the national team. And we had a proper structure. We had people who are fully invested in the product. We had players who would give their all. Since then, we had individuals in positions that did not build on that, all right? We have had chops and changes in terms of head coaches. We have had changes in philosophies. We have had problems with stipends for players. We have had administrative issues. We have managers resigning and short-term. And so there has not been the progress that is needed for St. Vincent and the Grenadines football to go forward. And you know, in societies like ours, it is important for us to have some sort of continuity, but we need to go in sync with the rest of the world. There's no modernization in our sport here. We have not involved technology as we should. The biomechanics, the study of the athletes, the nutritional values, we still have athletes coming off of the job and I'm going to train for two hours after a very long day of work. And we have to change this. We have to change this. Other Caribbean countries around us have gone the way of employing a pool of players. We need to do that. And one of our major lands, major projects is the center of excellence, where we are going to in the long term, probably the third or fourth year of our attendorship, get this thing running, where we can engage all age groups. We're gonna have to start with the pool, but we're engaging all groups, the elite athletes in all groups of our footballing program into a project where they are actually coming to the technical center. They're studying, they're playing football, they're playing football as their livelihood. So we have that quality pushed and pushed forward daily, not in the afternoon for two hours or not for two months just before a tournament. So we have to embrace this, technology, quality individuals, we have coaches who are budding, but we have to advance them even further. So the movement has to be professionalized and advanced with technology and the support and dedicated people who are offering to football, not taken from football. Yeah, Roxy, we have a lot more to discuss on this and Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation election coming up on Thursday. Stay right where you are on the other side of the break. We'll pick up the discussion. Back in a moment. Yeah, we're back on the Sportsmax zone and we're talking football here. We're discussing the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation's election, scheduled for Thursday. Roxelle John, candidate for the post of second vice president, still talking to us on Zoom. Roxelle, you mentioned earlier on when you were talking that the fact that so many people in the current executive or the outgoing executive challenging for the presidential post suggests to you that there is discord and confusion, which I'm taking to mean that you are, you and your Marvin Fraser slate would be trying to steer the public into your direction because you're trying to steer them away from what you suggest is a confusing situation. I'm not sure if we'll get Karl Dixon, the current president, to speak with us on the show because I see a trend where a lot of these presidents in the Caribbean football union don't want to talk to the Sportsmax zone. It's the challenges that are talking. We had the Jamaica presidential election are short while it was last weekend and the president, Michael Ricketts, didn't talk to us on the show. There is a Barbados Football Federation or Football Association election coming up and the current president, Randy Harris says he will not talk on our show. He of course is the current CFU president as well and our production team would be reaching out to Mr. Dixon. But I say that to say that the politics of football is well documented and for the most part, the people who are in control have the tools to ensure that they can, they take care of their delegates. The delegates with voting rights to ensure that their position is safe. How confident are you that Dixon does not have the confidence of the voting delegates and that he will lose Thursday's election? Lance, the one in the ground and the football-loving public are in a position where they want to see change. Yeah, but admittedly, Roxxell, they don't have votes. That's exactly what I'm saying because in Jamaica, I can tell you in Jamaica, if the public had votes, there's no way Ricketts would have won the election on Sunday. He would have lost and he would have lost badly and that's a fact. But the common man in the street doesn't have votes. It's the delegates that have the votes. So you telling me that the St. Vincent and the Grenadier Football fans are dissatisfied with Dixon is neither here nor there because they have no votes. Totally agree, but let's look at it. We are now separating votes between four or five major individuals as you put it there. All right, you have the group who are definitely gonna support T. Marvin Fraser. There's a group that's definitely gonna support Otachi Spring. There's a group that's definitely gonna support Mr. Grant. And to be honest, there are some who are gonna support Mr. Dixon, but in the general context of things, the affiliates I believe are unsatisfied. They're unhappy with what has transpired over the last four years. We're still waiting and I reported on this. We're still waiting to see the 10 point plan that was offered by Mr. Dixon. All right, he has done some work in terms of putting the finances together and we applaud him for this and putting things in place as it should be as it relates to the finances of St. Vincent and Grandin's Football Federation. But what has happened to the product of football? It has gone spiral in the wrong direction. So people are unhappy. Remember, the affiliates love to see football. We want to see football and the product on the field of play is basically what pushes us. And you can't tell us that you have finances and you have put finances in the right way but our teams are suffering to participate in competitions. We are looking unprofessional and disorganized in terms of what we do from the office. And so I do not, I do not think that the affiliates are gonna give Mr. Dixon another opportunity and we are quietly confident that we will have the support of the affiliates. We have pushed our programs. We have given them a proper manifesto, well detailed manifesto and we have gone on five weeks of an online platform where we have spoken about all the items in our manifesto in detail, even engaging them in questions via call and all questions on the site via messaging so that they can be clear, all right? We have done that. We have done that and we know that the affiliates are happy. It is gonna be a close election but we are very quiet. We are quietly confident that the affiliates are gonna be pushing for a change, a change towards that will lead towards Marvin Fraser's lead slate. Right, and Roxelle Marvin would have held this position before. So of course people would have gotten the opportunity to see what he's capable or not capable of, right? What do you think? What do you think based on his first attempt at the job why would people give him another opportunity? Because you know, when you've held the position before they would say, okay, you got the chance to see what you can really do. What from his first hit at the position will put him in a good running to get a second opportunity? Let's remember that Mr. Fraser got up to the presidency based on the discrepancy between the incumbent, well, the president then, Mr. Coombs and FIFA. So Mr. Fraser had to finish the tenure so to speak of that administration. In those 15 months, Mr. Fraser wrote the most projects ever in the lifetime of an SVG Football Federation executive. Mr. Fraser put football back on the mouth of every single of incentives. If you have an incentive, you would have heard and you would have remembered the slang, football taken over, publicity, engagement. The Victoria Park was rum. People were doing well. All entities wanted to be part and parcel of the product. St. Vincent and the Granny's were doing well. We were on the verge of what? The go-kart qualification. We beat Suriname, Suriname, the first Caribbean country to do that in 21 years. So these are some of the things. And even the affiliates, remember that election went, I believe if my memory serves me right, 25, 23. Many of those 25 who voted for Mr. Dixon are now and have been saying, boy, we made the wrong decision. And now they are obviously trying to make that decision correct by putting a proper slate to run St. Vincent and Granny's Football Federation for the next four years. Yeah, Roxy and a lot of administrators are judged by the product that they govern and the performances and the results of St. Vincent and the Grenadines being as poor as they are now, comparatively speaking to what it had been a couple of decades ago, is making it really clear that things aren't going that well. Can you talk to us briefly about the talent in St. Vincent and the Grenadines? Because from the outside looking in, someone could say, well, in the mid-2000s, you had players like Shandel Samuel and Ezra Hendrickson who were high-quality players that boosted the performance of the team. Does the talent in St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the moment support a better look, a better result sheet for the St. Vincent and the Grenadines team? We're touted out, Lance, we're touted out. We in the Caribbean, you know, we have never short of talent, but obviously as the game and sport has evolved, talent is not, would not cut it. We have to put things in place to make sure that that talent is harness properly. Listen, we've been doing well. We've been doing really well in the, on the 20s. We've been doing well, even when the last campaign where we started excellently, the three wins on a trot and the philosophy started to go in the right direction. But remember, this could only be sustained if we have the right support behind it all of the time. And so we continue to be half and half where we are good for the early parts and we can't sustain that because the guys are not in a proper program. We are not involving the technology and they don't have the general support around them to push the product forward. So when you talk about talent, please, yes, without a doubt, we still have that. It's what is put in place to make sure that that talent base is sustained and developed and continue and can continue to grow all the way through. We lose too many players, Lance, when from the, on the 90s to the senior level, from the on the 13s to the on the 90s, we have to have something that can keep them building, building on the product, the talent, the skills that we see. A lot of these guys sometimes are not even in school. How do we help them? How do we make sure that this product is incorporated? How do we now have them as entities that at the end of their football career, they can still fall back on something else? This is what Team Fraser has in the plan and we're going to make sure it starts when the, when the affiliates gave us the mandate to carry football back in the direction for Sylvester Wendy's as it should be. Yeah, very confident pronouncements there, Roxeline, you've spent the last 20 minutes promoting Marvin Fraser's quality and his suitability to this, to this job. As we have said before, Karl Dixon is the current president and we have established that there are five people going up for this position. You, from your standpoint, is projecting Marvin Fraser as your favorite and probably the favorite. Of the five candidates, well, of the four that challenges Marvin Fraser, who do you consider to be your biggest threat? As I said, we are quietly, quietly confident that the affiliates are gonna give us the nod come Thursday and this is based on what we've done, as I said before, we've gone out and we've spoken to the affiliates, we've had programs, but it's gonna be a very close election. I'm gonna say that. And at the end of the day, we can be confident, but the affiliates have that final decision to make and we respect it, whether it is for us or not. But I believe when we look at it at this stage in my own estimation, Mr. Grant and Mr. Spring could be the two individuals who would probably along, well, be close to us in terms of our presidential race in this instance. So, Mr. Grant and Mr. Spring Otashi, that's the main grant and Otashi Spring you consider to be your most potent challengers for this job. At this stage, based on what we perceive and what we are hearing, what we have been studying, and as I said, Caribbean elections, it's Caribbean elections. People could say it's been one day and the next day it's changed, but guess me, there needs to be a change, regardless of there needs to be a change to push this product forward and to change the direction in which we are going. As I said before, Young Garden and its technical staff have been working very hard, but they're not getting the support. So, we need to make sure we have people who understand the sport and the science of the sport to help them along. And just to be clear, Mr. Grant and Mr. Spring are both current vice presidents or vice presidents of the outgoing federation. At what time will we know who the winner is? What time is the election on Thursday? I'm still waiting. We're still waiting on a document as it relates to what's happening and in terms of the time and that kind of stuff. As soon as that is sent to us, we will definitely inform your most esteemed program. Roxy, thank you very much. Really a pleasure talking to you. And I can tell you that I think you have piqued the interest of the Caribbean viewers here on this SVGFF election because it looks hot. Never before have we seen five people going up for the presidential position of one football federation. So, this is history in the making and we look forward to anxious as to what happens on Thursday. Thanks, Roxy. And all the best with you and your team and your bid to become the new president, Marvin Fraser of the SVGFF. Thanks, man. Back in a moment on the Sports Max Zone.