BUDAPEST, Hungary - Antigua and Barbuda general secretary Gordon Derrick was elected president of the Caribbean Football Union on Tuesday along with all eight members of the organization's executive committee.
The 43-year-old Derrick, who has been Antigua general secretary since 2004, prevailed out of a field of four, including Luis Hernandez of Cuba, Ronald Jones of Barbados and Harold Taylor of Trinidad & Tobago. He begins a four-year term replacing Jack Warner, who was elected for a sixth time in February 2011 but resigned four months later.
The elections at the CFU congress culminated the need for the CFU's Normalization Committee, which was formed to quell the turmoil left in the wake of Warner's resignation.
"Rest assured there will be no marginalization, discrimination or segregation under my tenure," Derrick told the CFU congress following the vote. "We are all vital components of this union, each and every member has a part to play and it is only through unity can we move the union forward."
Besides Derrick, the congress also elected Cheney Joseph of Grenada as first vice president, Larry Mussenden of Bermuda as second vice president, Lyndon Cooper of St. Lucia as third vice president, Canover Watson of the Cayman Islands as fourth vice president and Sonia Bien-Aime (Turks and Caicos Islands), Hillaren Frederick (U.S. Virgin Islands) , Maurice Victoire (Martinique), and Anthony Johnson (St. Kitts and Nevis) as board members.
Bien-Aime becomes the first woman to be chosen for a CFU executive post.
The congress also heard from Cayman Islands Football Association President Jeffrey Webb, who headed the Normalization Committee for its five-month existence and is the only nominated candidate for Wednesday's CONCACAF presidential election.
Webb noted the panel's work leading up to Tuesday's election, which also included the ratification of new statutes, registration of the CFU as a not-for-profit organization and the disbursement of funds to member associations from its television rights contract.
… Antiguan heads new-look Caribbean cast
By: Lasana Liburd (wired868).
The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has broken ranks with its traditional leaders as Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) general secretary Gordon Derrick and a new-look cast was elected into governance its ordinary congress today in Budapest, Hungary.
Derrick, who heads an event and marketing company and is a director at the Antigua Commercial Bank, replaced ex-FIFA Vice President and Works Minister Jack Warner at the helm of Caribbean football. He effectively saw off challenges from Barbados’ Ronald Jones, Cuba’s Luis Hernandez and Trinidad and Tobago’s Harold Taylor.
A source informed Wired868 that Derrick received 12 votes from the 30 CFU member associations in the first round of voting and 16 in the second and final round.
In contrast, Taylor, whose nomination was controversially forced upon the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) by Warner, supposedly garnered five votes in the first round and just one in the second.
Derrick, who was among several CFU officials punished for their role in the Mohamed bin Hammam bribery scandal last year, declared today’s election as the beginning of the region’s reunification.
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By GRAHAM DUNBAR, AP Sports Writer
Webb, a Cayman Islands banker, is the only candidate in a poll Wednesday to succeed disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner as the head of CONCACAF. The body consists of 35 countries in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Blatter says Webb is a “clear and clean” man with a presidential style.
One year ago, Webb’s home country was one of four whistle-blowers on allegations of bribery, involving a longtime Caribbean strongman, Warner, and Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam, who wanted to run against Blatter at last year’s presidential election.