One on One: Alfred Gunda, NRFA general secretary

Squabbles in the Northern Region Football Association (NRFA) are refusing to die. Recently, the bulk of the Simama League teams resolved to call for the resignation of the entire NRFA executive committee or else they will not participate in the 2015 season if the current executive committee does not resign. PLEDGE JALI (PJ) caught up with NRFA general secretary Alfred Gunda (AG) to hear the association’s stand on the issue.

PJ: Towards the end of last season, we witnessed squabbles in the Simama Premier League, how would you explain these misunderstandings?
AG: I wouldn’t say there were squabbles but maybe misinterpretation and misrepresentation of issues which led to a lot of talking.

PJ: When 16 teams signed a petition demanding the removal of the entire NRFA executive committee, you described the move as unconstitutional. Why?
AG: The simple reason really is that there is a constitution in place before even going into matters of authenticating the numbers as they are being presented.

PJ: If you keep on running the affairs of NRFA, the 16 teams which are seeking your removal say they will not participate in the 2015 season. What will you do in such a scenario?
AG: The few who will register will be affiliates and competitions, of which the Premier League is one, will be competed among them. There is Carlsberg Cup already open for teams to register and am sure the competitions manager will announce conditions for team participation. The issue of number of clubs is being emphasised here but I think with due respect, they are not 16.

PJ: The picture out there is that the current NRFA committee has failed to run Simama League, what do you say to that?
AG: When you say the current, I hope you mean as per the mandate of the NRFA constitution. If we refer to that our mandate has only operated for around six months within which we took over the premier league from MDFL after the first round. The measure of failure here is questionable, but I don’t see that we have failed other than that we have drawn lessons from situations and circumstances as we are laying a foundation for the association.

PJ: Any achievements by the current NRFA committee to show so far?
AG: Success is subjective but we have initiated a number of programmes and the first of such is the administration course for club managers and district committee officials. The biggest success is that NRFA as an association respects the value of objectives that constitute the structures.