I could not think of a better way to celebrate our tenth year in the League than with yet another championship win. KICKS UNITED FC has for the fourth time in its ten year history lifted the championship in the Anguilla Football Association Senior Male Football League, but would you believe the club has yet to gain membership in the Anguilla Football Association?
Just prior to the start of the 2014-2015 Season the club, which had previously enjoyed Associate Membership in the AFA, again sought membership in the AFA but after several months and numerous enquiries as to the status of our application, the General Secretary Mr Alkins Rogers informed the club via email that we had again failed to meet the criteria for membership on two counts, one being the failure of the club to submit a full register of its members and another requirement, some FIFA requirement, which was totally new to us and which we still do not quite understand.
By the way when the AFA indicated a few years ago that FIFA had advised its members to discontinue the Associate Membership status, what the AFA never said and has never indicated to us was what was FIFA’s alternative recommendation, for surely there must have been an alternative recommendation since it is unthinkable that FIFA would have advised member associations to simply ‘put clubs out in the cold’ with no recourse.
Our failure to gain access to membership, however, has never deterred us and over our ten years of existence this win represents our fourth hold on the trophy, and we have never placed lower than third in the competition with several second places as well, and on Sunday 15 February 2015, in front of a very appreciative crowd KICKS UNITED FC again lifted the championship with a one-one draw against last year’s winners and arch rivals Lions FC.
We express sincerest thanks to our fans, the executive of the club, the other teams for bringing out the best in us, the support staff on the bench, and we pledge to continue to make our contribution to the development of the game of football locally.
To the President and the rest of the AFA who have used all kinds of excuses to continue to deny us membership in the AFA, we continue to be disappointed but not surprised by the pettiness that pervades the alleged nepotistic organizational setup within the AFA. We also find it amazing that the government and many other influential persons in the community continue to laud the performance of the AFA when in fact there has been very little development in the game of football in Anguilla over the last decade.
As one of our most ardent supporters would say, “Up dey, Up dey”. Three cheers for KICKS UNITED FC – 2015 Senior Male football champions in ANGUILLA.
Bernard Wattley
KICKS UNITED FC
