MARIGOT—President of the Collectivité Daniel Gibbs received a visit on Friday from Noël Le Graët, President of the French Football Federation (FFF), who arrived with a delegation from the Football League of Guadeloupe.
Gibbs emphasised that football is the sport the youth of St. Martin participates in the most, but indicated a large part of the sports facilities are now destroyed after the hurricanes and many months will be necessary for their rehabilitation. Many facilities had recently just been renovated.
The FFF President was very impressed by the speed and quality of work, particularly in cleaning up the territory and clearing St. Martin’s road network. He also was very enthusiastic over the positive “smile”' campaign initiated by the people of the island.
“You have a future, Mr. President”, he told Gibbs before announcing an envelope of funding from FFF will go towards rehabilitation of sports infrastructure, a gesture that President Gibbs thanked him profusely for.
Le Graët added the main objective is to "enable young people to play football again as soon as possible and in the best conditions."
In this regard, the FFF will receive case-by-case the grievances or concerns of the associations and the Collectivité. He stated the federation will focus 100% on the renewal of football in St. Martin taking into account all necessary expenses to resume operations. He noted training of educators will be part of the comeback of football.
On his side, the President of the Football League of Guadeloupe announced proceeds from a planned two-day football championship will produce funds to help St. Martin football get restarted.
Gibbs thanked the football officials for their generosity and assured them funds would be used wisely and appropriately.
