By Kenton X. Chance
President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF), Venold Coombs is denying being banned from football administration for two years by the sport’s world governing body, FIFA.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he told iWitness News via telephone on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018.
Coombs further offered to answer any other questions in a face-to-face interview and said he would be available anytime the following day, Thursday.
However, on Thursday, Coombs contacted iWitness News via an agent, saying that he was unwell and would be unable to attend an interview.
The agent said Coombs had said that he had come down with a sore throat.
Coombs’ denial about a ban comes amidst widespread reports from sources familiar with soccer administration in SVG that FIFA had given him one month to appeal the alleged two-year ban.
A well-placed source said that Coombs had confirmed last year that FIFA had asked him to show cause why he should not be banned for two years.
It is said that it is the administration’s handling of World Cup soccer tickets that has led to the development.
A source familiar with FIFA’s disciplinary proceedings has told iWitness News that if Coombs has, in fact, been banned, FIFA would make it public after the appeal is disposed of.