Football Officials Justify Continued Involvement

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Two football officials have sought to clear the air on their continued involvement in the sport following their arrest on drug possession charges in Jamaica earlier this year.
National head coach Derrick Edwards and equipment manager Danny Benjamin, said they hold no malice against any player despite the events in Jamaica which led to them being charged – and later freed after a court dismissed the case for want of prosecution.
Edwards, who currently coaches the Grenades FC in the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association’s (ABFA) Premier Division, defended his decision to coach one player currently under investigation.
“You have to understand that Derrick Edwards cannot stop anybody from playing the football. It is the association who controls the football, they are the ones who have the power to say if a player should be playing in the league or not, and not me. I am a coach and I am employed by the club,” he said.
“The players should have been barred from playing for Antigua and in any competition of the ABFA until the investigation is finished and I just can’t understand why the players are allowed to keep playing in the competition and you have an investigation going on,” he added. 
Benjamin, who is manager at the Parham FC, said his concerns are not with which player or players get selected, but rather the efforts by the ABFA to bring the matter to a close.
“I am not carrying any feelings against any of the players because they did not put themselves back in that position [selection to the national team], it is the football association. I have many things to say but I am going to wait because I am seeking advice from my lawyers so I will not say anything right now. It hurts and it hurts me a lot,” he said.
Attorney Craig Christopher, who is charged with conducting the investigation, said he is in the process of preparing the report which should be presented to the ABFA in short order.

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