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When I think about the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB), I think of a soap opera; a never-ending drama series but, along comes to an action-packed horror movie desperately trying for the #1 rating: the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA).

Just like cricket, you hold steadfast to the belief that our football can’t get any worse than it already is, and wham! a headline hits you, “McIntyre: Williams, TTFA dropped the ball”. I asked myself, who is Mc Intyre? I was unfamiliar with the goodly gentleman, but I assumed he may have been associated with some aspect of football. To my absolute horror, I realised the man is the Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy and penned an unprecedented release, accusing Williams and his jokers of total inefficiency in not obtaining visas for our National Girls Under-15 team to compete in the CONCACAF Girls Under-15 Championship in Florida, USA.

Can you imagine the hurt and pain that these young girls would have been made to endure by not getting the opportunity to showcase their talents in the USA? I am certain many football scouts, who would be on the lookout for young recruits to give them scholarships to attend their respective universities, will be present. What about their parents who would have been psyching them up for this tournament? How would they be feeling? How do they now explain this to their daughters?

There is absolutely no excuse for submitting visa applications with inadequate information to the US Embassy on 31st July 2018, to be processed by 3rd August 2018 with a public holiday on August 1st. I have neither seen nor heard of the US embassy coming out and penning a release about why a particular group had not obtained visas. They have always been known to not comment on individual cases; of course, the TTFA has once again created history for the wrong reasons. The US Embassy officials must have felt betrayed by the TTFA’s President’s statement that CONCACAF looked into the idea of hosting the event (and others in the future) in other countries because most Caribbean nations are faced with problems when trying to acquire US visas. The US has hosted many tournaments, both at the junior and senior level, and there are a procedure and time span for clubs, teams and countries to obtain visas. You can check with your technical director if you were ignorant to the procedure, as he tours yearly with his club team; I am sure he is well aware of how you obtain visas to play in the USA.

It is glaringly obvious that the TTFA and its President didn’t drop the ball, but rather turned up at the wrong venue for the match. To be blunt, this Administration continues to be inept. Its failure to plan has adversely affected these young girls and they then have the audacity to blame the US Embassy.

Now the horse has bolted, the TTFA is requesting a meeting with the same people who were lambasted and blamed for not getting the visas. What has quite obviously shocked the TTFA President is the response from the Embassy. My dear readers, the jokers never expected such a response from the Embassy, so the goodly President gave us his usual garbage to hold and thought we would have accepted it hook, line and sinker; but may the good Lord bless Chargé d’Affaires McIntyre who came out and told us the truth. But it is unfortunate because the jokers don’t care. I hope they get their wish for a meeting.

If I was McIntyre, I would tell Williams December 25th as he seems to enjoy having meetings on public holidays.

On another note, TTFA Board Member Keith Look Loy is still waiting for over two years for the financials from the “Home of Football” and has gone the legal route to get the TTFA to supply some form of accountability to the members.

He has now called for the TTFA executive to resign (he must be dreaming!) after this latest debacle and in his own words, “collectively they have engineered the calamitous deterioration of our football”. Look Loy has listed close to a dozen examples of total mismanagement by this bunch and as he says, “the frightening aspect is the bunch have taken football to its lowest point and it might be a position we may never recover from”. A scary thought indeed, didn’t I say it was a horror show starring the TTFA executive?

Anyway, on a more positive note, congratulations to the Trinidad and Tobago Powerboat Association (TTPBA) as this Saturday we will witness the 50th running of the Great Race. The Great race has gone from being a national event to an international event with the sanctioning of the race by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the world governing body for all powerboating activities which makes the event eligible for the UIM record books. This year also sees a foreign boat joining the competition in Lucas Oil; something which I have been clamouring for as I felt our racers need to be exposed to more international competitors.

Godspeed to all the participants! My wish for you is a safe crossing and great racing on the 50th running of the Trinidad and Tobago Great Race.


SOURCE: T&T Guardian