Former national football administrator and senior team manager Richard Brathwaite died yesterday after a bout of illness.
Brathwaite, who had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Port of Spain General Hospital in early January, had initially improved. He deteriorated again and was admitted to the San Fernando General Hospital recently where he died.
Brathwaite was the national senior team’s football manager between the years 1996 and 2000 and from 2004 and 2005, and was a member of the FIFA Technical Development Committee from 2001 to 2006.
He was presented with a Prime Minister’s award in 1998 for his contribution to the development of sport in Trinidad and Tobago and was the main man behind Bertille St Clair’s two national senior teams, coaching stints between 1996 and 2000 and 2004 and 2005.
Braithwaite was also involved in a number of football clubs in the South region, including Trintoc and United Petrotrin (a merger of Trintoc and Trintopec), and he also served on the FIFA Technical Development Committee as a CONCACAF Director of Development.
More recently Brathwaite also wrote a column on social issues and politics for the Trinidad Express.
Selby Browne, vice-president of the Veteran Footballers Foundation of Trinidad and Tobago (VFFOTT) expressed sadness on receiving news of the passing of Brathwaite, “Richard was a fine and forthright man of good character and a true lover of football. In his heart he quietly sought the development of football in Trinidad and Tobago."