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Topics - E-man

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31
Ricardo Teixeira resigns from Brazil FA and 2014 World Cup committee
guardian.co.uk


• 64-year-old cites health reasons as reason for resignation
• 'I leave ... with the sense of mission accomplished,' he says


Ricardo Teixeira, the head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) for the past 22 years, has resigned for health reasons.

The 64-year-old has also resigned as the head of the local organising committee for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Teixeira tendered his resignation in a letter that was read out to reporters at the CBF.

Teixeira took a leave of absence for medical reasons last week, but the Brazilian federation announced he has left permanently to look after his health.

The announcement came in a letter of resignation read by the new federation and organising committee president, former São Paulo governor José Maria Marin.

"I leave the presidency of the CBF permanently with the sense of mission accomplished," Teixeira wrote in the letter. "It's not easy to preside passion. Football in our country is associated with two things: talent and disorganisation. When we win, talent is praised. When we lose, it's about disorganisation. I did what was within my reach, sacrificing my health. I was criticised in the losses and undervalued in the victories."

32
Football / Biggest Carnival Sunday football reunion coming
« on: February 16, 2012, 08:23:58 PM »
Biggest Carnival Sunday football reunion coming
T&T Guardian


On Sunday morning, a confederacy of legendary football teams will come together to host its annual Carnival Sunday Morning Reunion, from 10 o’clock. The fun, family event is being held by Belmont Dynamos, Colts, Luton Town, Shamrock and other affiliates.

As they congregate in the Queen’s Park Savannah, opposite Cadiz Road, Port-of-Spain, there will be plenty football talk, and much food and drinks. One organiser, Peter “Blues” Reynald, said this week: “This year’s reunion, our fourth, is going to be the biggest ever as we have a lot more former footballers from across the globe in T&T for Carnival.”
 
At least 40 clubs will be playing on Sunday, no doubt the oldstagers reliving days of yore. Some of them are Leeds United Burrokeetes, Mud Hogs, Somerset, Mowtown, Preston Youths, Falcons, Fifth Dimensions, Ashton Villa, St Francois Nationals, Upsetters, and Belmont Rangers. Some of the organisers planning this premiere event, and their contact numbers are: Gerry Brown (753-3962); Gwenwyn Cust (757-2880); Frankie de Freitas (490-7770); Packy Moore (776-1206); Mervyn Raymond (621-1982); and, Peter Reynald (786-2813). In related news, on February 24, President George Maxwell Richards is hosting a private function for former national footballers at Knowsley in Port-of-Spain.

33
Trinidad and Tobago History / vintage picture postcard/picture thread
« on: February 11, 2012, 01:07:07 PM »

Maracas beach, 1965

34
Entertainment & Culture Discussion / House Hunters International: Trinidad
« on: November 20, 2011, 02:40:33 PM »
I think this aired already but missed it. The repeat is on Nov 25th.

November 25, 2011 8:00 PM e/p
November 25, 2011 3:00 AM e/p

After a job transfer to the island of Trinidad, Mollie and Kevin are taking their family on an island adventure. With a sizable rental budget, real estate agent Jeanine Tucker-Miller is able to unlock all the island has to offer - from high rise apartments to private islands. As the hunt moves along, the couple is conflicted. Should they go with a more sensible home that will leave them extra money for tropical fun or should they give into the island's luxurious temptations and break the budget? It's a tough choice as House Hunters International breezes onto the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/expat-living-in-the-republic-of-trinidad-tobago/index.html

35
What about Track & Field / Asics video wall at Columbus circle
« on: November 15, 2011, 05:56:55 PM »
Anyone see this at the Columbus Circle subway station?
They should do one of the 100m.
http://www.reelseo.com/asics-interactive-video-wall-ad-lets-race-marathon-runner/

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Emb71f-M2HY" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/Emb71f-M2HY</a>

36
Other Sports / Go, pops!
« on: October 17, 2011, 01:02:44 PM »
100-year-old marathoner finishes race

TORONTO (AP) — A 100-year-old runner became the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon when he finished the race in Toronto on Sunday.

Fauja Singh earned a spot in the Guinness World Records for his accomplishment.

It took Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line — more than six hours after Kenya's Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year — and he was the last competitor to complete the course.

But his time wasn't nearly as remarkable as the accomplishment.
Event workers dismantled the barricades along the finish line and took down sponsor banners even as Singh made his way up the final few hundred yards of the race.

Family, friends and supporters greeted Singh when he finished the race.

"Beating his original prediction, he's overjoyed," his coach and translator Harmander Singh said. "Earlier, just before we came around the (final) corner, he said, 'Achieving this will be like getting married again.'
"He's absolutely overjoyed, he's achieved his lifelong wish."

Sunday's run was Singh's eighth marathon — he ran his first at age 89 — and wasn't the first time he set a record.

In the 2003 Toronto event, he set the mark in the 90-plus category, finishing the race in 5 hours, 40 minutes and 1 second.

And on Thursday in Toronto, Singh broke world records for runners older than 100 in eight different distances ranging from 100 meters to 5,000 meters.

The 5-foot-8 Singh said he's hopeful his next project will be participating in the torch relay for the 2012 London Games. He carried the torch during the relay for the 2004 Athens Games.


37
Football / Trinidad men replace Guatemala in Pan Am field
« on: October 11, 2011, 03:34:56 PM »
Trinidad men replace Guatemala in Pan Am field
concacaf.com


GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Trinidad & Tobago will replace Guatemala in the men's tournament at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Guatemala was withdrawn by the country's Olympic committee for non-compliance with protocol.

Panama and Honduras, who finished behind Guatemala and ahead of Trinidad in the final rankings of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship in April, declined invitations to fill the vacancy in the eight-team competition, set for October 19-28.

Trinidad will be placed in Group A along with Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay and begin play October 19 against Uruguay.

38
Quizz Time & Facts / Chelsea Caribbean Tour
« on: October 01, 2011, 07:01:13 PM »
Chelsea toured the Caribbean in May/June of 1964. Which Caribbean national side, out of the four that they played, managed to beat them?

39
Quizz Time & Facts / Which British club did Leo Brewster play for?
« on: August 25, 2011, 01:21:00 AM »
Which British club did Leo Brewster play for?

40
An excerpt from

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/803432-global-domination-football-champions-you-probably-havent-heard-of

Quote
Trinidad and Tobago: Defence Force F.C

 
Made up from players who ply their trade in protective forces by day, Defence Force F.C. are Trinidad and Tobago’s most successful team ever, having won their national league 21 times and are T&T’s only ever winner of the CONCACAF Champions Cup (the precursor to the CONCACAF Champions League).

In 1985 they picked up a treble of League, Cup, and CONCACAF Cup titles.

They can also claim to have a better name than their Jack Warner-owned league rivals, Joe Public FC.

41
Football / TTFF recruiting referees
« on: August 04, 2011, 03:32:26 PM »
TTFF recruiting referees
T&T Express


The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation is inviting persons who possess a desire to become football referees. This is your chance to fulfill your dream as the TTFF stages recruitment courses at two venues in Trinidad over two weekends in August. The courses are free to interested participants.

These courses will be held on Saturday, August 6, Sunday ,August 7, Saturday, Saturday August 13, and Sunday , August 14 at the St Augustine Senior Secondary and the Manny Ramjohn Stadium from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. each day. Registration will also be accepted at the venues at the start of each course.

On completion of the course, successful participants will be required to register as referees with the TTFF. In addition, successful participants who register with the TTFF will be provided with a whistle, a referee's shirt and a TTFF ID card which would allow the registered referee and a companion to access football matches in Trinidad and Tobago free of cost.

Interested persons can contact either the TTFF at 623-7312, 625-0611/9856, Krishendath Kuarsingh (680-9568, 657-7526), Neville Ferguson (687-8241) or Lynda Bramble-Thompson (763-6586).

42
SporTT has no money
By: Andrew Gioannetti (T&T Guardian)

 
Several major sporting associations and local prominent athletes have voiced concerns that financial assistance previously offered by the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT) to their respective federations, have been withdrawn until the next financial cycle which begins in October.

When contacted by the Guardian yesterday, a source within the country’s top football league described the developments as “the Sport Company’s major financial bankruptcy” claiming that many clubs of major sporting disciplines, and their respective federations have been seriously affected by the financial drawbacks.

The source also said that many summer football camps in which SporTT has financed in past years have been suddenly cancelled. The T&T Pro League clubs which benefits from SporTT’s assistance with wage stipend for players includes W Connection, North East Stars, San Juan Jabloteh, Caledonia AIA and St Anns Rangers. The National Super League has been similarly affected by the “exhaustion of funds” as described  by SporTT  in a letter to the heads of the T&T Pro League and the National Super League. Richard Piper,  National Super League Tournament Co-ordinator said that the league has been “drastically affected”.

According to Piper, SporTT has been unable to assist with expenses for the past two months and the league would have been unable to move on without the assistance of sponsors All Sport. “SporTT has not helped with the stipend for referees and were unable to assist in transport for the clubs travelling to and from Tobago,” said Piper.

Association of T&T (ASATT), there are claims that a meeting with the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and SporTT and ASATT was called so that matters within the sports and funding can be discussed. At the meeting, the association was advised to cancel their upcoming Goodwill Swim Meet, an prominent annual swim meet which was scheduled to take place between August 12-14 at the Centre of Excellence Macoya, due to a lack of available funds.

The release acknowledges that the meet may be in crisis, as the association requires funding which was previously promised by SporTT.

Neal Marcano, chairman of the Local Goodwill Organising Committee expressed disappointment at the sudden turn of events, saying that he and his committee may require funding from external sources, to avoid the embarrassment.

“It is very unfortunate that the Government is unable to assist in funding this very important meet. We do hope to get the assistance of corporate T&T to host the event.” Jason Wickham, Public Relations Officer of the ASATT insisted that every effort will be made to allow the meet to continue.

“While it has been suggested that the meet be cancelled, our Association knows the importance of this development meet. Cancellation is an option but an absolute last resort,” said Wickham.

43
General Discussion / Apple AppStore comes to T&T
« on: July 26, 2011, 09:07:05 AM »
Apple brings AppStore to 33 additional countries
July 23, 2011 : Nikhil Kumar


Apple has added 33 countries to the list of 90 countries from where users can download apps from app store. Apple monitors the locality of a user and if the user isn’t registered among list of countries that Apple’s app store supports, then the user is blocked from downloading the app from AppStore. So, the move to add more countries is definitely welcoming for users.

The total number of countries that the app store supports now stands at 123 countries. The 33 countries added to the list include Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Iceland, Montserrat, Nigeria, Oman, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

With popularity of iPhone getting momentum, it’s a wise move by Apple to support more countries. This is beneficial for Apple, as well as developers and users.

44
Football / 2011 US College season thread
« on: July 18, 2011, 11:00:41 PM »
2010 thread here: http://www.socawarriors.net/forum/index.php?topic=50824.0

University of Montevallo
Montevallo announces nine men’s soccer signees


The University of Montevallo men’s soccer team has announced the signing of nine recruits for the upcoming 2011 season.

The group includes three forwards, four midfielders, one defender and a goalkeeper hailing from England, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Ireland and the United States. Seven are coming in as true freshman, while two of the nine are Division I transfers.

The list of signees include Ricky Davey, Thomas Davis, Brad Davies, Patrick Dougall, Guiliano Frano, Jonathan Hilton, Shane Howard, Alex Morton and Kyle Stuller.

...

Dougall is a midfielder from Petit Valley, Trinidad & Tobago. He is a crafty, athletic midfielder with the ability to break down opposing teams with intelligent passing or creative individual attacking. He sees the field well and has the ability to finish anytime he is around the box. Patrick will be studying business management with the support of his parents Desmond and Natalie as well as siblings Carol and Hayley.

Dougall is a seven-time MVP with La Foucade Soccer. He was also named the Most Promising Player at La Foucade four times.

Jackson (Miss.) State
North Davidson's Salandy excited about her soccer future


Shakirah Salandy didn't start playing soccer at North Davidson until her junior year, but her background in the game runs much deeper.

On Tuesday night, she'll have a chance to show her skills as one of two area players — along with Megan Flanders from East Forsyth — in the annual East-West Girls All-Star Game at UNC Greensboro. Kickoff is set for 6:30.

Salandy, who has signed to play soccer at Jackson (Miss.) State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, led North Davidson with 29 goals last spring and helped the Knights to a 14-6-1 record and an NCHSAA playoff berth.

She started her high school athletics career on the track, running the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes as a freshman, but sat out her sophomore year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in her right knee while playing club soccer.

After recovering, Salandy gave up track to concentrate on soccer at North, saying it had become too time-consuming to play both sports.

Greg Beall, North Davidson's coach, said he first met Salandy during tryouts before her junior season and that she needed time to adjust.

"I think it took her the first season to get to know the girls and the staff," Beall said. "The girls all knew she was good. A lot of players with her talent have a chip. They enjoyed trying to support her. She was a true leader."

And even with 29 goals, Beall said, Salandy never broke away from the team concept. Samantha Barron, who will play at Converse, and Shelby Knowles, a rising senior at North, each had more than 20 goals.

"Of her 29 goals, she maybe had four or five breakaway goals," Beall said. "She created that after the top third (of the field) with her speed and athletic ability."

Beall had a young team last season and said that many players called Salandy "Mom."

"It was kind of a joke around school," Salandy said. "We only have two seniors on our team, so I was adopted team mom."

She also said the nickname made her proud.

"It really does touch my heart. I brought it up in my Senior Night speech," she said. "It really makes me feel proud."

In addition to her club and high school experience, Salandy played soccer for Trinidad & Tobago's U-17 team; her parents, Andy and Eulith, are natives of that country. Her father played soccer at Appalachian State in the late 1980s and now coaches a team at Triad Elite.

Salandy credits her father for sparking her love for the game, and said they have continued to work on skills this summer in preparation for Tuesday's all-star game and Division I soccer.

Salandy originally committed to play at Furman but changed her mind after talking with coach Adeniji Olagbegi of Jackson State and visiting the school.

"I really liked Furman. I actually visited Furman multiple times," she said. "It (Jackson State) is much bigger. I just thought it would be a better fit for me."

Salandy said she thinks the all-star game will be a good steppingstone for her future.

"I've been working hard this summer," she said. "I think I will be able to handle it. I think the all-star game will be a good way for me to handle what I am getting into."

Beall said Salandy is a tribute to how far the program at North Davidson has come and that she'll be integral to what North Davidson does in the future. Beall presented her with papers for playing in the all-star game, and she said her teammates "freaked out" and were "stoked."

"It is a proud moment for the (North Davidson) program, and I am proud for Shak," Beall said. "I hope, ultimately, she has a good time with it."

Salandy said: "I feel like it's going to be a big high. There's nothing to feel nervous about. I am just excited about being able to play."


45
Football / amazing goal off flip throw-in
« on: June 02, 2011, 05:38:54 PM »
<a href="http://d.yimg.com/nl/vyc/site/player.swf?flashVars=&quot;lang=en-US&amp;vid=25413654&amp;&quot;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://d.yimg.com/nl/vyc/site/player.swf?flashVars=&quot;lang=en-US&amp;vid=25413654&amp;&quot;</a>

As you can see, Wando got the game started with a spectacular goal which might be the best result off a throw-in, well, ever. The player launching the ball inbounds was Wando star Brandon Buckholder, who used the uncommon high school maneuver of a flip throw to add more velocity and distance to his inbounds pass.

46
Other Sports / serious piece of cycling memorabilia from 1881 Trinidad
« on: April 24, 2011, 11:03:08 AM »
on ebay now
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ANTIQUE-VICTORIAN-1881-BICYCLE-RACE-TRINIDAD-W-TROPHY-/110677662320?pt=UK_Collectables_Bicycle_RL&hash=item19c4e71a70



AN ANTIQUE VICTORIAN BICYCLE RACE TROPHY.

"WON BY CECIL H.E.HOLDER BICYCLE RACE TRINIDAD W.I. 1881".

47
Football / $10 if you can find yourself in this snap
« on: April 09, 2011, 02:38:22 PM »



48
Football / Izler Brown coaches Fyzabad women footballers
« on: March 24, 2011, 01:08:22 PM »
Izler Brown coaches Fyzabad women footballers
T&T Express


Former Trinidad and Tobago national women's team captain Izler Browne has been appointed to spearhead the women's football programme in Fyzabad.

The programme is a project of the Petrotrin Fyzabad Sporting Club's football section and aims to develop a young competitive squad to participate in the 2011 TTFF National Women's Football League.

National women's player Tamar Watson is a player/assistant coach in the programme. The club will be participating in this Saturday's Women & Girls in Sports Festival at Eddie Hart Ground, Tacarigua hosted by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Already, Fyzabad has attracted some good talent, but are still inviting interested players to join the programme. Training sessions are held every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. and on Saturday from 3 p.m. at the Petrotrin Fyzabad Recreation Ground.

Interested players can contact programme director Andre Barnard at 764-6450.

49
Entertainment & Culture Discussion / T&T in California Magazine
« on: March 21, 2011, 09:49:11 PM »
My alumni association published a story on travel to T&T:

http://alumni.berkeley.edu/news/california-magazine/spring-2011-articles-faith/barrel-odds-and-ends


Walking tall: Stilt walkers, or moko jumbies, are a fixture of Trinidad’s Carnival. © Blaine Harrington III/Corbis

A Barrel of Odds and Ends
By Kenneth Brower '67


In the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the juices swap around.

A few nations are composed all of town, and a few all of country, but most contain elements of both. In Trinidad and Tobago, the two-island republic in the southernmost Caribbean, the division is neat: for city you go to Trinidad, for country to Tobago. My own preference is country, but since most flights land in Trinidad, I stopped there first.

Trinidad is the larger island, at 1,846 square miles to Tobago’s 116. Once a part of the South American continent, Trinidad is now separated from it by seven miles of salt water. Two narrow straits, one intruding from the Atlantic, the other from the Caribbean, meet to separate the island from Venezuela, the delta of the Orinoco River, and the administration of Hugo Chavez. Proximity to South America and its rainforest have made Trinidad the most biologically diverse Caribbean island. Even now, when the Orinoco floods it sends new plants and animals rafting across.

Disparate human groups have washed ashore, too. Trinidad was emancipated in 1834, after which came a wave of indentured East Indians to replace African slaves in the sugarcane fields. This was followed by emancipated West Indians from higher up the chain of the Lesser Antilles, free Blacks from the United States, indentured Chinese, French and German laborers, Syrians, and Lebanese. All these arrivals have mixed and melded in an orgy of cross-pollination. Trinidad’s Carnival, with its French origins and its West African rhythms, is joined by other cultural festivities: Holi, the Hindu “Festival of Colors” with its celebration of good harvests; the Parang Festival of Venezuelan caroling; and Eid-ul-Fitr, celebrating the Muslim New Year. Each group seems to take pride in the fêtes of the others.

This is a social engineering recipe out of Huck Finn. Of the victuals of the Widow Douglas, you may remember, Huck observes that “… there warn’t really anything the matter with them—that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.” In Trinidad, nothing cooks by itself.

This acculturation is best exemplified, indeed, by the food. The roadside vendor who sells you your breakfast “doubles” (two East Indian flat breads wrapped around chickpeas topped with chutney) is as likely to be of African descent as of Indian, and she will have added her own touches. All Trinidad cuisine blurs this way, and their street food is wonderful.

I ate well in the island’s hotels and restaurants, but my favorite dinner was a nomadic one among the carts and stalls of Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain. I began with a bowl of cow-heel soup, then moved on to roti, which is East Indian flat bread folded around curried meat or vegetables. I liked this finger food so much that I ordered a second roti, this time the large version called bus’up shaat, because in the eating it gets torn to shreds, like a busted-up shirt. There is no way to eat bus’up shaat with “broughtupcy,” as Trinidadians call good manners. By leaning forward, you can keep it off your own shirt, but some inevitably winds up on the ground.

My dinner ended in another part of town, with a Carib beer in one hand and more roti—curried goat, this time—in the other, as I watched a steel band rehearse. Some 20 or so pannists were playing Beethoven at about 100 decibels. I was struck not only by the grace and athleticism of the musicians but also by the mix of ages and genders (teenagers, 30-somethings, a 7-year-old boy performing beside a matron in her 60s). This was community music of a kind nearly extinct in the United States.

The steel band began its evolution on Trinidad during slavery, when the British and French banned drums, fearing that the Africans were sending messages with them. The drummers shifted to bamboos of varying lengths, then to the stolen lids of garbage cans, and then, when locking lids were introduced against the thievery, to the whole garbage can, and finally to 55-gallon fuel drums. At the rehearsal, watching the rapt faces of the performers, I was moved. I loved the sound, but as the band launched into Wagner at the volume of a 737 on take-off, it occurred to me that the call of a tropical bird in the stillness of the forest would be a very fine thing, too.

Driving up through the green foothills of Tobago toward the Main Ridge Rainforest Reserve in a “maxitaxi” (a glass-half-full term for minibus), we were halted by the flashing lights of a police car. Tobago’s finest were clearing the way for a procession of the Tobago Heritage Festival. Dressed in polychromatic traditional costumes and turbans marched 50 or 60 villagers.

The Heritage Festival is a two-week celebration that travels from village to village in the second half of July, with each of Tobago’s communities playing out some theme from the island’s past. Les Coteaux Village reenacts island folktales. Delaford Village features yabba, the one-pot dish invented there. Buccoo Village features goat races. Pembroke puts on its Salaka Feast, which honors the Yoruba, Ibo, and Mandingo ancestors. It occurred to me, as we waited for the procession to pass, that the celebrants had no audience. There was no flash of cameras, no light-skinned witnesses from somewhere else. I remembered a phrase of my father’s, “Artificial Magic Island,” by which he meant the syndrome of the hotel hula, the fake luau, the thatch-roofed poolside bar, the propane-fueled “native” torch. There was no AMI in today’s procession. The marchers were doing it for themselves.

When they had passed, the maxitaxi slipped into gear and again wended its way up toward the Main Ridge Rainforest Reserve. According to Tobagonians, its original 10,000 acres, set aside by the British in 1776, are the oldest protected rainforest in the Western Hemisphere. Our guide, Newton George, awaited us at the trailhead, dressed for work in a green uniform polo shirt, green shorts, and hiking boots. George is a dark-brown Tobagonian who suffers from a hopeless case of what the rainforest entomologist E.O. Wilson calls biophilia. As a boy, he learned the forest birds from his father, who was custodian at Argyle Falls (lower on the mountainside), and since then he has fallen in love with the entire ecosystem of his native rainforest. Mr. George asked us to call him Newton but he had other names as well: “Garvey,” for Marcus Mosiah Garvey, “Nayabinghi” for the tribe in Africa, “Teacher” for his natural-history lessons, and “Morse,” a name bestowed by his brother for reasons mysterious to Newton himself.

“Every young guy in Tobago has an alias,” he told us. “A lot of guys here, I don’t know their real name. They call one guy ‘Wire.’ Very t’in. Another guy they call ‘Top Rankin’,’ because everything he have, it have to be the best.” Newton added that the local term for a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago is “Trinbago.” In the Caribbean at large, he said, Trinbagos are called “Southies.”

The trail began in the shadow of a strangler fig, which Newton nicked to show us the white latex. Farther on, he caught a leaf and bent it toward us. “Candlebush,” he said. “The leaves make tea for babies. Fixes clogged blood.” Newton waved up at the canopy. “Cajuca. Wild nutmeg,” he said. It was a tree I knew from French Guiana, where the Wayãpi call it walusi and grate the young aerial roots to make cough medicine. The Palikur call it wahusi, and use a decoction of the bark as an oral disinfectant. There are dozens of other medicinal uses, and the dark-red resin is hallucinogenic, besides. “We make coffins of it,” Newton said. “It’s good wood for that, because the coffin decays fast.”

Biodegradable coffins of hallucinogenic nutmeg! Not a bad way to go. Much better, I thought, than the stainless-steel battleships in which we send our own dead across the water. A Trinbago returns quickly to dust, as nature intended and Genesis 3:19 prescribes.

Newton nodded toward a perfectly circular entrance to a burrow in the cut bank of the trail. “Blue-crowned motmot,” he said. “It nests in there.” When I asked how he knew a motmot was responsible, he answered that the size of the hole was key: the blue-crowned motmot is a big bird and it requires a big burrow. The red earth of the cut bank provided lodging for all sorts of creatures. Newton’s flashlight, shining into a high recess of the bank, illuminated several inverted bats waiting for nightfall. Farther on, he asked us if we could see the door of a trapdoor spider. None of us could. Newton reached out to trace with his fingertip the imperceptible crack of the door in the steep embankment. One client stared at him. “How did you see that?” she asked. Probing with his finger, Newton found the spider’s tripwire and jiggled it. When the spider flipped open its door to pounce, he seized the lid, showed us how the door articulated on its hinge, then allowed the spider pull it shut again.

We jumped small streams and ponds in which small fish fled from us. “Grumpies,” said Newton. A land crab scuttled backwards off the trail. “Opossum crab,” said Newton. “They carry their eggs and young in a pouch.” Rufous-tailed jacamars and rufous-breasted wrens called from the forest. White-tailed saberwing hummingbirds hovered to examine us. Two male blue-backed manikins began their competitive dance at the downslope of a lek, flying five or six feet vertically from the leaf litter, then dropping to the ground again. A collared trogon called out and Newton responded with an imitation, luring the bird closer. Perched on a branch, the trogon—green backed, red breasted, white collared—cocked its head to listen. “My favorite bird,” Newton confided. “Seven colors!”

After two hours in the forest, as we headed back toward the trailhead, I noticed an interesting thing: All of us now could spot the trapdoors of spiders without Newton’s help. The hint of each door’s circle jumped out at us. If humans are hardwired for anything, it is for learning new landscapes.

The Tobago House of Assembly and the T&T government are working to develop tourism on Tobago and the island now hosts the Tobago Jazz Experience, the Tobago International Cycling Classic, the Tobago International Game Fishing Tournament, the Blue Food Festival, and other such events. Somewhere down this road lies Artificial Magic Island, but Tobago still has a long way to go.

One day, several companions and I boated out to Buccoo Reef, at the northwestern end of the island. We snorkeled above the “potato corals” and “dead man’s fingers,” as the Trinbagos call the gorgonian corals. I made little 15-foot dives to the reef to peek in holes and under ledges. There were damselfish and parrotfish and a cornetfish whose beak—its cornet—was bright blue. When I finally clambered back up the dive ladder, I saw that four glass-bottom boats were clustered about us. If not AMI, exactly, then this was certainly CMI, Crowded Magic Island.

From the reef, we motored in to a shallow white-sand spit called Dance Bar. Six glass-bottom boats had gathered there and disgorged 40 or 50 passengers. Some were dancing. Some were exfoliating their skin with sand. Some were just sitting chest-deep in the turquoise water. Ablutions on Dance Bar, I learned, are supposed to make a pilgrim feel ten years younger, and married couples come to wash away their domestic troubles. A saltwater Lourdes for the lovelorn may smell like something cooked up by the tourist bureau, but nearly all the waders were Trinbagos, and the music blaring from the boats was not calypso or soca or reggae, as a tourist would expect. It was Syrian music. This was the real T&T, where the soundtrack is eclectic, where nothing cooks by itself, and the juices really swap around.

50
Football / old article: Haiti - Back in Times - Jan 24
« on: January 27, 2011, 01:51:02 PM »
This was posted a year ago in the Catholic News, don't think it made it on the forum. In fact Sedley Joseph writes a regular football column for that publication.

Haiti - back in times - Jan 24
2010 - Sports
Monday, 25 January 2010 09:25

by Sedley Joseph, former national footballer

This is an emotional time for me. I was among those selected to travel to Haiti by the T&TFA to play in a friendly tournament in 1966, the Duvalier Cup. This was a tournament organised by the Haitian Football Federation comprising teams from the Caribbean, among them Jamaica, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles. Our first impression of Haiti on our drive from the airport to the hotel was one of poverty, with shacks seen on either side of the road, although Duvalier Snr lived in a big palace.

Our first impression was confirmed when on reaching the hotel where we were supposed to stay, the doors of some of the rooms could not be locked properly and youngsters were lurking just outside the windows, watching our every move with eager anticipation of something coming their way. We were eventually moved to another more secure hotel, the Chucun, located at the top of a hill where we were able to hear voodoo drums at night.

Top of the line players

The football itself was very competitive. Our match against Haiti was a vital one for both teams, the T&T team having won three from three and the Haitians having dropped a point against Suriname. The match went down to the wire but eventually Haiti, who were given a penalty in the 85th minute, beat us by a 1-0 margin.

You would have noticed that I said “given”, as we did not know what the infringement was, but I guess the referee had to ensure a Haitian victory or his life may have been in danger since every type of gun, including cannons, was around the field.

The Haitian team was excellent though and I remember particularly two of their players, Guy St Vil and Phillip Vorbe, who also played in Trinidad against the T&T team. These two chaps were top of the line players. St Vil, a striker who was quick, could dribble and shoot, hitting the target very often, and Vorbe, a midfielder, controlled the middle of the field and distributed with precision.

I was also very friendly with the Haitian coach at the time, Tassy, who played in T&T in the 50s and was a brilliant forward. He unfortunately died at the peak of his coaching career when Haiti was doing well on the CONCACAF scene.

My mind raced back to those players when news broke about the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan 12, and I hope that they were able to survive the terrible tragedy. I know that Trinidad and Tobago feels the pain that the Haitians are experiencing at the moment and I feel confident that they will rise again with prayers and assistance from all.

When I read the sport pages of our newspapers and see the sums being requested for some players in the English Premier League, I start to wonder about what price some of our past players would have fetched on the English market, if the opportunity had presented itself.

I read recently where Kenwyn Jones’ coach at Sunderland, Steve Bruce, said Jones was worth 40 million pounds when he was playing well. We in T&T have not been fortunate to see Jones play well and his record in the last World Cup qualifying series speaks for itself. I think he scored one goal in the games he played, which numbered about six. When I think of players like Shay Seymour, who was one of the lucky ones to have played in the 3rd Division in England, Kelvin Berassa, Steve David, Buggy Haynes, Alvin Corneal, Carlton Franco, Son Baptiste, Bobby Sookram and many others, I sometimes wonder what coaches would have paid for them. Forty thousand million for Jones would easily have meant 80 million for those just mentioned.

I am extremely happy for Jones and any other T&T player who is lucky enough to make it on the international scene, but I think the prices some of those managers are quoting for players are obscene to say the least. If a player is performing, scoring goals regularly as a forward, or excellent in his distribution and reading of a game as a midfielder, or as a defender he is a brilliant tackler and header of the ball, I have no problem with the figures being asked, but not if he’s just a run-of-the-mill player – the type who can be found in any minor league in any part of the world. Maybe some of these teams have a lot of money to throw away and simply grab at the earliest opportunity to do so.

I suppose that’s the luck of the draw.

51
General Discussion / San Francisco reinvents the standpipe
« on: January 27, 2011, 12:11:04 PM »
OMG it shoots water straight down!! what innovation

Officials laud SFO fountain that shoots water straight down

http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_17211840


52
Quizz Time & Facts / Which Trini scored on Bruce Arena?
« on: January 24, 2011, 02:18:00 PM »
Which Trini scored on Bruce Arena in the ASL?

53
Football / what game was this?
« on: January 14, 2011, 05:55:47 PM »


a friendly? a youth match? I don't see it on any fixture list.

54
Football / Association of Football Coaches website
« on: December 29, 2010, 12:53:49 AM »
This has not been posted on SWO apparently but the site looks like it's been up for some time. Last update on it seems to have been back in May so it's not being kept up.

Association of Football Coaches of T&T
http://ttffcoaches.karasma.net


56
Entertainment & Culture Discussion / Super Wings on Throwdown
« on: October 16, 2010, 11:50:22 PM »
Super Wings was on Throw Down with Bobby Flay today. Just saw it. Rebroadcast is on Wednesday on Food Network

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/jHRsTg66YPc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/jHRsTg66YPc</a>

He lorse ah course

57
Football / Camps steps down as Harvard president
« on: October 09, 2010, 12:17:21 AM »
Camps steps down as Harvard president
T&T Express.


Oliver Camps has decided against contesting the elections for the presidency of Harvard Club.

Camps, also president of the Trinidad Tobago Football Federation, became a member of Harvard some sixty years ago and served as secretary for 25 years. He has served as president for the past 18 years.

The ex-T&T national team manager said his decision was based on the fact that there would be other nominations contest the seat of president.

"It has a been  a great honour and indeed a pleasure to serve in my capacity as president of the Harvard Club. But from the moment I became president some18 years ago and during that period, I made it quite clear that while I was pleased to be serving, I would step down if there were to be any other contestants going up for the position of president. It is on that basis that I decided to step down this year. I have served my time and I have no regrets. I will continue to support the club in whatever way necessary and I wish the club the very best in its future endeavours and continued development," Camps stated.

58
Football / National Primary School Atlantic Football League Thread.
« on: October 01, 2010, 11:03:04 AM »
Tobago primary schools Cup final today
T&T Express.


The fourth annual Goderick Alfred Tobago Primary Schools Football Cup will take place today at Shaw Park Recreation Ground, Tobago.

The final is the feature of today's events, which will mark the opening of the 2010 MILO Tobago Primary Schools Football League.

Either Bon Accord or Whim will become the first two-time champions in the four-year history of the Goderick Alfred Cup. Bon Accord have the added incentive of attempting to become the first team to successfully defend the title.

The final is expected to be keenly contested as the winners will start as the favourites to win the Boys Division of the MILO League.

The day will begin with a 1 p.m. opening parade involving 25 primary schools from across Tobago who are expected to participate in this year's league, with another 16 in the girls division.

The parade will be followed by a brief opening ceremony during which educator Ronald Duke will receive a special award in recognition of outstanding service to the development of schools football in Tobago.

The Cup final will follow at 2 p.m. Admission is free to all members of the public.


59
Football / Remembering Mickey Trotman
« on: September 30, 2010, 11:33:48 AM »
Remembering Mickey Trotman
T&T Guardian


Several former national and current players will come together on Sunday at the Pinto Recreation Ground for a day of activities in memory of the late Mickey Trotman. Trotman, brother Stephan and friend Tessa Moses, lost their lives in a tragic accident on October 3, 2001, and the all-day football fun day has been held every year since his passing. Close friend Stern John is currently back home and is anticipating another good turn out on the day with several well known businesses contributing to the affair. There is also a petition to have the Pinto Road Recreation Ground renamed after Trotman. John recalls how after a training session with Nottingham Forest the morning of Trotman’s death, he returned to the locker room and saw 57 missed calls on his mobile phone and knew something was wrong.

“Something wasn’t right and I didn’t want to return the call,” John recalled. It turned out that calls were flooded to his phone in an attempt to break the nightmare news. “But time heals and even though we still  miss Mickey a whole lot, we know he’s here with us in spirit and we will keep that spirit alive with hopefully another successful day in memory of him on Sunday.” Alcons FC will meet Matura FC from 4 pm, and Cool It FC, the old team of the Trotman brothers, will face the Strike Squad from 6 pm. Trotman would have been 36 on October 21. John, meantime, is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACl) surgery and is likely to start back training in December with a  possible return to the American Major League Soccer (MLS) on the cards.


60
Football / Mexico federation rejects player demands
« on: September 30, 2010, 11:22:57 AM »
Mexico federation rejects player demands
By STEPHEN WADE, The Associated Press


MEXICO CITY (AP) — A dispute between top players and the Mexico Football Federation has escalated, with the governing body saying it will not bow to demands by 13 players who are threatening to boycott upcoming games.

Led by New York Red Bulls defender Rafael Marquez, El Tri's captain, the players have asked for the resignation of Nestor De La Torre, the head of national team selections and the third-ranking official in the federation.

"Around here nobody sits down to talk demanding conditions," Decio De Maria, the secretary general of the federation, said Wednesday. "Nobody sits at the table with conditions about how to fix a problem. Nestor is the director and his head is not on the table as a condition for talks."

Unrest has followed Mexico's national team since it was eliminated in second-round of this year's World Cup. The loss to Argentina was followed by the resignation of coach Javier Aguirre. Since then interim coaches Enrique Mesa and Efrain Flores have handled the team. A new coach is expected to be announced next month.

De Maria acknowledged that 13 players had sent a letter to the federation criticizing De La Torre's decision to make public details of a party held after an exhibition on Sept. 7 against Colombia in Monterrey. The party resulted in fines and suspensions.

One of the conditions in the 14-point letter was De La Torre's resignation.

"There is a problem to fix, but without conditions," De Maria repeated. He said he had talked in recent days with Marquez and Cruz Azul forward Gerardo Torrado.

In the letter, the players argued they were free to enjoy themselves once the match had ended and there were no official team activities remaining.

"This argument is about semantics," De Maria said. "Trying to talk about where official duties end is an uphill battle."

Mexico has an Oct. 12 exhibition against Venezuela, and De Maria said any player in Mexico or abroad was subject to being selected.

"Everyone makes a mistake," De Maria said. "All of us can improve the situation. The most effective thing is that both sides talk."

In the sanctions announced last week, Carlos Vela and Efrain Juarez were suspended for six months each and 11 others were fined: Marquez, Torrado, Javier Hernandez, Giovanni dos Santos, Guillermo Ochoa, Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido, Andres Guardado, Pablo Barrera, Hector Esqueda and Hector Moreno.

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