Warriors lawyer chides FIFA VP's tone.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
Warner offside.
FIFA vice-president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special adviser Jack Warner should watch what he says about the Soca Warriors.
Athletes One Legal, the London-based legal representative of 16 Trinidad and Tobago 2006 World Cup players, suggested that comments attributed to Warner in yesterday's daily newspapers were "wide of the mark" and possibly defamatory.
Warner told the Caribbean Media Corporation that the disgruntled Warriors were "consumed by greed" and had needlessly held their country "to ransom". The CONCACAF president also blamed the players for the lack of negotiation between the parties and warned that "they will stay outside the pail of organised football" until they dropped the threat of legal action.
Shaka Hislop, a Dallas FC goalkeeper and one of the World Cup stand-outs, said the players, who all received the nation's second highest award of Chaconia Medal (gold) for their performances in Germany, were preparing a response to Warner's statements and had no immediate comment.
However, Michael Townley, Athletes One Legal's lead lawyer, said his firm repeatedly requested dialogue with the T&TFF over 2006 World Cup bonuses but failed to even receive the courtesy of a response.
The Warriors agreed a 50 per cent split of World Cup revenue with the T&TFF prior to the Germany World Cup but, last September, refused to accept the proposed handout of $5,644.08 per player after querying the authenticity of the figure. Dialogue has been virtually non-existent ever since, while coach Wim Rijsbergen was ordered not to use the players in friendly matches or for the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
"The record shows that the T&TFF has not made any serious effort to negotiate with the players," Townley told the Sunday Express. "The players have been trying from the beginning to set up dialogue and understand the process by which we can negotiate. It is not a case of getting back to the table because we have never been invited to the table.
"Mr Warner's statements are very wide of the mark. The players would rather have a negotiation but it takes two to tango and the T&TFF has never been at the dance."
Townley described Warner's unhappiness about the players seeking legal advice as "incredible" and added it was the T&TFF's perceived lack of transparency that made lawyers necessary.
He said the players initially attempted to negotiate with the T&TFF on their own but felt they were being tricked and saw it necessary to get help.
"Lawyers are used to help in settlement negotiations," said Townley. "It is standard practice and should not be taken as a hostile act at all It is really inappropriate for Warner to suggest that the players should not seek independent legal advice.
"The point about lawyers is that they become essential if one side is disputing a contract. They have made lawyers necessary and not the players."
Townley denied his clients were greedy and insisted they acted on a point of principle. The Warriors, he said, did not know whether they were entitled to "a small sum, a modest sum or a more generous sum" but merely wanted the agreement between players and administrators to be settled in a transparent manner.
"If the T&TFF shows proper accounting, the players would accept that," he said.
He suggested that Warner, who negotiated the controversial pact on behalf of the T&TFF, should mind his manners when he speaks about the country's football stars.
"It is in my mind that if he describes the players as greedy mercenaries," said Townley, "it is either defamatory or getting very close to being so.
"It is very much in the T&TFF's hands to remove this matter from the lawyers and court. But Warner's comments, with that hostility, will make legal action more likely and not less likely."
Townley said he expected to initiate court proceedings against the T&TFF within the next week.
