Jabloteh cry discrimination.
By: Lasana Liburd (Express).
Pro League team stand firm on player release
CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh chairman Jerry Hospedales yesterday accused the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's coaches of discrimination as the row between Pro League club and country rumbled on.
National senior team coach Wim Rijsbergen claimed, in a T&TFF media release, Jabloteh were uncooperative and confirmed that under-23 coach Michael McComie would not select any player who failed to abide by their training schedule.
However, Hospedales countered that the T&TFF's training programme, which often comprises multiple sessions per week, was abnormal for any country with a professional league and attempted to bully local clubs in a manner that would not be tolerated by foreign outfits.
Hospedales and Jabloteh coach Terry Fenwick said that the club agreed with the T&TFF in January to release players for one session per week outside the FIFA international window and charged that the coaches had broken their own rules.
The conflict earned headlines three weeks ago when Rijsbergen and McComie refused to write a recommendation for national youth player Lester Peltier who was on the verge of a move to England Premier League club Portsmouthbarring a work permit application. Peltier was denied a work permit by the British Home Office and Jabloteh were furious at the snub from the T&TFF.
Hospedales admitted that the San Juan outfit, who are second in the league at present, would prefer a better working relationship with the T&TFF but claimed they could not bend any further.
"We want to see our players making the national teams and having careers abroad," said Hospedales, "but you cannot have a national team in training with a professional league running. In all other countries, (clubs) have three or four days before an international game to release their players; so why are they doing this to us?
"It is a discriminatory policy. The players abroad (who are not blacklisted) are not being called so why is it some and not all?"
Pro League CEO Dexter Skeene, who was present at January's meeting between Jabloteh and the T&TFF, could not be reached for comment.
Hospedales said that, although other Pro League teams made their players available for national training, his own squad would be at a massive disadvantage if they allowed the national coaches their way.
Last December, Rijsbergen selected 12 Jabloteh players for training in the build-up to the 2007 Caribbean Cup-three times more than the second best represented Pro League side, Neal & Massy Caledonia AIA, who were asked to send four representatives.
At least 18 of Fenwick's 25-man squad have played or been invited to represent Trinidad and Tobago at senior or youth level. Ten from his starting eleven used in Saturday's goalless draw against Vibe CT 105 W Connection have earned call-ups within the past six months.
The English coach bristled at the perceived unfairness of the T&TFF's position and admitted that it had created some discontent within his playing ranks. Jabloteh's former captain Kerry Baptiste left for Bmobile Joe Public this season after defying his club's instructions to play in the Caribbean Cup tournament and Fenwick has to convince players desperate for international glory to respect their domestic obligations.
"Wim is out of order," said Fenwick. "This won't be done anywhere else in the world. They are trying to pick a fight with me when we had a written agreement to let our players go on a Thursday that they went back on.
"Nowhere else in the world would any club allow that but we have and it is not enough.
We want to help the national team but they have to be reasonable and the only people who have suffered are the players."
Hospedales suggested too that the T&TFF's supposed penchant for pulling players out of their clubs might be equally damaging for the national teams.
Jabloteh had seven players on the national under-17 squad which was eliminated from FIFA World Championship yesterday. Hospedales said coach Anton Corneal stopped his players from representing their clubs for over a year and allegedly preferred a stipend of friendly matches.
"They banned them from playing (for their clubs) for two years and then expect them to perform at the highest stage," said Hospedales. "You think Germany did that? (Corneal) already organising his defence with the players saying they should not have played in the colleges' league. But people have to be accountable.
"You have to ask yourself, have they succeeded?"
Fenwick and Hospedales said they are willing to meet the T&TFF at any time to explain their position and are open to further dialogue. But both men urged the national coaches to apply common sense.
"How can they go to the competition leaving their best players behind?" asked Fenwick, who pointed to the absences of Atullah Guerra, Khaleem Hyland, Devon Jamerson, Marcelle Francois and Peltier from the national under-23 team. "It is absolutely ridiculous and unprofessional. They are letting emotions get in the way."
Hospedales agreed. "If public money is being spent to send our national teams abroad," said the club chairman and coordinator of the Divestment Secretariat in the Ministry of Finance, "shouldn't the best players be sent abroad and should they allow the best players be blacklisted?
"I don't mind if they are using their own money but, if public money is being spent, they need to sit down and come to an agreement with the clubs and players.
