Soca Warriors request interim World Cup payment.
By Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
'let's start with $44m'
Sixteen members of the Trinidad and Tobago 2006 World Cup squad will test the judgment of the Sport Dispute Resolution Panel (SDRP) today with an initial request of $44 million from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) as part of the bonus and sponsorship pact agreed upon by the parties.
The London-based arbitration body declared, on Monday, that the contract entered into by the "Soca Warriors" and FIFA vice-president and T&TFF special adviser Jack Warner was legally binding on the part of the players and the local administrative body.
And, 22 months after the World Cup finals in Germany, English barrister and the players' legal representative, Michael Townley, believes it is time the T&TFF began honouring their agreement. He will relay as much to the SDRP today via letter.
The $44 million requested is half of the $88 million that the T&TFF claimed to receive as World Cup commercial revenue although, Townley stressed, it was only the start for the players.
His clients should be entitled to $1.76 million each with a similar sum to be deposited in the account of the Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT). The T&TFF offered just under $5,600 per player for their World Cup efforts in early October 2006.
Captain Dwight Yorke led the players' initial protests although the former Manchester United star did not join his teammates in threatening legal action, while Russell Latapy, Dennis Lawrence, Clayton Ince, Carlos Edwards, Jason Scotland and Densill Theobald also backed off.
Shaka Hislop, Kelvin Jack, Brent Sancho, Cyd Gray, Marvin Andrews, Atiba Charles, Ian Cox, Avery John, Chris Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Collin Samuel, Evans Wise, Anthony Wolfe, Cornell Glen, Kenwyne Jones and Stern John stood firm, though.
Townley is adamant that they must now get their due.
"I will be writing to the arbitrator (today) based on his (judgment)," Townley told the Express, "and produce some figures which are clearly due and owing and should be made subject of an interim award even before further investigation.
"It will be a tiny fraction of what the players are due based on the limited information made public by TTFF, which is plainly due without further enquiry.
"At the moment, the players have not received a single cent and it is important to have some money flowing from this exercise."
Arbitrator Ian Mill QC ruled, after hearings on April 28-30, that the players were entitled to 50 per cent of the FIFA World Cup participation money and the commercial revenues gained from Trinidad and Tobago's historic qualification, as well as half the net income from all World Cup warm-up matches.
Mill expressed disappointment at the absence of Warner and T&TFF general secretary Richard Groden from the hearings and ordered the football body to make the players privy to all accounts related to their appearance at the prestigious competition.
"It appears to be the case that the TTFA has yet to provide an account to the applicants which complies with its contractual obligations under the commercial revenues sharing agreement," said Mill. "Obviously, I hope that the effect of this decision will be that a proper account will expeditiously be rendered, together with the payments shown as due by that account; and sufficient inspection of the TTFA's records to enable the applicants reasonably to be satisfied that they have received that to which they are entitled.
"In that context, I should observe that any agreement entered into prior to qualification for the World Cup finals but which resulted in revenues accruing to the TTFA in consequence of qualifying should be disclosed by the TTFA to the applicants (even if the TTFA would wish to argue before me on another occasion that the agreement is not one in whose revenues the applicants are entitled to share)."
It should be noted that the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) remains the body mandated by the government to run the local game although they have referred to themselves as the T&TFF for more than a decade. The trading name"the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation"was only registered as a limited liability company in mid-2006 by T&TFF president Oliver Camps.
Camps was named as a respondent in the case but also did not appear at the London hearing.
Mill's judgment was released more than a week after he decided the case because-in what is understood to be unusual-the T&TFF allegedly defaulted on their payments to the arbitration body. The T&TFF asked for the bonus dispute to be heard before the SDRP late last year after the players initially wanted to proceed in a Trinidad and Tobago court room.
Townley claimed that he eventually deposited a personal cheque as security so the judgment would be released. So, apart from what the T&TFF owe their players, they are also obliged to repay $81,171 (£6,700) to the opposing lawyer.
Kelvin Ramkissoon, attorney for the T&TFF, declined comment on the subject of the arbitration fees last week. He could not be reached by cell phone yesterday. The English barrister does not expect to recover that money without some difficulty.
"To be honest, I don't expect the TTFF to pay anything without a fight," said Townley. "We have a legal right to receive the money we paid on their behalf and we will probably end up pursuing that as a legal debt just we as are pursuing the rest of the money."
Townley also complained to the SDRP about an alleged breach of contract by the T&FF, which led to news of the arbitrational body's judgment being published in the local press yesterday. He informed the body that their decision would subsequently be made available to the Express.
"There was (a signed) agreement to respect confidentiality as part of the arbitration process," he said, "and that was not respected. We wrote first thing (yesterday) morning complaining about that and making the point that it was not us.
"Even now, not a single player has a copy of the award in order to preserve confidentiality. They were just told, in brief terms, about the decision."
Hislop relieved over SDRP judgment.
By Lasana Liburd (Express).[/size]
Former Trinidad and Tobago national goalkeeper and 2006 World Cup star Shaka Hislop expressed relief yesterday at the judgment from the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel (SDRP), which, he felt, justified the players' decision to seek legal action in their bonus dispute with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF).
The London-based arbitrational body declared, on Monday, that the T&TFF owed the players half of their FIFA participation money and the commercial revenues gained from Trinidad and Tobago's historic World Cup qualification as well as half the net income from all pre-tournament exhibition matches.
"My initial reaction is relief before even any feelings of joy," Hislop told the Express. "It has been a long, drawn out and, at times, ugly process. But we felt we were right all along and this judgment proves it.
"I said all along that all we wanted was a third and independent party to decide whether we had a case or not. The TTFF made it very ugly and aggressive at times but we were well justified in what we were saying all along."
The T&TFF issued a press release that acknowledged the arbitrator's decision, but pointed out that "both parties agreed that the arbitration hearings will be in private and no one is allowed to disclose the contents of the proceedings and/or the judgment".
News of the judgment was published in another daily newspaper yesterday and Hislop insisted that the leak did not come from their side.
"I reiterate that I haven't seen the judgment," said the ESPN International analyst and former English Premiership star. "All I know of it is what I read in the morning although I know it was released about 5.30 p.m. London time yesterday. I found out too that it was released to a reporter before me.
"Something doesn't stack up. But again, my main feelings are of relief, joy and even disappointment that it took a lengthy and costly legal challenge just to get some truth out of the TTFF."
Michael Townley, the players' England-based barrister along with Rupert Butler SC, wrote to the SDRC yesterday complaining about the leak and informed them of his decision to release the judgment to the Express.
Hislop, who is the interim president of the Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT), was among 16 players who were called greedy mercenaries by FIFA vice-president and T&TFF special adviser Jack Warner for refusing just under $5,600 each as their share of World Cup revenues.
His comrades in the legal matter are Kelvin Jack, Brent Sancho, Avery John, Marvin Andrews, Ian Cox, Cyd Gray, Atiba Charles, Chris Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Anthony Wolfe, Collin Samuel, Evans Wise, Cornell Glen, Kenwyne Jones and Stern John.
Hislop, Jack, Sancho and John appeared as witnesses in the hearing. The T&TFF did not offer any witnesses in a move described as "surprising" by arbitrator Ian Mill QC.
Mill made mention of Sancho's faulty memory as his oral testimony was sometimes at odds with his written submission but still found ample evidence to rule in favour of the players.
He called upon the local organising body to immediately make its accounting for all World Cup revenue available to the "Soca Warriors".
"Obviously, I hope that the effect of this decision will be that a proper account will expeditiously be rendered," said Mill, "together with the payments shown as due by that account; and sufficient inspection of the TTFA's records to enable the applicants reasonably to be satisfied that they have received that to which they are entitled."
