Jack's promise
By: Lasana Liburd (Express)
Sunday, June 1st 2008
Lasana Liburd uses the occasion of today's Centennial match between Trinidad and Tobago and England to ponder FIFA vice-president Jack Warner's bittersweet relationship with T&T fans
This weekend, Trinidad and Tobago football fans must have thought that Christmas came early.
There were more than a thousand supporters at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Friday morning when England held their first training session and, judging by the excited screams of the female patrons whenever David Beckham was in possession, they were not disappointed.
If the intensity of their workout in the fierce sunshine is reciprocated today, there are unlikely to be complaints about the performance of an England squad that was prematurely and, almost certainly, unfairly derided by some as "sub-standard".
The fixture offers an excellent opportunity too for younger T&T players like Keon Daniel and Khaleem Hyland to attract global attention while gaining a first-hand, albeit brief, education from genuine superstars like Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand.
The troop of pubescent faces streaming towards the Stadium on Indian Arrival Day was reminiscent of the excitement experienced when Trinidad and Tobago hosted the Under-17 World Cup in 2001.
Then, local fans looked on in awe at starlets like Argentina's Carlos Tevez, Spain's Fernando Torres and France's Florent Sinama-Pongolle.
Neither event would have been possible without Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) special adviser and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner. Yet, they will do little to soften the hearts of his critics.
Warner might argue that he has provided entertainment to football fans who were accustomed to seeing the world's best on television before Dwight Yorke suddenly joined the elite during a brief but exciting spell with Manchester United.
But at what cost are we amused and towards what end?
It is not that Trinidad and Tobago fans are ungrateful but, rather, that such grand occasions inadvertently highlight the football jefe's own shortcomings. It is the same twang that a coach feels at the sight of a delightful Kerwin Jemmott pass. Nice, but it could have been so much more.
Warner's eagerness to cash in on Trinidad and Tobago's football highs is well documented, from the 1989 and 2006 ticket scandals to the controversial 2001 catering, internet and building contracts. So, too, is his spite.
One travel agency sponsored the famous 1973 national team a trip to the Germany World Cup and asked Warner to match the gesture by funding the 1989 outfit, the Strike Squad, who came within a point of Italia 1990. The suggestion was ignored.
Today's Centennial match will pass without official recognition for the most successful Trinidad and Tobago team of all time-the "Soca Warriors", who, in 2006, helped the twin island republic become the smallest nation ever to participate in the prestigious world football championships.
Warner might have heard of them. They have been bothering his staff for the past two weeks for match tickets-not complimentary ones either.
No one in the Caribbean begrudges Warner his wealth or influence. But his heavy-handed approach and disinclination towards fair play leave a bitter taste.
And so, instead of standing by his promise of bonuses to the 2006 World Cup players, he stalls them in court in the hope that their resolve falters in the face of mounting legal fees.
Rather than sit with the Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) to discuss important matters like match contracts, he prefers to negotiate directly with unrepresented and often unschooled players.
When it boils down to it, Warner does what suits him best and global football conspicuously lacks a buffer to his egotistical, greedy side. And, for all the good he does his country, it is the shameless and unethical manner in which he helps his family and himself that is most pronounced.
The English media and supporters might grumble at the prospect of a low-key exhibition across the Atlantic.
Martin O'Hara, chairman of the Yorkshire England supporters group and member of the England fans set-up, sacrificed his "top capper" status by refusing to travel to Trinidad in protest at the "political nature" of today's fixture and the "timing, location and strength of the opposition".
But do not expect Trinidad and Tobago fans to get teary-eyed at the prospect of a dozen-plus overpaid professionals being asked to play an additional match before their holidays.
If the England FA are "politicking" in a bid to host the 2018 World Cup, Port of Spain surely will not be the last place they are seen grovelling.
Some local fans from the socawarriors.net forum plan to wear black as a sign of protest today, but they are peeved at Warner's failure to see past his own ends and the T&TFF's poor handling of team matters, rather than Steven Gerrard's truncated vacation plans.
As fans swoon at Beckham this afternoon, they would be mindful to keep one hand on their pockets. Warner should and could have been much bigger and better than that.
