TRINIDAD and Tobago senior team assistant coach and former national footballer David Nakhid has defended himself against charges made by his employers, the T&T Football Federation, that he used "racist remarks" in a television interview on CCN TV6's Morning Edition last Tuesday.
In an interview with the show's host, Andy Johnson, Nakhid diverged from footballing issues to air his views on the crime situation that has beseiged the country.
Speaking to the Sunday Express yesterday, Nakhid said: "All I did was say that we have a very bad crime situation and some members of the Syrian community, who are allegedly involved in the drug trade, we want to know why they are not being addressed or investigated. I also added that any community involved in criminal activity should be addressed or investigated, so I don't know how that makes the comments racist."
Nakhid said he was disturbed to learn that the Football Federation had branded his comments as "racist" without them even bothering to seek out his side of the story.
"None of my remarks were racist," he emphasised. "They were specific to the crime situation and to categorise my remarks as racist without speaking to me, there must be something with an agenda that is going on in the T&TFF."
Nakhid did not elaborate on what the agenda might be.
It took the T&TFF four days to respond to Nakhid's alleged remarks yesterday when they stated the organisation and the LOC Germany 2006 Ltd "wish to disassociate themselves, both individually and collectively, from the racist comments or any comments that may be interpreted as racist, that were made by David Nakhid in an interview on national television on the morning of Tuesday October 11, 2005."
But Nakhid was not shocked by the T&TFF reaction and suggested that the organisation may want to get rid of him soon.
"This is no surprise to me," he stated, "but things will show themselves in the next few days. All I can say is my remarks were in no way racist. In fact, they were very well received by the public and in the wider national community. To say that they were racist, that is offensive to me."
He continued: "Syrian is not a race, it is a community, but I attacked the powers up on high and this is just another way for the T&TFF to victimise David Nakhid. I'm getting that the T&TFF feel they have already qualified (for the World Cup) and think it is time to get rid of David Nakhid...we will see."
The T&TFF release, signed by general secretary Richard Groden, went on to say that both T&TFF and LOC Germany 2006 are organisations that pride themselves on the respect they hold for all individuals and groups "regardless of race or religion".
It went further to state that Nakhid was hired by the T&TFF to assist the senior national team in its efforts to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and that "he is not a spokesperson for either the T&TFF or LOC Germany 2006 Ltd and the views expressed by Mr Nakhid are therefore not the views of either the T&TFF or LOC Germany 2006.
"On behalf of the T&TFF and LOC Germany 2006, we hereby apologise unreservedly to the national community, and especially to the Syrian community towards whom the comments made by Mr Nakhid were directed, and once again affirm our total respect and regard for all human beings regardless of race or religion," the media statement concluded.