First off, as I arrived, I must commend the organizers as their signage, giving directions, was EXCELLENT, particularly as I'd arrived at 5 mins before the proposed 10:00am start of the Press Conference, and had never been to the President Box West before (Since being refurbished some years ago, the administrative part of the Oval building is one giant maze, where one wrong turn can take you FAR away from your intended destination!)
Upon enterin the room, I recognised Otis Whitley, Kelvin Jack, Cyd Gray, Kenwyne Jones, Brent Sancho and David Attiba Charles (Anthony Wolfe would join the Press Conference later). Also present was Mike Townley the British attorney and Kevin Harrison (who did NOT take part in the proceedings but sat among us the Audience). I was immediately surprised by the ABSENCE of MEDIA Personnel tho! In fact it was the media who delayed the start of the Press Conference until about 10:15am. And even then other than a few faces familiar to me, and the station ID mikes at the podium, I can say that the media (Print/Radio/Television) was extremely UNDER-represented! One of the players even remarked that "...iz election time, allyuh fellas only have all them lil cottage meetings to study now eh"
Once the Press Conference started, Mike Townley traced the origins of the conflict and immediately sought to distance the TIMING of the PC from the General Elections on Monday. In fact he said that the MAIN reason, besides updating the Public, was that the group of players felt they needed to RESPOND to Jack Warner's claim on an election platform that the issue was settled, and the players ALL paid, which in fact is untrue. To support this, he read JW's Press Release on the matter, from 2 years ago, stating same. He then read copies of letters written by him, in his capacity of legal representative of the 13 players (TECHNICALLY STILL 16, as there was NO proof of payment to the other 3 who have since distanced themseles from the legal action) to the TTFF and the Chief Justice of T&T/Ministry of Legal Affairs regarding the length of time the matter has been seemingly stalled in the T&T legal system. He also indicated that the Ministry of Sports had provided appox 82 million TT$ to the 2006 campaign, while the PRIVATE sector added a further TT$88 million (companies such as ADIDAS,Atlantic LNG,CARIB and BG/BP) Townley then clarified that the players were NOT even adddressing their claims to the Ministry's contribution, but rather 50% of the PRIVATE SPONSORS. contributions. Then it was time for Q&A.
While I don't remember all the questions asked, I will fill you in on the ones I think are MOST relevant. I asked about the most recent correspondence received from the local Courts..and was told, NONE has ever been received, tho the case is pending since October 2009 when a judgement was promised! One reporter then asked if the possibility of Jack Warner getting into the next Gov't was a concern to the players... the response was that given the fact that Jack has a former Judge now campaigning with him, it raises questions in their (the players) minds as to whether or not this has contributed to the unusual delay in the local courts and going forward, whether they can expect fair treatment should the People's partnership win. Another journalist asked whether the timing of the Press Conference 3 days before the General elections wouldn't be seen as Politically motivated...which I felt was already addressed by the players' attorney already, but Kelvin Jack replied that even at the airport coming in Mike Townly when questioned by Immigration authorities as to his reason for coming to T&T, told the officer for the Soca Warriors presence, the officer replied "Ent they get pay already?"...further proof that a lot of people in the country are or had been misled, AND the guys needed to bring it up at a time when they would get noticed, as it has been almost 4 years now (and he pointed to a sign on the wall behind which had printed on it "$ years later and STill the Soca Warriors have not yet been paid". On the question as to whether it could be seen as a sign of dwindling fortunes on their part that of the 23 players who went to the World Cup, it's now down to 13 who are actively pusuing the matter, Brent Sancho said that if even only ONE continues the struggle, it's STILL a worthy cause. Another question came as to the lack of support from SENIOR players (ie Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy), and K. Jack threw it back at the media and asked them to go ask Latapy WHY he never supported the cause... and diito go find Dwight Yorke and ask him too, in fact Dwight got special mention, hear Kelvin Jack "As someone who I looked up to as both a player and my Captain, I was very disappointed in him having written a book last year, and NOT ONE WORD about this issue, but only talking about his various escapades, it's almost laughable...". When asked what is the players last option, as it's been 4 years wih seemingly no end in sight, didn't the players feel that they were jeopardizing their International careers and chance of ever representig T&T again, brent Sancho said that their situation was NOT a unique one, but dated back years, even decades as players and the TTFA/TTFF have had numerous run-ins, but THIS group of players marked the FIRST time a UNIT has banded and stayed together. The issue of FPATT was also raised and again the lack of support by guys like Russell and Dwight was mentioned. Sancho claimed that young players now getting into the National team, were being threatened by their Club managers if they joined! Another question related to this was the blacklisting of players and it's impact on the failed 2010 WC campaign, and Sancho, Jack and Kenwyne Jones all shared their own feelings on how disappointed they were, Brent Sancho especially since he noted that his LAST game for T&T was actually against Paraguay in the World Cup four years ago! He said he didn't want future players to go through what they were experiencing and was taking a stand for the future of football in T&T. there were some other issues raised, but thats basically what I can recall, so there you have it...nothing NEW per se, but for me it was an opportunity to be among some of the guys who contributed to two of the HAPPIEST days of my life... November 16th 2005 and June 10th 2006.