Friends of Claude Noel thank Sancho http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2015-05-13/friends-claude-noel-thank-sancho ...Claims of TTBBC debts to former national boxer
Andrew Gioannetti
Published:
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
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A group of retired boxers who banded together several years ago in a rally of support for aging former T&T World champion Claude Noel, have complimented Minister of Sport Brent Sancho for his pledge to address problems faced by their long-time friend and colleague, who they say has been neglected by this country for years.
The group, however, has sought to remind Sancho that although the state should have been keen to assist struggling former national athletes all along, there is still the allegation of victimisation and outstanding debts owed to Noel by the T&T Boxing Board of Control (TTBBC) that need to be addressed.
Sancho visited Noel at his home last month after reading a newspaper article highlighting the former national athlete’s bout with ill health, blindness and lack of assistance, something the recently appointed minister said prompted him to take action.
Sancho said he was disturbed by the fact that Noel, who represented this country with distinction during the 1970s and 1980s, was living on his own and fighting illnesses without proper support from the state.
After reading the February 20 article, Sancho said he went in search of the three-time Commonwealth Lightweight title holder, even to his birthplace, Tobago, where he was told that Noel moved to Trinidad in his youth.
Almost two weeks ago, the Minister finally visited Noel at his Arima home, where he got a better understanding of his complications. He then pledged to assist in any way the state could accommodate.
Sancho’s visit to Noel was publicised in a separate newspaper article. After seeing this, two members of a group of former boxers known as “Friends of Claude Noel”, visited the Guardian.
After recognising Sancho’s respectable effort in visiting Noel, the visitors, Michael Paul and Ralph Peterkin (two of nine members) showed a letter addressed to Sancho, seeking his intervention on behalf of the group.
“He (Sancho) could have saved himself a trip to Tobago,” Paul quipped in showing the letter, which was written by him.
He said it delivered to the Ministry of Sport on April 15, two weeks before Sancho’s visit to Noel, but was never acknowledged.
It highlighted both the health issues faced by the 67-year-old, as well as the alleged debt by the TTBBC.
The letter read: “... he stated clearly (in the February article) that he is in need of financial assistance and is owed over $60,000 when he was an employee of the boxing board of T&T. He stated that this is due for well over a year (March, 2012 to December, 2013) of his services.
He is citing probable cause for this callous treatment being meted out to him, eg: a personal vendetta by an individual who held an advisory position on the board and is (a) major promoter for the sport of boxing today.
I am shocked and hurt that someone who has our little country on the world map with distinction is living this way.
“I am asking (begging) you to use your honorable office to please fix this problem which has left a sour taste in his mouth... I ask you to consider my plea before it’s too late,” the letter concluded.
When Paul and Peterkin visited the Guardian, they reiterated their appreciation for Sancho’s visit to Noel, but insisted that the TTBBC needs to honour the debt owed to him (Noel) and to other former employees and coaches or that the Minister take action.
Ironically but in no apparent relation to this case, the Ministry of Sport last month issued a media release advising that it had commissioned “an independent financial and procedural audit into the operations of the TTBBC.”
The release explained that “the move (to audit) comes as members of the board approach the end of their tenure with the TTBBC. The results of the audit will be used to draft procedural frameworks and processes that will map the approach that future Boards will prescribe in terms of operations.”
The group “Friends of Claude Noel” comprises Paul, Peterkin, Walter Peters, Keith Aberdeen, Michael Williams, Ransome Flemming, Winston Cox, Nathaniel Jones and Isaac Thomas, most of whom are former national boxing champions.
Paul and Peterkin said the group members have dipped into their pockets and held fund raisers to assist Noel with food and medical bills.
However, the state, they said, needs to give back to a man, who has little more than a name on a highway in Tobago.