Soca Warriors Online Discussion Forum
Sports => Football => Topic started by: E-man on June 05, 2007, 08:04:38 AM
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Feel-good story, unhappy ending.
By: Billy Witz, Columnist (LA Daily News (http://www.dailynews.com/ci_6062092?source=email)).[/size]
A year ago, Trinidad & Tobago were one of the darlings of the World Cup. Its band of mostly lower-flight English League and Major League Soccer players might not have put the tiny Caribbean nation - one-fourth the size of Switzerland and the smallest to ever qualify for the tournament - on the map. But it sent plenty of people riffling through atlases to find out where it was.
The Soca Warriors played Sweden to a scoreless draw despite being down to 10men for nearly the entire second half, relying on a series of standing-on-his-head saves from goalkeeper Shaka Hislop - himself an injury fill-in.
Nearly a week later, they were at it again, desperately defending and playing England to a standstill until the 83rd minute of a 2-0 loss. That they were sent home at the end of group play following a loss to Paraguay did little to dim the enthusiasm of their dancing, steel drum-pounding fans who had done their best to bring a little Carnival to Germany.
Or the players themselves.
"We put a tiny island state into the headlines for all the right reasons," said Hislop, who hasn't allowed himself to watch replays of last summer.
"It's very much a fairy tale. I'm not prepared to give up my fairy tale just yet."
That fairy tale, however, hasn't had such a happy ending. For much of the past year, those players have been locked in a dispute with the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation over millions in World Cup revenues they say have been denied them. Frustrated by FIFA's unwillingness to hear them out, 16 players have threatened to sue.
As a result, Trinidad & Tobago's team that will play El Salvador on Thursday and the United States on Saturday in the Gold Cup at the Home Depot Center bears little resemblance to the one that went to Germany.
None of the 16 who have threatened legal action were invited to participate. Five others, including former English Premier League striker Dwight Yorke, have declined out of solidarity. Only one of the 23 players on T&T's World Cup roster - midfielder Densill Theobold - arrived with the team late Monday night.
"We have picked the best team available," Oliver Camps, the T&TFF chairman, said Monday in a phone interview. "For one reason or another, some have opted out."
Asked if some players were being punished, Camps said, "No."
Then why weren't players who held their own with the best in the world last summer deemed not good enough to play El Salvador?
"They know the reason why they haven't been invited," Camps said. "They know the reason."
Michael Townley, the London-based attorney for the players, says he knows the reason, too.
"This is a blacklist," he said.
The dispute stems over a three-tiered agreement between the players and the T&TFF that was signed before the team qualified for the World Cup, according to Townley.
It called for a 50-50 split of the FIFA participation award of $7 million Swiss francs (about $5.5 million in U.S. dollars), a 50-50 split of profits from warm-up matches leading up to the World Cup, and, most lucratively, a 50 percent cut for the players of licensing and endorsement deals the federation would receive.
The T&TFF has told the players it was necessary to deduct expenses and set aside funds for 2010 World Cup qualifying, and they've distributed all that's left - about $5,000 apiece.
A big problem, says Townley, is that nobody's really sure what the players should be getting. He said an adidas press release touted an $11 million agreement with the T&TFF, but the federation produced paperwork showing less than $300,000 income from the deal.
"What we are suing them for is a proper and accurate accounting of their revenue," Townley said. "There's no transparency at all in what they brought in. What the players are owed - we've been shown figures that are so manifestly inaccurate - it's honestly a stab in the dark."
Looming over the dispute is Jack Warner, the Trinidadian president of CONCACAF, soccer's governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, and also a vice president for FIFA. Warner negotiated the deal with the players while serving as chairman of a company that was formed by the T&TFF to handle the national team's financial matters.
The business dealings of Warner, a special adviser to the T&TFF, have raised questions since 1990 World Cup qualifying when more than 65,000 tickets were sold for a game at a stadium that holds about one-third that. After last summer's World Cup, Warner and his son were investigated by FIFA's ethics committee for a ticket scalping scheme. His son was fined $1 million.
"Jack Warner," said one player on the U.S. World Cup team when asked about the T&T dispute. "What a shock."
Warner has a powerful ally in FIFA president Sepp Blatter, which was demonstrated last week when the FIFA Congress passed an amendment allowing governing bodies to stipulate "that disputes affecting the football family may not be taken to ordinary court of law."
Warner, who was traveling to Miami on Monday, could not be reached, but Camps said any characterizations of him as less-than-honest were unfair.
Galaxy defender Tyrone Marshall, who plays for the Jamaican national team, says the T&T travails are not unique for Caribbean nations.
"It's the islands," Marshall said. "It's not where if they tell you you're going to get paid on Monday, you get paid on Monday. There's a bad reputation when it comes to money management."
It's for this reason that the Soca Warriors - as regrettable as their absence from the Gold Cup may be - are using their cachet from the World Cup in other ways. Instead of getting stuck on the field, they're preparing to do so in court.
"I was very proud to be part of a history-making team. We hoped to build on that," said Hislop, now with Dallas FC. "But as the game becomes global in every sense and the game grows and more of us play abroad, we know what should be expected of the federation. The circumstances have been repeated to where enough is enough. We had to make a stand."
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camps could talk ????
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camps could talk ????
He could talk and not say anything.
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"We have picked the best team available," Oliver Camps, the T&TFF chairman, said Monday in a phone interview. "For one reason or another, some have opted out."
Asked if some players were being punished, Camps said, "No."
Then why weren't players who held their own with the best in the world last summer deemed not good enough to play El Salvador?
"They know the reason why they haven't been invited," Camps said. "They know the reason."
Could you believe this mother fu#$ker said this!! I cannot stand is geriatric ass! He is talk big but when time to sit and sought out anything he not available
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this ollie camps want a soundddddd cutass i aint talking that
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Thank God for these players taking a stand.I only hope they willing to sacrifice themselves today for the benefits of tomorrow.FPATT must take their fight international.This would put pressure not on Camps and TTFF because they are non issues but on the global image of JacK Warner,which is already that he's a crook.But this would be with pressure of being one.Once Jack loose FIFA backing he is nothing.This is the angle the players have to take,undermining Jack to loose his FIFA backing.It is a tall order but accomplishable.The problem is Jack is always a step ahead.Who will say checkmate first ?
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"We have picked the best team available," Oliver Camps, the T&TFF chairman, said Monday in a phone interview. "For one reason or another, some have opted out."Asked if some players were being punished, Camps said, "No."
Then why weren't players who held their own with the best in the world last summer deemed not good enough to play El Salvador?
"They know the reason why they haven't been invited," Camps said. "They know the reason."[/u]
Could you believe this mother fu#$ker said this!! I cannot stand is geriatric ass! He is talk big but when time to sit and sought out anything he not available
"Jamps" could tork outta both sides of he mouth with clarity oui!....In one sentence he saying they "opted out" and in the next he say,"they know the reason why dey weren't invited"......no wonder Jamp doesnt want him tuh say anything......... longer steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeupes!
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Fellas, following TnT Football like taking a flippin RollerCoaster Ride oui
many ups and many more downs.....(which goes against physics... ;))
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We know Jack have a speech impediment what is Camp's fault for talkin with a falked toungue
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camps could talk ????
camps could talk ????
He could talk and not say anything.
he is ah real puppet den....or is it ah muppet?....eedah way somebody have dey han up he arse instructing him on what tuh say and how tuh say it.
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Either way Jackula hand up be bamcee :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
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camps could talk ????
like you read my mind bredda. I muhself was realising that the usual line of "Ask Mr Warner" not comin outa he mout dis time. Like jack goin and make him take the fall. poor fella :D
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The nice thing is that Camps and Warner are gonna get asked this question time and time again. Warner can't hide coz he has to be available as CONCACAF president. Them yankee journos are gonna smell a Watergate stylee story and keep digging and provoking him. Just hope he does his usual tantrum and says the wrong thing.
Has anybody got contact details for U.S. sports journos? We should mail them and get them to ask Jack why he's not recognised FPATT. Also, someone should ask if he took his money before the players got their share.
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The nice thing is that Camps and Warner are gonna get asked this question time and time again. Warner can't hide coz he has to be available as CONCACAF president. Them yankee journos are gonna smell a Watergate stylee story and keep digging and provoking him. Just hope he does his usual tantrum and says the wrong thing.
Has anybody got contact details for U.S. sports journos? We should mail them and get them to ask Jack why he's not recognised FPATT. Also, someone should ask if he took his money before the players got their share.
Mr Warner will just STRIP those pesky Journalists of their accreditation for the Gold Cup.jmho
But I would love to see your possible scenario come about....especially at this Major Event and not like when he met up with Jennings at Piarco where there were very few cameras and other journalists.
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The nice thing is that Camps and Warner are gonna get asked this question time and time again. Warner can't hide coz he has to be available as CONCACAF president. Them yankee journos are gonna smell a Watergate stylee story and keep digging and provoking him. Just hope he does his usual tantrum and says the wrong thing.
Has anybody got contact details for U.S. sports journos? We should mail them and get them to ask Jack why he's not recognised FPATT. Also, someone should ask if he took his money before the players got their share.
Mr Warner will just STRIP those pesky Journalists of their accreditation for the Gold Cup.jmho
But I would love to see your possible scenario come about....especially at this Major Event and not like when he met up with Jennings at Piarco where there were very few cameras and other journalists.
JW to journalist: I am the CONCACAF president, have some damn respect!! You don't come into my tournament at one of my stadiums and ask me such embarassing questions!! Were you sent here by Jennings?!!! >:( >:(
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Either way Jackula hand up be bamcee :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
I seriously doubt is he hand....
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Glad to see de international press picking this up....
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Camps have to be some kinda left over from early life on earth, some kinda organism without any vertebra.
How could a big man be such ah putz.
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IT SPEAKS FU#CKING SCOTCH AND COCONUT WATER DRINKING , ZURICH FIRST CLASS FLYING MOTHER FU#KER