Let's get on with the beautiful game
Wednesday, January 11th 2006
trinidadexpress
We remain mystified by the Trinidad and Tobago Government's sudden decision to send a cultural team to the World Cup Finals in Germany in June later this year. Is this cultural troupe to be different from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's which was mooted even before the victorious national football team left Bahrain? Is it, in fact, meant to supplant and displace the cultural group promised by the T&TFF's special adviser, Jack Warner, elements of which had been in place for the length of the qualifying campaign, both the Laventille Rhythm Section and the Woodbrook Playboyz catching the attention of the international press in Panama, Costa Rica and Bahrain? Or is the Government going to open its hands and join with the T&TFF in sending a group wide enough and deep enough to truly represent the cultural dynamism that defines Trinidad and Tobago, nationally, regionally and internationally?
It is to be noted that despite the nationalistic clothes in which the Government's cultural intentions have been dressed the underlying motive is clearly political in that Prime Minister Manning is seeking to capitalise on popular disquiet over the hegemony held by Mr Warner over the distribution of World Cup tickets, an issue that this newspaper, more than most, has helped to put on the front burner. Mr Manning said as much at a press conference last year:
"We are going to have to engage in appropriate discussions with those in authority in football to ensure that we have the requisite number of tickets...the Government has to respond to all of the calls we have been having from the national community, people who have supported football from the inception to now and who are prepared to go to Germany...''
Now nobody can have any quarrel with any government wanting to ensure a fair distribution of these coveted tickets (although one has to wonder how any government can be in a position to know who are the people who have supported "football from the inception to now and who are prepared to go Germany''). But, in the national interest, there comes a point when this political quarrelling has to stop and both sides, respecting each other's influence and authority, has to agree on how Trinidad and Tobago, already galvanising positive talk on the world football stage, is seen by the international community.
These matters are not unique to us although in typical Trinbagonian style the matter is further complicated by the political divide between the Prime Minister and the country's football czar. However, with the necessary appreciation of what intractable squabbling could do to the world image of Trinidad and Tobago, and more importantly the self-image of Trinbagonians, all these "cultural'' matters can be resolved to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago, in all its cultural diversity, does make mas' in Germany. Mr Warner has shown himself to be an amazingly flexible man and if Mr Manning is half the politician his supporters claim him to be, he will not be above making the necessary enlightened moves particularly since our sense is that the electorate wants to get on with the beautiful game.
