Warrior fans sick in Germany
WALTER ALIBEY (Newsday)
Friday, June 30 2006
EMILE DE LA GRENADE, former chairman of the Employer’s Consultative Association (ECA), is in need of help to return home from Germany where he went to support the Trinidad and Tobago football team at the World Cup.
He has been in a German hospital in Rotenburg since suffering a stroke on the eve of the team’s return home, on June 21. But De La Grenade needs help to pay for an air-ambulance to bring him home, since, BWIA, the airline he went to Germany with, has no facilities to accommodate him.
George Joseph, assistant manager of the national football team, said De La Grenade suffered a stroke on the eve of the team’s departure from the Landhaus Wachelhof Hotel in Rotenburg — where thousands of Trinidadians and Tobagonians stayed to support the team which made their first appearance at the tournament.
The Soca Warriors played to a goalless draw with Sweden in their opening game in Dortmund and were defeated by European giants England and South American powerhouse Paraguay by a similar 2-0 margin in their other two matches in Nuremberg and Kaiserslautern respectively. Joseph said the doctors in Germany confirmed De La Grenade’s left side has been paralysed — and needs an air ambulance to transport him to Trinidad.
While the cost of an air-ambulance is an estimated $300,000, De La Grenade also has to pay the bill for his stay at the German hospital. Yesterday, Newsday contacted his relatives in Diego Martin who chose not to comment. But Joseph, a former national footballer, now an administrator, said he and Warriors manager Bruce Aanensen spoke with Mayor of Rotenburg Detclef Eichinger on how De La Grenade could be helped. Newsday also learnt that another supporter, whose name is still unidentified, had to remain in Germany because of meningitis.
