The twelfth man.

[pull stones]

There’s a show on TV6 a few times a week called the twelfth man hosted by andre baptiste which features every day fans from TT talking about their favorite teams. these guys are all so-called hardcore fans of the worlds top teams like the UK top four, Spain’s top three and so on, mind you no one follows santos, flamingos, Cruz azul, Leeds united, hibernian, portvale, west brom, W connection, jablote......got my point?

listening to these guys you would think that they reside right there in britain, Spain or germany. watching the passion of these fans as they talk about their favorite teams in exact detail, i must admit that no one in Europe would believe that they were from islands thousands of miles away who probably never set a toe nail in old trafford or stamford bridge but are as committed as any britisher would, then it dawned on me....this is what’s killing our local football.

These boys has never seen a fan club in their own community, never worn a jersey from their local club with pride, never been to their own community facility to watch a game and see their uncles, neighbors, the big boys in the neighborhood singing shouting and drinking beers while the game heats up. never been to the pub on Friday nights where they prepare for Saturday morning and the main topic is how we’re going to destroy our opponents come the morrow, yet people complain that no one likes sports in TT anymore.

What are the local football big shots in trinidad and tobago doing to bring back an interest in sports in the country, do they even compare notes with other countries who have strong footballing traditions or make the effort to liaise with these leagues around the world for assistance? holy smoke..... it’s like these people don’t even have a brain on their shoulders. It seems like they only sit in positions of power just to be seen or recognized, but fail to really grind for the interest of the sport and make things happen, are they for real?

TT we need to bring people back to the sport so we don’t have this looney dependency for top flight football, and this is the reason why our young people don’t watch local football anymore, who could go from watching neymar scoring a wonder hattrick to Willis plaza miskicking a sitter in front of an open goal? more interest needs to placed on foreign sponsorship as well as local sponsors getting on board, they also need to devise well thought out plans to attract youth involvement, over all a lot of marketing strategy and comprehensive planning needs to be employed.

this is not rocket science, and with a lot of know how and the right people involved this is actually attainable, what's the big deal people? get it done already! if you could organize carnival and do a bang up job, you can also organize this.

[Deeks]

who could go from watching neymar scoring a wonder hattrick to Willis plaza miskicking a sitter in front of an open goal? more interest

pull stones, you on point. But to be fair, we have seen quite a few bloopers in top flight football. Up to yesterday, Aguero gave us a "fine example of how to kick a penalty". But you are quite right. But I will say again, there is a disconnect with local sports, particularly football. This has been going on for years. I stopped worrying about it. Because to Trinis in this day and age, has no interest in local football, except if their son or daughter has some promise. And they looking to ship them out. We need to lose some more to get things straighten. I have no faith in TTFA nor the NC.

[pull stones]

who could go from watching neymar scoring a wonder hattrick to Willis plaza miskicking a sitter in front of an open goal? more interest

pull stones, you on point. But to be fair, we have seen quite a few bloopers in top flight football. Up to yesterday, Aguero gave us a "fine example of how to kick a penalty". But you are quite right. But I will say again, there is a disconnect with local sports, particularly football. This has been going on for years. I stopped worrying about it. Because to Trinis in this day and age, has no interest in local football, except if their son or daughter has some promise. And they looking to ship them out. We need to lose some more to get things straighten. I have no faith in TTFA nor the NC.

Deeks this is beyond the TTFA and the normalization committee old man, this has to do with everyone who has a claim on local football from the zonal heads to the minor leagues. take a good look at the pro league, they are not connected to the TTFA in any way yet they failed miserably even more so than clueless oliver and deep pockets jack.

for years people like benhakker/whim rijbergen and coach maturana has been telling them that the league needs to improve, but did they listen? of course not. instead of skeene and romany holding follow up talks with these football experts, they ran to the media like some little sallys to cry and fain disrespect. they would rather do it their way even though they were clueless, than to listen to the voice of reason and be told how to conduct their affairs by a bunch or white foreigners, even when the foreigners are spot on.

i remember when otto fister told the local clubs to respect the lads and stop using them like trading cards, people like DJW, big belly jamal and the local chorus line wanted his head, if i'm not mistaken skeene was among the people who were most offended, but don't quote me on that one.

case and point, it's not just the fellows at helm of the TTFA that's sinking football, it's also the minions like jamal and selby brown and all these other roaches who has a stake in TT football with their lack of ideas and xenophobic disposition, who evidently don't know their ass from their elbow. and they full well know that don't have what it takes to propel us forward, but would stand in the way of anyone that does, especially if you're an outsider who's unfamiliar with their circles. that's the problem there in a nut shell mate.

PS. remember it's the football stake holders who are responsible for electing a federation president, and they always manage to pick a creep who does everything but properly administer justice to football. for years i've been saying it's those guys who's been hamstringing football in TT together with the media and cooperate trinbago.