Warriors going the right way
Peter O'Connor (Trinidad Newsday)
Disputes do occur. That is a fact of life, whether in business, between rival companies, or between management and unions, or in social organisations, and of course, in sports, particularly professional sports.
We all know of sports disputes, usually surrounding athletes’ remuneration, in Europe, North America, and around the world. Two of “our” sports — cricket and football — are more prone to disputes than other local sports.
And, not surprisingly, these are our only two professional team sports.
But while most disagreements and disputes involving sports out in the wider world, are seen by us as evolving differences, any disagreements in our cricket or football are seen as deep trauma, and “bacchanal.”
Business people, with un-pleasant matters before the Industrial Court, lecture sports administrators about “putting their house in order.” Letters to the Editor pontificate about “how bad this is for the game,” and often the dispute gets more media coverage than on-the-field performances.
And much of this coverage tends to be more inflammatory than conciliatory, for the story is in the “bacchanal.”
The current compensation dispute between the Soca Warriors and the Football Federation has presented a refreshing change from the norm.
Of course, “no dispute” is always a better situation than a dispute being handled quietly and professionally. But the next best thing is to work towards resolution without acrimony, threats and insults.
I certainly commend the Soca Warriors for the manner in which they are pursuing their claims against the Federation. It seems, at the time of writing, that this matter is going quietly to Mediation or Arbitration without disrupting the programmes of the Federation, or the careers of the players.
This, if it remains in this mode, is good for the team, the individual players, and the Federation. The call, by an English journalist, to destabilise local football over this issue, has been sensibly ignored here in Trinidad and Tobago.
The only “destabilising” influences at Wednesday’s Under-20 qualifying matches (St Vincent 1 — St Kitts-0; and TT 1 — Dominican Republic 1) at Ato Boldon Stadium were the absence of supporters, the non-functioning public address system and the state of the field.
These matches are important Caribbean qualifiers, to get the best teams to the CONCACAF play-offs in January 2007, and then to the FIFA Under-20 Finals in Canada later that year.
All these players deserve quality fields upon which to play, and our young team deserves our support.
When we hosted the CFU Under-16 Championships here in August, I wrote about the poor state of the fields in our relatively new stadia — Larry Gomes, Ato Boldon and Manny Ramjohn.
It was clear at Ato Boldon on Wednesday evening that nothing had been done to upgrade the field since then.
The malfunctioning PA system was farcical and embarrassing, with the players having to sing their National Anthems.
The stadium management, the Sports Company and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs remain totally out of touch with the need to service and maintain our sports facilities. Our future international players need and deserve better quality fields upon which to represent our country, and surely it is within our capability to provide these, if we care.
But really, do we care? If our caring is measured by fan support, then we certainly no longer care about our football, or its future.
Since the outpourings of support, pride and patriotism in Germany, we have failed to support our Under-16 team in August, our Soca Warriors earlier this month, and now our Under-20 Team.
There appears to be no support, and no sponsors for this Under-20 team, although some of these players will be part of our squad in South Africa 2010.
The post-Germany comments of some of our business leaders, telling the Federation that they must plan for the future, now ring hypocritically hollow as the future, on display, has no support whatever.
It would mean so much to the game, and particularly to our young players, if some of those companies which jumped on to the Journey To Germany after Bahrain purchased a few hundred tickets (at only $20 each) for their staff and families.
But take heart, TTFF and our Young Warriors, these companies will again be seeking privilege to get tickets to see you play in November 2009.
The single greatest hurdle faced by sports and sports administrators in this country is the lack of spectator support at events.
If our advertising industry would accept, as a challenge, the mission to get our people out to our many excellent sports events, they would be taking a major step to improve the quality of life in our communities and our country.
Imagine, our players in the lower divisions of British football play before crowds of over 12,000 every week. They play in an environment where Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are also playing, and where the stadium is cold, wet and miserable by our standards.
And yet, if Luton Town or Coventry came here, they would hardly get a thousand spectators, and our better clubs would beat them.
My point here is that our football, and indeed our other sports, would provide a “spectator value” of 12 to 15,000 if we played in England.
Our mission is to somehow convince Trinis that this “value” exists, and that attending and supporting sports events with your family is far better than aimless liming or sticking in front of your TV.
I have been writing this article through Thursday morning, also watching the Windies in their match against India. I was impressed at the quiet maturity coming into the team, so few no-balls, and fewer “wild” balls and missed chances.
Then, as we built our innings, I was confident enough to write how “we reach” the semi-final stage! Well, you know, the boys had to stressed me out, falling from 200 plus for three to 226 (was that it?) for seven to just win it!
So, as you read this on Sunday morning, the Windies should have won against England yesterday, and the Young Warriors should have defeated St Kitts on Friday night (they both lost). But they will still need your support this afternoon at Ato Boldon when they play the final match against St Vincent. Will you be there?
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