W-Connection made to toil on arrival in Puerto Rico
By Joel Villafana (ttproleague.com)TT Pro League giants Vibe CT 105 W Connection were made to toil on their arrival in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Thursday for the start of the Caribbean Club championships.
The W Connection team spent the entire day on Thursday at National training facility which was located almost two hours from the airport. The teams’ management refused to check into the facility because of poor conditions.
The 2006 Pro League runners up and two time Caribbean Club Champions left the Piarco International Airport for San Juan Peurto Rico at 6.35 a.m on Thursday and after arriving at just after 9 a.m the Savonetta Boys traveled for over an hour by bus to arrive at what was a Government-run training facility with less than acceptable accommodation.
Coach Stuart Charles Fevrier, Manager Raymond Mc lean and Captain Earl Jean all agreed they were not accepting these conditions and demanded answers as they were promised a five star hotel facility.
The technical staff and 25 players were made to remain outside the facility which contained rooms that were designed to accommodate a concentration camp, rather than a professional football team with cramped rooms containing six double decked beds.
The W Connection players were forced to lay outside the facility which, lies some 30 miles from the main city of San Juan and spent no less than 6 hours marooned.
The team was unable to conduct a scheduled training session on that afternoon and Coach Stuart Charles Fevrier was an extremely disappointed man.
“This is not what we planned, we are extremely disappointed in what has transpired here, I cannot allow my team to stay here for over a week in these conditions, we are professionals and this was not arrangement put in place.”
However, the St. Lucian born coach is looking ahead positively to the rest of the trip.
He told ttproleague.com despite the mishap, he is confident his players will remain focused on the job at hand.
“Fortunately for us we don’t play until Saturday afternoon, so it gives us a day to gather ourselves get back onto the training pitch and get ready for our first game, ny players are professionals and have remained focused and I know they are hungry to do well in this tournament.”
Eventually officials organized for the team to be placed at the El Portel Hotel in Bayamon, which was accepted by the teams’ management. The team had to travel another hour to get to the new facility and arrived just after 8 p.m.
The players quickly retired to bed to get some well deserved rest.
The First Citizens Cup Champions will be eager to get out on the training pitch on Friday before going into competitive action on Saturday.
W Connection are grouped with host team Puerto Rico Islanders, Fruta Conquers out of Guyana and Hoppers FC from Antigua.
Connection will first take on the Antiguan Champions Hoppers FC on Saturday at National stadium in Bayamon.
The local club giants will then meet Fruta Conquers out of Guyana on Tuesday, before wrapping up this phase of the competition against Puerto Rico Islanders on Thursday.
The top team in this group will move on to the final round to determine the Caribbean Club Champions.
