in today's express
Hockey Board agree World Cup compromise
Lasana Liburd
Saturday, January 20th 2007
Trinidad and Tobago star hockey player Kwandwane Browne seems likely to represent his country once more after the Trinidad and Tobago Hockey Board (TTHB) agreed a last-ditch compromise with dissident clubs over selection of the Austria 2007Â Samsung Indoor World Cup team.
The 29-year-old Browne, who is considered the country's greatest-ever player, should have met the TTHB executive committee yesterday to formalise his return to the national fold. He comes into the squad with increased powers too as the Board appointed the Notre Dame star as one part of a three-member "special selection committee", which also includes coach David Francois and Fatima player and ex-national Derek Lee.
The special selection committee will choose players to be added to Francois' 16-man squad which was named last Wednesday. Browne, who quit the team last month over the non-inclusion of Defence Force goalkeeper Glen "Fido" Francis, is expected to lobby for the recall of Francis and Queen's Park attacker Raphael Govia, who mirrored Browne's initial stance.
Fatima striker Dean Nieves is among the other players pushing for a squad pick while an olive branch might be extended to England-based utility player, Brian Garcia, who retired from international hockey three years ago and refused to play under Francois.
The designated players will travel to Germany alongside the initial 16-man squad for a training camp in Hamburg. The squad should depart this weekend or early next week.
The final 12-man World Cup team will be decided by Francois, the team captain and an unnamed German indoor club coach-the TTHB promised to furnish the media with more details about its new employee-who would act as technical director for the competition while Lt Ian Carter (trainer) and Jason Thomas (manager) should also have input.
Browne has served as national captain for close to a decade but the TTHB has not officially announced its team leader yet and the position of the coach's first mate may no longer be a foregone conclusion.
In an effort to allay fears about the integrity of the final selection process, it is the German coach-and not Francois-who will have the last word as regards the World Cup squad. The 12 selected players plus two stand-bys would then proceed to Vienna for the competition, which runs from February 14 to 18, while the remaining players return to Trinidad.
The final deadline for the 12-man squad to be selected is January 31.
The new proposals were the product of a five-hour meeting on Wednesday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, which was attended by 32 delegates from the country's 16 clubs and 24 observers.
Seven clubs demanded Thursday's meeting to air concerns regarding the selection of the national squad and coach for the prestigious tournament. Eleven clubs would have been required to vote as a bloc to overrule the present TTHB executive on the matter.
However, it never came to a vote as the Board agreed to dilute the power of its coach as regards the selection of a training squad. It is a decision that should at least temporarily satisfy Browne, who repeatedly stated his desire to play once he was happy with the composition of the team.
The former England and Holland-based star could not be reached for comment yesterday while Francois was also unavailable and TTHB president Maureen Craig-Rousseau declined the opportunity to comment.
Although Francois is likely to have players hoisted on him, it is only a German coach-rather than Browne-who can overrule his final team selection.
Germany, the defending men's champions, are Trinidad and Tobago's first Indoor World Cup opponent in Vienna. The TTHB would expect its new technical director to put professionalism ahead of patriotism.