Warner knocks ticket price critics.
By: Joan Rampersad (Newsday).[/size]
FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF president Austin Jack Warner yesterday knocked critics over what he termed dotish questions raised about the price of VIP tickets for the forthcoming match on June 1, between England and Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Warner who was at the time delivering the feature address at the prize distribution ceremony (2007) of the Northern Football Association (NFA) at the Harvard Club on Sunday, told the audience England will be playing USA two days prior to their coming to Trinidad and tickets for that Wembley Stadium match have already been sold out, while the team is yet to be selected.
Yet, Warner said, a sports reporter at a recent news conference wanted to know if the full English team was coming.
Also, on the question of the price for the VIP tickets, Warner stated only 1,000 VIP tickets at $1,200 each have been printed, 4,000 more at $600 each and the rest to fill the general area at $300 each will amount to approximately $7 million, which is far below the $50 million being spent to bring the English team here.
He justified the act stating that in this centennial year of the local football association, “we deserve that!”.
Warner added, TT football needs the presence of all existing footballers, young and old in the country, as well as its fans.
He then spoke of those who questioned the price of tickets but had no problem spending thousands of dollars to hear Diana Ross sing songs that she’s been singing for the past 30 years.
Warner said, never in the next 50 years will Trinidad and Tobago ever see an English football team return here for any match.
Newsday understands it is almost certain that local football heroes Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy will be playing for TT against England on the day.
Among the special awardees at the ceremony on Sunday were Willie Rodriguez, Alvin Corneal, Sedley Joseph and Lincoln Phillips of the 1965 squad, Kelvin Barclay and Selris Figaro of 1973, and Hutson “Barber” Charles of the 1989 Strike Squad.
Earlier, NFA president Roland Forde expressed happiness at the sight of mothers and fathers playing a more active role, supporting their sons, as well as daughters, screaming and running up and down the line, encouraging them to play hard and don’t give up.
He said: “This is a very encouraging sign; we always knew that football has tremendous potential to unite families and communities across class, race, and religion.
He called on corporate TT to partner with the NFA and “let us develop appropriate programmes to support the growth and development of our young footballers.”
Forde then thanked Tim Nafziger and his company Media 21 “who’ve been partnering with the NFA for the last four (4) years.”
Among the big winners in the youth competitions were SKHY, Superstar Rangers and Defence Force, and in the Senior League, Ma Pau FC and Police.
