Bring Women’s World Cup to T&T.
T&T Guardian Reports.
Fifa says that T&T stands to gain some US$10 million from staging the event while the numerous benefits which can be generated—particularly among the young girls in the country—cannot be measured in money.
The continued feud between the Football Federation (TTFF) and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs must be a source of concern for all of T&T.
It would seem from all that has transpired between Minister Gary Hunt and TTFF special adviser Jack Warner that there is a clash of personalities which has resulted in a great deal of hostility between the pair and done no good for football in T&T.
Minister Hunt continues to view Mr Warner, who is an opposition Member of Parliament, as the enemy, although the Fifa heavyweight continues to extend the olive branch to the youthful and inexperienced minister.
Mr Warner has gone to lengths to ensure that Mr Hunt is well received at matches contested under the Fifa banner and one would have thought that the minister would see this as an opportunity to at least meet the football boss somewhere in the middle.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case.
It is absurd and cannot be to Mr Hunt’s credit that, for whatever reason, the country’s national football team, which just a few months ago provided so much joy to the nation, can today be booted out of the very stadiums from which it lifted the spirit of the people.
Worse yet is that there is talk of T&T having to play its World Cup qualifiers away from home—something which still seems possible given the absence of a firm commitment and policy from Minister Hunt on the local facilities.
In another bold bid to sell T&T to the world, Mr Warner wants to bring the 2010 Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup to T&T. Communication to the Ministry of Sport has failed to attract a letter of consent to this day.
On the one hand, Mr Warner noted in May that it will cost the country just around US$4 million to host the tournament, since the country had the basic infrastructure in place for such an event. All that was needed was a letter of consent from the Government. To date none has come.
On the other hand, many questions were raised about the expenditure of state funds and whether T&T received value for money following the Under-17 Boys World Cup hosted by this country in 2001.
Some may see the failure of the ministry to deal with the staging of the Women’s World Cup in T&T as another example of its lack of foresight.
But there will be others who see Minister Hunt’s reluctance to jump into bed with Fifa as being a sign of political maturity and financial prudence.
The reality is that the deadline for Government’s consent has long passed and it was only Mr Warner’s clout on the Fifa executive that earned T&T an extension.
Fifa says that T&T stands to gain some US$10 million from staging the event while the numerous benefits which can be generated—particularly among the young girls in the country—cannot be measured in money.
If the benefits were so clear-cut, it should be fairly easy for Fifa to produce an independently-conducted cost benefit analysis of the last ten World Cup tournaments held around the world.
There is little doubt that football has a tremendous ability to rally national pride. Arguments have been advanced as to the decline in negativity when a nation’s attention is focused on sport.
How well we remember Jamaica in 1998, when the Reggae Boyz made it to the World Cup in France. There was an absence of crime for nearly a week. It was no different in T&T when we made it to Germany in 2006.
This country has a golden opportunity to unite under the banner of sport once more and we invite Minister Hunt to give further consideration to hosting the tournament, especially if he can win guarantees of account- ability and transparency.
