Come and beat it for me nah, I waiting patiently. Oh I'm so scared
T&T players reject Warner offer
Friday, 21 November 2008 08:02 Lasana Liburd (T&T Express)
English barrister Michael Townley and several "Soca Warriors" yesterday rubbished suggestions from FIFA vice-president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser Jack Warner that financial settlements were reached with the "majority" of 2006 World Cup players regarding their bonus dispute. The Express can confirm that the TTFF will make payments to World Cup team captain Dwight Yorke, Russell Latapy, Dennis Lawrence, Carlos Edwards, Clayton Ince, Jason Scotland and Densill Theobald, who were not a part of the legal action taken against the body.
Thirty-two-year-old Scotland-based defender Marvin Andrews, who has been without a club since May, has broken ranks with the rebels and would settle, while there is speculation that Scotland First Division winger Collin Samuel will do likewise.
But the remaining 14 squad members, according to Townley, are "prepared to stand the course" and rejected a sum understood to be $186,000 (US$30,000) per player.
Townley's clients are Shaka Hislop, Kelvin Jack, Ian Cox, Cyd Gray, Atiba Charles, Brent Sancho, Avery John, Chris Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Evans Wise, Anthony Wolfe, Cornell Glen, Kenwyne Jones and Stern John.
The TTFF have been at odds with 16 players from their 23-man World Cup squad since October 2006 when they offered $5,644.08 each to the players, who were verbally promised half of all revenue from the country's Germany adventure.
Most of the Warriors refused and hired Townley who led them to a victory over the TTFF in the London-based Sports Dispute Resolution Panel in May 2008.
The arbitration body ordered the TTFF to open their accounts for scrutiny, so as to ascertain what the players are owed, but Warner attempted to offset their judgment as he met with several World Cup players at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain on Monday and told the media, two days later, that the dispute was over.
 "We have come to the dawn of a new era through the initiative of Peter O' Connor...to settle the outstanding dispute since 2006," said Warner, on Wednesday. "Today we have done just that and we have agreed to a settlement out-of-court figure, which the majority of players have agreed to and which sum we shall pay today or in a couple days time."
Govt pumps in $3.25m into FPATT
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 08:43 Kern De Freitas (T&T Express)
Having fumbled for a way through after humble beginnings, the Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) can finally afford to stand on their feet. FPATT will benefit from a $3.25 million infusion from the Sport and Youth Affairs Ministry to get operations up and running, FPATT president Shaka Hislop revealed yesterday during a press conference at the Nealco Training Centre on Edward Street, Port of Spain.
The financial boost will pump some life back into the Players Association, which has been dormant due to a lack of funds. It involves annual contributions over the next three year periods, after which Sport Minister Gary Hunt said FPATT must become "self-sufficient and self-reliant".
Hislop, the ex-national goal-keeper, who left the country yesterday after flying in the day before for the press conference, thanked Hunt for, "his support, his vision" and the "financial input from his Ministry".
"Every penny will go back into the game," was Hislop's assurance.
The monies promised for the final two years will be granted to FPATT, "predicated upon the receipt of audited statements", a major criterion Hunt has repeatedly demanded from sport organisations benefitting from the Ministry's generosity.
Yesterday, Hunt paid out the first installment, the sum of $1,500,000 to the players association. For the second year they will receive $1 million, and the final payout will be $750,000.
Among FPATT's immediate agenda will be player mobilisation, "to get the Players Association off the ground" according to Hislop.
"We will be focussing on starting a membership drive and establishing a voice for the players," he said, adding that, "...the only tangible assets in football are the players, so the players must have a voice".
FPATT was formed in 2003, and have been at odds with the T&T Football Federation (T&TFF) over players issues for some time. Still, Hislop said FPATT are not "against" the T&TFF, despite "broad and slanderous statements" being made against the Association:
"FPATT is not against the TTFF. We are just here to give the players a voice in the game. I don't know how that translates to being against the T&TFF. I didn't get that translation."
Asked about the money they received from the Ministry last year, Hislop reported that the sum of $99,000 they got was only a loan, and will be repaid from the funds they received yesterday "with some accrued interest, of course".
He also described as "absolute fallacy" claims that the ongoing arbitration involving members of the 2006 World Cup squad and the T&TFF over World Cup bonuses was being paid for by funds provided by the Government.
Hislop said that FPATT will continue to look after players' interests, and referred to insurance for national players at all levels as an important issue. He pointed to an incident where he claimed the T&TFF had given verbal assurance that there would be insurance for senior national players in February last year.
"Lo and behold, when Kenwyne Jones got injured (in June last year versus England), there was a rather embarrassing exchange of words between Roy Keane and Jack Warner over the lack of insurance for Kenwyne Jones."
FPATT are also planning their AGM, which Hislop said is high on their agenda.
