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Offline Tallman

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Sovereignty reigns - United TTFA 1, FIFA 0
« Reply #150 on: October 15, 2020, 01:34:37 PM »
Sovereignty reigns - United TTFA 1, FIFA 0
By Colin Murray (T&T Guardian)


Believe it or not, I was about to start my column on the stunning victory of the Los Angeles Lakers over the Miami Heat in the NBA finals. Since the visit of the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to T&T’s shores, I have always been a fan of the Lakers.

I had prepared how my entry into basketball came about etc., but then I was stopped in my tracks and made aware of another victory - one that is being referred to as “victory to the independent and sovereign people of T&T”.

Quite a number of people may be confused as victory and T&T football seem to be two combinations that haven’t co-existed for quite some time. Perhaps “we are banned for sure now” is one view while some may counter, “So what? We can’t even beat St Kitts & Nevis”.

Whatever your point of view, it doesn’t really matter as Justice Carol Gobin handed down her 23-page judgement on Tuesday night in favour of the United TTFA against the mighty and powerful FIFA. To be open and honest, I expected her to hand down this judgement considering some of the facts which were set out in her previous ruling in the matter.

Since I am not an attorney, there is little need for me to deal with the 23 pages of her judgement and before I address the conclusion, as that is the most important part of the ruling, I must pay respect to the United TTFA members for the fortitude they have exhibited in the face of staunch criticism.

They must be some of the most vilified individuals in football in recent memory - they have been maligned, called names, cast as liars, accused of not caring about youths, not caring about football in T&T and probably sworn at face-to-face by individuals who thought that their motive was downright selfish. Yet, they ignored the criticism, fought and stood up for what they believed in.

Admittedly, I have grown to admire them for their resilience to withstand all the pressure for the stance they have taken. In a zoom meeting in which I was a part of, I congratulated Osmond “Mr Constitution” Downer for a question he tabled by inquiring who exactly is FIFA suing since the United TTFA is not recognised by FIFA and as far as FIFA was concerned, (William) Wallace and company had no standing in T&T’s football.

Before I informed the meeting about my own club’s football committee’s decision, I congratulated the United TTFA in my personal capacity for the principled stance that they were adopting. But I honestly thought they would have backed down. It takes individuals of real steel to withstand what they have gone through in the last couple of months but it also says that when you are not in a fight and in someone else’s shoes, you really would not understand how they feel. In other words, you have to be part of the movement to understand the fight.

From day one, I said what FIFA did to our duly elected executive was wrong. In fact, everyone, including those persons against the stance that Wallace and company was taking, agreed with me.

However, there was always a “but” followed by “we will get banned by FIFA unless we take this matter out of court”. The fear of T&T being banned was definitely a huge factor that influenced why many individuals and clubs backed down. I recall from early on the thought process was that FIFA can’t do this to a democratically elected body and fight them we must.

When FIFA realised what was happening to their case, suddenly panic set in and the one weapon they had was to threaten little T&T with being banned. Nobody in their right mind (including me) wants to see us get banned, but at the end of the day, where do you draw the line? While the point has been made to think about the youths and their future, sometimes, one has to make some harsh decisions. I remember Wallace was severely chastised for saying there might be collateral damage and based on this latest judgement, there will be collateral damage.

Three things stand out for me with the judgement and I did not need a court of law to guide me. 1 - “The Court declares that the removal of the duly elected executive on 17/3/20 by the defendant is illegal null and void and of no effect”.

I preached that months ago - FIFA was wrong after three and a half months following a democratic election of the TTFA to remove the elected officers. 2 - “The Court declares that the appointment of a normalisation committee to interfere in the affairs of the TTFA is null and void and of no effect”. I preached that months ago as to where did this normalisation committee come from? What was their standing in the football fraternity and who did they represent? FIFA?

Thirdly and certainly the most damning, “The Court declares that the decision of the Defendant dated 17/3/20 to appoint a normalisation committee was made in bad faith and for an improper and illegal motive”.

Dear me! That one hit hard but is it surprising? Any right-thinking individual knew that FIFA acted in bad faith and the feeling was that there was some ulterior motive behind FIFA’s actions. If you are around the football circles, you would hear all sorts of reasons but trust me, there are those who know exactly why FIFA removed the executive and moved in with their normalisation committee.

So where do we go from here? I expect the next move will be from FIFA, but I also expect that Wallace and company will also make some moves of their own. The Prime Minister’s history lesson on social media last night comparing the court victory of the United TTFA against FIFA to a Pyrrhic victory can only be described as naive. Is the PM suggesting for a moment that T&T is too little and insignificant to take a principled stance against FIFA for fear of backlash?

This period of uncertainty may very well give us the opportunity to rebuild our football from the grassroots level as now will not be the time to turn our backs on football. I would expect the Ministry of Sports would step forward and even corporate T&T to try to build our football, our leagues, associations, clubs etc so when we do get back on the international stage, we will be ready. Let's stand as one for our nation just as our motto taught us - together we aspire, together we achieve.
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Offline Flex

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #151 on: October 15, 2020, 02:05:54 PM »
Sancho: Can Wallace run a ‘broke’ TTFA?
Ian Prescott (Express).


NOW WHAT?

WILLIAM WALLACE is restored as Trinidad and Tobago Football Association president following Justice Carol Gobin’s landmark verdict in the Trinidad and Tobago High Court which, late Tuesday, rendered FIFA’S March 17 decision to dismiss the Wallace-led executive and impose a normalisation committee to run local football null and void.

But can Wallace now run a broke TTFA without FIFA and Government funding, following T&T’s suspension from international football as a consequence of the legal action? TTFA board member Brent Sancho believes Wallace has many questions to answer from the wider TTFA membership.

Following Justice Gobin’s favourable ruling, Wallace has stated he is prepared to walk away with his head held high—even if his High Court challenge ends with TTFA members removing him from office.

“If this is all that we would have achieved, I would be happy,” stated Wallace yesterday on TV6’s Morning Edition hosted by Fazeer Mohammed.

Wallace used an excerpt of Gobin’s 23-page judgment to illustrate his point. “In the circumstances, the TTFA’s actions of seeking redress before the Court was perhaps the only appropriate response which avoided capitulating to the demands of FIFA and thereby elevating the status of FIFA statutes above the laws passed by our Parliament,” Gobin noted in point 56 of her judgment.

“If it is only that we have done, defended the laws of Parliament, then I walk away with my head held high,” added Wallace.

Sancho also felt Tuesday’s verdict was predictable, given the judge’s earlier utterings and also given that FIFA did not contest the proceedings. He also felt the repercussions may be far reaching. Sancho warned that if taken lightly, the situation can become worse if a FIFA suspension turns into expulsion.

‘I’m not surprised in any way at what has transpired,” said Sancho. “In terms of the judgment, it was always heading that way.” Sancho, though, believes Wallace would have difficulty convincing the majority of TTFA delegates that his action was justified. and said Wallace now needs to indicate how he intends to run football, given the dire state of the TTFA’s finances, more so having been cut off from FIFA funding, arising from its suspension from international football

“They are back in charge. They fought for it, albeit it is a hollow victory,” Sancho declared. “Now, I want to know how they going to run football.

“What are their plans? How are they going to manage their $70-plus million debt and the contracts that they signed? How are they going to pay the TTFA staff and the coaches they owe?” questioned Sancho, who believes United TTFA’s time in charge of the Association had been as disastrous as past administrations.

“They were never fit for office,” Sancho declared, referring to questionable contracts and Wallace’s action during four months in charge.

“They are the ones who on their own decided to go to court, knowing what the ramifications would be. These men have gone about things in a selfish, power-grabbing manner. And now they want to meet with the membership! Why they didn’t meet with the membership three months ago?”

In making her judgment, Justice Gobin noted her deliberations were made strictly within the laws of Trinidad and Tobago although referring to the implication of the judgment to involved parties.

“The wisdom of the challenge by the Claimants of the actions of FIFA is not for the Court. But it has to be said that the law expects the TTFA to do what its statutory duty requires even in the face of unlawful pressure,” Gobin noted, adding, “The repercussions are worrying. One can therefore sympathise with the views of the many persons who believe that such far reaching consequences should be avoided, perhaps at all costs.”

RELATED NEWS

Wallace promises TTFA EGM within ten days
By Ian Prescott (Express).


Membership to decide

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION (TTFA) president William Wallace promised to convene an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) with his membership within ten days following the ruling of Justice Carol Gobin.

Wallace appeared on yesterday’s Morning Edition programme hosted by presenter Fazeer Mohammed and indicated that a meeting is being planned for the membership to decide how they want to proceed.

“Yes definitely that is on the cards (calling EGM in 10 days time with the accredited TTFA members),” Wallace responded directly to Mohammed’s question, “I have already spoken with the general secretary so he is going to advise the Board and members and the agenda for the meeting once we get the green light from the Board, the meeting will definitely be called and basically this is in the hands of the membership and let the membership decide how they want to go forward.”

Wallace added he would bide by whatever decision the membership takes in a constitutionally-convened meeting.

Asked if the ruling in his favour in the local court had been worth it, since this country remains suspended by world football’s governing body, FIFA, Wallace said: “If the quest for justice has a price then so be it. But we should never, ever stop looking for justice. If we have to go back to the times when might was right, if we have to go back to the times when rules are not important under particular circumstances, then I think we are in a really, really sad place and for me taking this action, was an action that I think was necessary.”

He continued: “And what I think it (the court action against FIFA) did was it has opened up Trinidad and Tobago for scrutiny and probably this is good for us in terms of our growth. This is probably a very good thing for us.”

Outspoken Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) president Keith Look Loy, also party to the law suit, said their intention was not to deny the will of the TTFA membership

“You have to remember that an effort was made to withdraw this matter on the suggestion guidance of informal meeting on August 22. But FIFA decided to play hard-ball for two minutes, and it is FIFA who scored an own-goal. We have defended the sovereignty of T&T and now FIFA has to deal with consequences of their actions,” Look Loy contended.

He added FIFA has never been concerned with Trinidad and Tobago football since the TTFA joined the global body in 1964, but are primarily focused on their global system of dominating world football.

He said it is now up to the Government to change the Act 10 of 1992 and for the membership to decide if they want to bow to the dictates of FIFA.

TTFA vice-president Clynt Taylor said their group stood on the principle of not being removed unjustly, adding the Wallace slate was elected to lead and make decisions.

Taylor was confident they would be remembered favourably by history. “It will be proven that the steps that we took would, and has already began, to make significant changes around the world,” he said, without identifying those changes.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Tallman

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TTFA membership pins hope on Appeals court to overrule Gobin
« Reply #152 on: October 15, 2020, 06:28:43 PM »
TTFA membership pins hope on Appeals court to overrule Gobin
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)


It is a bitter-sweet moment for T&T football where support seems to be split unequally in two. Now, however, the sport's membership will have the opportunity to make things right, if this saying can be a reality at this point in time.

Justice Carol Gobin's ruling to accept T&T Football Association president William Wallace and his team of Joseph Sam Phillip, Susan Joseph-Warrick, and Clynt Taylor as the legitimate administrators of T&T football instead of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee has been embraced by some as a triumph in certain quarters, but being seen as detrimental in others.

Following Tuesday night's ruling, T&T's Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, referencing a Greek lesson from his alma mater Bishop High School many years ago, said, “Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined,” Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, 2000 years ago.

He noted: "Thank God I was taught some Greek History and Latin at Bishop High School. Otherwise, I would have never been able to understand that adventure. I think we all now need to study the 2000-year events of the Pyrrhic wars to figure out how it all might end. The success that comes at such a high price and at other people’s expense sometimes results in the price of the “victory” proving too costly to have been worth it."

Clearly disappointed by the ruling of the court, the Prime Minister ended by saying: "So now United TTFA has “won” and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in the local court. We are now free of the “colonial” FIFA. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves."

The Prime Minister was not standing alone with his discourse and was joined by Brent Sancho, the acting T&T Pro League chairman who will be among the deciding members, and Jameson Rigues, a vice president at the T&T Super League Board.

On Wednesday, Guardian Media Sports made several attempts to contact Wallace yesterday but were unsuccessful.

However, both Rigues and Sancho are hoping for Justice Gobin's ruling to be overturned when the Court of Appeal adjudicates on the matter on Monday. FIFA agreed to appeal a ruling by Gobin for the local court to be the jurisdiction to settle the case but later refused to file a defence. According to both administrators, while they understand the reasons for such a ruling, an overturning of it by the Appellate judges will put T&T in a better position to negotiate with the FIFA, the sport's world governing body, who, on September 24, suspended the TTFA for a violation of their Statutes.

An opportunity for sympathy by the FIFA is expected to come soon, following Wallace's decision to allow the membership to decide on the way forward for the sport, once his group gets favour from Gobin.

Rigues said: "The membership can write to the FIFA seeking clarity on what is needed for the country to be spared extended suspension or even expected expulsion. This situation is hurting the country and if Wallace and his team are serious about giving the membership the opportunity to make the decision, then an opportunity exists for us to seek sympathy," Rigues explained.

TTFA's suspension came with conditions that re-entry into the FIFA fold would require dropping a court battle in the High Court and bringing its (TTFA) Constitution in line with FIFA's.

On September 22 at Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) called by Wallace and the United TTFA, the membership voted (21 For, 8 Against and 3 Abstentions) to withdraw the matter from the courts but the United TTFA missed FIFA's September 23 deadline which resulted in T&T being suspended on September 24 until further notice.

However, TTFA constitutional expert Osmond Downer, Wallace and his lawyer Matthew Gayle said they are unsure of what the FIFA is requesting since the TTFA's constitution had been updated in 2015, and was approved by FIFA.

It is being speculated that this change in the TTFA Statutes hinges on amending the Act of Parliament which is responsible for the incorporation of the TTFA.

Downer said for this to be a reality, Wallace will first have to summon his Board of Directors to a meeting and the Board will call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). Though Sancho questioned if the Wallace-led administration would allow the membership to make such a decision, he believes it would be an opportunity for the membership to lobby the Government for any necessary changes, a call that was supported by Rigues.

"I believe FIFA will change its position based on the fact that a ruling has been made against them, now they may want to be more severe against the TTFA. But there is the opportunity to sympathise if the membership writes to them. There is also a need to get that ruling out of the court," Sancho explained.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2020, 06:31:22 PM by Tallman »
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Offline Flex

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #153 on: October 16, 2020, 02:48:14 AM »
Sancho: TTFA's EGM carries no merit.
By Jonathan Ramnanansingh (Newsday).


WILLIAM WALLACE’S broken promise to withdraw from the legal battle against FIFA before 3 pm on September 23 – resulting in the indefinite suspension of the TT Football Association (TTFA) on the following day – should serve as a clear indication that the reinstated administration should not be trusted at the forthcoming Emergency General Meeting (EGM).

This was the sentiment shared by TTFA board member Brent Sancho, who expressed grave distrust in the reappointed executive of president Wallace and vice-presidents Clynt Taylor and Joseph Sam Phillip, after Tuesday’s court ruling by Justice Carol Gobin saw their powers restored at the helm of local football.

On September 22, Wallace’s team held an informal online meeting with the TTFA membership to decide if they should continue pursuit of their lawsuit against FIFA’s March 17 removal of the executive and installation of a normalisation committee, headed by Robert Hadad, to run its daily affairs.

The majority of members voted to end TTFA’s court action and Wallace assured he would follow through with their decision.

The then-ousted executive, however, missed the deadline to withdraw its claim by two minutes and, as a result, was indefinitely suspended by FIFA. Originally, the TTFA had been given until September 16 to withdraw the action, but FIFA had given an extension until September 23.

This action, Sancho believes, went against the membership’s request and has now seen T&T indefinitely banned from all FIFA-sanctioned tournaments and international matches.

He questioned, “Who is going to trust Wallace? He had an informal meeting with the membership. The members clearly stated they wanted nothing to do with the court case and he went and did the opposite. Why would I trust somebody like that?

“Why would I trust someone who makes unilateral decisions with coaches and higher people and put in further debt? Wallace believes the players are collateral damage. I don’t trust that person.”

Prior to Justice Gobin’s ruling, on Tuesday, which returned to removed executive to control of the TTFA, Wallace stated, once victorious in the legal fight, he would convene an immediate EGM to chart a way forward.

After attaining a favourable result in the local court, the renewed TTFA president vowed to stick to his word and host the EGM.

Before a date is set, the TTFA board members must meet and agree unanimously, or by a majority, on a date for the EGM. It’s expected to be held by October 24 or 25 and will once again, comprise the TTFA membership.

According to TT Super League president and Wallace’s United TTFA slate member, Keith Look Loy, on Wednesday, “The membership will have its say and make the decision on how we proceed into the immediate future.”

Reflecting on Wallace’s inability to stand by his word to the membership to withdraw the case on September 23, Sancho is unconvinced the reinstated executive would choose differently this time around.

“That EGM carries no merit. It’s shambolic. It’s too late. Why are you coming to meet with the members now? Why not three months ago before you went to court? He lied to the membership. I wouldn’t trust a word coming out of his mouth.

“I would like to see the members call their own meeting. Let them discuss and ventilate. Let them, not Wallace –he could partake – but let the members be the ones (to have the final say), and maybe even a nationwide discussion. Football impacts everyone,” he added.

The former TT football team defender and Sports Minister also highlighted an array of shady deals conducted by Wallace’s team during their four-month tenure (December 2019 – March 2020).

National men’s coach Terry Fenwick was originally approved, by the board, to be paid US$17,500 over a two-year period with perks. However, it was revealed that the Englishman had officially signed for US$20,000 with the option to increase the duration of contract dependant on his successes at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Wallace was also one of two signatories to a $25 million sports apparel contract, without board approval, which required the embattled football association to purchase £125,000 in uniforms and other replicas if the country's national teams were to be outfitted after the first year.

Additionally, TTFA general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan was given a two-year contract, although it was agreed by the board, that he only could have gotten a one-year term.

Sancho continued, “They’ve made countless poor decisions. They’ve told the membership that FIFA can’t suspend us. We’ve had instances where they’ve lied to us about contracts and situations where they lied to the membership about who was going to court. They told members it was United TTFA but lo and behold, it was the TTFA.

“Now we face a situation where we may not be able to play international football for quite some time. The sad thing about it is that the persons this will impact the most are the players and not the people who have made these decisions. T&T football is being put in a position where we could be further sanctioned and possibly expelled

“We certainly have dug a big hole for ourselves. I think many of the members’ plight was the ability to have a say, and that was never afforded to them. It is ironic that a group of men are talking about rights and justice and never allowed the membership to have a say on whether or not they should have go to court,” he concluded.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #154 on: October 16, 2020, 03:37:47 AM »
In light of the meeting that took place yesterday between the PM and the UNITED/TTFA, almost every critique to which the MoS and the PM have been features on this thread has been confirmed - for anyone who doubted - as having been other than  dead on arrival.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 03:43:43 AM by asylumseeker »

Offline Tallman

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A venture into no man’s land
« Reply #155 on: October 16, 2020, 07:05:53 AM »
A venture into no man’s land
By Rabindra Moonan (T&T Express)


THE recent ruling by Justice Carol Gobin in the matter between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFA) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) certainly generated a lot of interest in the national community. Differing views were expressed by those who looked at the narrow confines of the concept of the rule of law and others who looked at the broader and more practical picture of the implications of the ruling for local football.

The Express editorial yesterday (Page 12) surmised that the judgment against FIFA has kicked T&T football into no man’s land without an exit strategy. The editorial went on to say that it was a classic case of the mouse that roared and the resounding victory in winning the battle very likely means losing the war with dread consequences for local football, its players and legions of fans.

Perhaps the most assertive comments came from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who was at pains to remind us of his knowledge of Greek history. The PM quoted Greek King Pyrrhus who had said “Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined”. Dr Rowley, in his usual cryptic style, reminded us that a pyrrhic victory is one that is offset by devastating losses. He added “we, boys and girls, are free to play by ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. That means we can never lose.’’

If one had read Dr Rowley’s comments without knowledge of the TTFA/FIFA imbroglio, one could have easily believed that he was referring to the upcoming internal elections in the United National Congress (UNC). Here we have a leader who is using the letter of the UNC constitution to offer herself once more to lead the party, notwithstanding a series of electoral defeats.

The leader is surrounded by boys and girls who are free to play by themselves because nobody is allowed into the inner cabal. They were absolutely abysmal during the budget debate, reflecting ineptitude and childish incompetence but saved by blind loyalty. They continue to play in Parliament with their new devices, some more suited to be a poster girl for a popular brand of mattress while another can be seen as a bouncer outside places of ill repute. The boys and girls indulge in selfies showing off their arrival into the halls of the highest court of the land while some walk past their new vehicle bought with funds given as a birthday gift. These are the protectors of the leader, all out of touch with reality.

Dr Rowley, perhaps unwittingly reminded us of the powerful queen who wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose.

Sadly this is the outcome of the UNC internal elections as the queen wins and the party is utterly ruined. A pyrrhic victory indeed as they venture into no man’s land without an exit strategy!

Brilliant.

Rabindra Moonan
San Fernando
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline Tallman

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Preserve egos, kill local football
« Reply #156 on: October 16, 2020, 08:35:59 AM »
Preserve egos, kill local football
By Harjoon Heeralal (T&T Express)


The great English writer Charles Dickens in his book Oliver Twist, said the “…the law is a a** — a idiot”. This is not illustrative of what transpired in the courts of Trinidad & Tobago regarding the T&T Football Association (TTFA) nor an indictment on the learned High Court Judge’s ruling on the matter between Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the TTFA but rather an illustration of what occurs when egos overwhelm common sense and refuge is sought in the courts.

Theoretically, the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago is the supreme law of the land and no other entity, including FIFA should believe its law is superior. However, whilst it may be construed that FIFA is trying to subvert the constitution, it is the world-governing body responsible for football and has very considerable influence over this game regardless of country, its size or status.

Regardless of the intentions of FIFA, not only does it provide financial resources to support local football, which has been in debt, from “time immemorial” it seems but it provides a world stage for our footballers to showcase their talents in competition with other world-ranked teams. Having “won the battle” but seem certain to “lose the war”, how will the TTFA survive? How will local football survive, having faced continuous financial obstacles over the years, made worse by FIFA potentially banning T&T from all FIFA-sanctioned competitions? Would local football be relegated to only competitions amongst local clubs? How will these games be funded with the very real lack of attendance by the population? Does this not spell the death of local football? Of what value then would there be need for a TTFA?

The High Court has ruled. However, notwithstanding the learned Judge’s utterances regarding the potential impact that the ruling will have on local football, one would have expected that having ruled on the constitutionality of the case, common sense would have jumped to the defence of said ruling and demanded alternate dispute resolution in the interests of preserving Trinidad and Tobago’s football. This can still occur if egos are relegated to the sidelines.

As a leader, one has to take responsibility for the actions of his subordinates, whether they communicate with him or not. Taking responsibility when things go wrong is a key quality of leadership because it builds trust, confidence and earns self-respect from others, especially the team. Without these, team members “do their own thing”, as there is no defined focus. How can there be buy-in to local football when there really is no proper leadership of it?

It is not too late for the TTFA to acknowledge its principled and constitutional win, step down from all positions and revert to FIFA through dispute resolution because FIFA acted “high and mighty” when it removed the duly-elected TTFA leadership and appointed a Normalisation Committee, without proper dialogue and worse yet, after the leadership was elected. Such a principled stand by TTFA will allow FIFA to preserve local football, regardless of its “forced errors.”

Will TTFA be the “mouse that roared” against the FIFA giant and put the nails in local football’s coffin? Or, will unbelievable egos bow to common sense in the interests of local football?

Harjoon Heeralal
Carapichaima
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline ABTrini

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Re: A venture into no man’s land
« Reply #157 on: October 16, 2020, 09:07:21 AM »
A venture into no man’s land
By Rabindra Moonan (T&T Express)


THE recent ruling by Justice Carol Gobin in the matter between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFA) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) certainly generated a lot of interest in the national community. Differing views were expressed by those who looked at the narrow confines of the concept of the rule of law and others who looked at the broader and more practical picture of the implications of the ruling for local football.

The Express editorial yesterday (Page 12) surmised that the judgment against FIFA has kicked T&T football into no man’s land without an exit strategy. The editorial went on to say that it was a classic case of the mouse that roared and the resounding victory in winning the battle very likely means losing the war with dread consequences for local football, its players and legions of fans.

Perhaps the most assertive comments came from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who was at pains to remind us of his knowledge of Greek history. The PM quoted Greek King Pyrrhus who had said “Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined”. Dr Rowley, in his usual cryptic style, reminded us that a pyrrhic victory is one that is offset by devastating losses. He added “we, boys and girls, are free to play by ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. That means we can never lose.’’

If one had read Dr Rowley’s comments without knowledge of the TTFA/FIFA imbroglio, one could have easily believed that he was referring to the upcoming internal elections in the United National Congress (UNC). Here we have a leader who is using the letter of the UNC constitution to offer herself once more to lead the party, notwithstanding a series of electoral defeats.

The leader is surrounded by boys and girls who are free to play by themselves because nobody is allowed into the inner cabal. They were absolutely abysmal during the budget debate, reflecting ineptitude and childish incompetence but saved by blind loyalty. They continue to play in Parliament with their new devices, some more suited to be a poster girl for a popular brand of mattress while another can be seen as a bouncer outside places of ill repute. The boys and girls indulge in selfies showing off their arrival into the halls of the highest court of the land while some walk past their new vehicle bought with funds given as a birthday gift. These are the protectors of the leader, all out of touch with reality.

Dr Rowley, perhaps unwittingly reminded us of the powerful queen who wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose.

Sadly this is the outcome of the UNC internal elections as the queen wins and the party is utterly ruined. A pyrrhic victory indeed as they venture into no man’s land without an exit strategy!

Brilliant.

Rabindra Moonan
San Fernando


How did this article go from TTFA to UNC leadership? - what  an analogy? The opposition leader  could not come close to be seen as a " queen" or winning any thing of significance at this time  that internal election is mere fodder for the blind leading the blind- venturing into no mans land- well that's a good one- still waiting  for a definition of 'Blank man ' 😊

Offline Tallman

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Of pyrrhic victories and the rule of law
« Reply #158 on: October 16, 2020, 09:39:38 AM »
Of pyrrhic victories and the rule of law
By Clyde Weatherhead (T&T Express)


I have noted the response of the Honourable Prime Minister to Monday’s ruling of the High Court in the TTFA v FIFA matter in which the PM said, among other things: “So now United TTFA has ‘won’ and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the ‘colonial’ FIFA. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves.”

I, however, find it difficult to share in the enthusiasm of others who gleefully welcome the obvious sarcasm of the PM’s comments.

Let me state two points before I am accused of bias or worse.

Firstly, I would have thought the FIFA appeal against the jurisdictional ruling of the court, which is imminent, would have been sufficient for this ruling to be postponed pending the Appeal Court’s ruling.

Secondly, I hold no brief for William Wallace or the TTFA executive, and my criticism of their handling of this issue (as others have said) is that they failed, as leaders, to fully involve their members in what is the most significant action they were embarking on.

However, I think it is important to note the TTFA (unlike many other football associations elsewhere) is a statutory organisation created by our Parliament by an act.

In Monday’s judgment, the court noted: “FIFA has now taken to making repeated demands accompanied by threats to TTFA, most recently through its Normalisation Committee to amend its rules to ‘bring them in line with FIFA Statutes’.

“There is no lacuna. The futility of these threats and demands should by now have become obvious. TTFA simply cannot deliver. The only amendment that can produce the result that FIFA commands is an amendment to the TTFA Act, and if it insists on blocking access to our courts in favour of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), then it should be put on notice there might be constitutional hurdles.”

This aspect of the ruling should be of concern to any lawmaker in our nation’s Parliament. What it points to is that FIFA is, in effect, seeking to direct our nation’s Parliament on what to do with an act of Parliament which it passed to give life to the TTFA.

I am sure that the Honourable PM must be concerned about this.

A statutory body as the TTFA decided, when its approach to CAS was treated by that court with bias toward FIFA, allowing FIFA to refuse to pay its share of the cost of arbitration, for example, to approach the court of the land.

That is its right, like that of any citizen, to seek redress in the courts of this country.

The judgment points out: “The wisdom of the challenge by the (TTFA officials) of the actions of FIFA is not for the court (to decide)... But it has to be said that the law expects the TTFA to do what its statutory duty requires even in the face of unlawful pressure.

“(...) In the circumstances, the TTFA’s actions of seeking redress before the court was perhaps the only appropriate response which avoided capitulating to the demands of FIFA; and thereby elevating the status of FIFA Statutes above the laws passed by our Parliament.”

Again, any lawmaker who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and the law, and who holds the rule of law as a pivotal constitutional principle of our governance, must be concerned that any person (citizen or corporate) should be facing pressure from anyone, worse the defendant in a claim before our courts to abandon their claim, including threats as FIFA has not only made, but, put into action.

The judgment quotes the following from an English case (R v Coventry City Council) on the issue of public authorities and responding to unlawful threats: “Tempting though it may sometimes be for public authorities to yield too readily to threats of disruption, they must expect the courts to review any such decision with particular rigour—this is not an area where they can be permitted a wide measure of discretion.”

The fact that our Parliament, at the instance of the Government, may eventually have to decide what to do with the TTFA Act should impress the seriousness of this situation as a matter of the rule of law.

This is not merely a matter of whether “we will only be playing by ourselves”, as the Honourable PM ended his comment on the judgment. This is a matter of whether the rule of law in our country will be respected by an international sporting body.

I am not aware of any other international sporting body attempts to deny citizens their right to approach the courts of our land (or any other), or even to tell any country what to do with its laws.

This is a profoundly serious matter for the principles of our nation’s governance, its sovereignty and whether a non-governmental body’s rules can be regarded as superior to the law of our land. It is that serious.

To successfully defend our governance against external pressure, as our country has done on several occasions in the past and recently, can never be a pyrrhic victory.

—Clyde Weatherhead describes himself as A Citizen Fighting for Good Governance
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline Rastaman

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #159 on: October 16, 2020, 10:32:31 AM »
Of pyrrhic victories and the rule of law
By Clyde Weatherhead (T&T Express)


I have noted the response of the Honourable Prime Minister to Monday’s ruling of the High Court in the TTFA v FIFA matter in which the PM said, among other things: “So now United TTFA has ‘won’ and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the ‘colonial’ FIFA. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves.”

I, however, find it difficult to share in the enthusiasm of others who gleefully welcome the obvious sarcasm of the PM’s comments.

Let me state two points before I am accused of bias or worse.

Firstly, I would have thought the FIFA appeal against the jurisdictional ruling of the court, which is imminent, would have been sufficient for this ruling to be postponed pending the Appeal Court’s ruling.

Secondly, I hold no brief for William Wallace or the TTFA executive, and my criticism of their handling of this issue (as others have said) is that they failed, as leaders, to fully involve their members in what is the most significant action they were embarking on.

However, I think it is important to note the TTFA (unlike many other football associations elsewhere) is a statutory organisation created by our Parliament by an act.

In Monday’s judgment, the court noted: “FIFA has now taken to making repeated demands accompanied by threats to TTFA, most recently through its Normalisation Committee to amend its rules to ‘bring them in line with FIFA Statutes’.

“There is no lacuna. The futility of these threats and demands should by now have become obvious. TTFA simply cannot deliver. The only amendment that can produce the result that FIFA commands is an amendment to the TTFA Act, and if it insists on blocking access to our courts in favour of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), then it should be put on notice there might be constitutional hurdles.”

This aspect of the ruling should be of concern to any lawmaker in our nation’s Parliament. What it points to is that FIFA is, in effect, seeking to direct our nation’s Parliament on what to do with an act of Parliament which it passed to give life to the TTFA.

I am sure that the Honourable PM must be concerned about this.

A statutory body as the TTFA decided, when its approach to CAS was treated by that court with bias toward FIFA, allowing FIFA to refuse to pay its share of the cost of arbitration, for example, to approach the court of the land.

That is its right, like that of any citizen, to seek redress in the courts of this country.

The judgment points out: “The wisdom of the challenge by the (TTFA officials) of the actions of FIFA is not for the court (to decide)... But it has to be said that the law expects the TTFA to do what its statutory duty requires even in the face of unlawful pressure.

“(...) In the circumstances, the TTFA’s actions of seeking redress before the court was perhaps the only appropriate response which avoided capitulating to the demands of FIFA; and thereby elevating the status of FIFA Statutes above the laws passed by our Parliament.”

Again, any lawmaker who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and the law, and who holds the rule of law as a pivotal constitutional principle of our governance, must be concerned that any person (citizen or corporate) should be facing pressure from anyone, worse the defendant in a claim before our courts to abandon their claim, including threats as FIFA has not only made, but, put into action.

The judgment quotes the following from an English case (R v Coventry City Council) on the issue of public authorities and responding to unlawful threats: “Tempting though it may sometimes be for public authorities to yield too readily to threats of disruption, they must expect the courts to review any such decision with particular rigour—this is not an area where they can be permitted a wide measure of discretion.”

The fact that our Parliament, at the instance of the Government, may eventually have to decide what to do with the TTFA Act should impress the seriousness of this situation as a matter of the rule of law.

This is not merely a matter of whether “we will only be playing by ourselves”, as the Honourable PM ended his comment on the judgment. This is a matter of whether the rule of law in our country will be respected by an international sporting body.

I am not aware of any other international sporting body attempts to deny citizens their right to approach the courts of our land (or any other), or even to tell any country what to do with its laws.

This is a profoundly serious matter for the principles of our nation’s governance, its sovereignty and whether a non-governmental body’s rules can be regarded as superior to the law of our land. It is that serious.

To successfully defend our governance against external pressure, as our country has done on several occasions in the past and recently, can never be a pyrrhic victory.

—Clyde Weatherhead describes himself as A Citizen Fighting for Good Governance
Finally......somebody with sense.

Offline maxg

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #160 on: October 16, 2020, 11:17:04 AM »
If all this money fifa gives us and all the money government put in, how come we couldn’t pay players, coaches, staffers, teams, meet deadlines, contractors..etc we owed as far back as bertille, win, Bernie , players, govnernment bailed out.. so how all of ah sudden we going to miss fifa money , when it never reach who it was supposed to reach too.  Ok. Our players won’t be seen. Tell me. Who was watching them. I don’t even think we was watching them over the last 4games, Farless 4 years. 14 YEARS.  Never before. Maybe Never again - this lifetime . Who we play again tomorrow don’t matter, may have to skip a WC for 1st time due to a unknown pandemic.

All could talk outta ass looking for the usual easy piece of the pie, but the football or FIFA never give the people of TT money, like many other dealings it gives certain privilege ppl of Tt benefits and they rally others to make them believe they actually get a benefit, blinded by love. Similar situation for Carnival band-leaders for years.

We can’t play in FIFA tournaments, because they were smart enough to own the rights to the business of the game , but doesn’t mean we can’t play nobody. It’s not the end of footballl, but for some in the know, they seeing the end of dollars, and it hurts. Oh God, what we go do. Here’s what, we go learn to do something and play football. Allyuh go and make money off somebody else or each other.

written on phone...
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 11:22:03 AM by maxg »

Offline Tallman

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Cudjoe: I tried to warn them
« Reply #161 on: October 16, 2020, 11:19:25 AM »
Cudjoe: I tried to warn them
By Jelani Beckles (T&T Newsday)


MINISTER of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe echoed the sentiments of the Prime Minister that the United TT Football Association (TTFA) had won the battle against FIFA, but will lose the war in the end as the country’s footballers will suffer.

Cudjoe, who has criticised the United TTFA’s battle against world football body FIFA, told Newsday on Thursday that she agreed with Dr Rowley’s comments.

On Tuesday, Justice Carol Gobin’s ruling said FIFA’s decision to appoint a normalisation committee to run local football was “illegal”.

On March 17, FIFA removed the TTFA executive led by William Wallace and appointed the normalisation committee mainly because of the TTFA’s $50 million debt.

Wallace and his executive were only in power since November 24, 2019 and inherited most of the debt.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday at 1.18 am, Rowley said, “Success that comes at such a high price and at other people’s expense sometimes results in the price of the 'victory' proving too costly to have been worth it. In that case, what happens when the powerful King wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose."

Rowley said that the country’s footballers will only be allowed to match their skills against each other.

"So now United TTFA has 'won' and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the 'colonial' FIFA. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves. Brilliant!"

Cudjoe said, “I think it is the same thing that I had been warning TTFA about since earlier this year. When I called the meeting on August 27 to meet with the different clubs it was to find out what is really their (United TTFA) plan and the way forward in this matter (and) if they really want to go down this road. It was pretty much warning them against winning the battle and losing the war.”

At the August 27 meeting the Sport Ministry invited local football stakeholders to discuss the way forward for TT football.

It was reported that Wallace and the former executive did not attend.

Cudjoe said the footballing community will feel the pain. “So you (United TTFA) have won the battle and the young people in TT, the players, the whole football fraternity, even the fans now have to suffer based on the actions of a handful.”

She added, “It is just unfortunate, another sad day for TT and I agree 100 per cent with what Prime Minister would have said.”

In her ruling, Gobin said the Sport Minister’s intervention could have legal “implications”.

Gobin said, “I am not prepared to ascribe improper motives to the honourable minister for her intervention to 'find a way forward' nor indeed to the delegates who requested the EGM (extraordinary general meeting). These were concerned parties who would not have been cognisant of the negative legal implications of their actions, which I do believe were well-intended.”

Cudjoe said she was not trying to impede the judicial process from unfolding.

“TTFA would have asked her to rule on the fact that I would have called a meeting of the membership to determine the way forward. She said that she cannot fault me for that. At the end of the day the judiciary has its work to do and the executive has its work to do. Justice Gobin has her work to do and I have mine. I don’t get in the way of her work…my reason for calling the meeting is I stand in defence of the young players, the people who are going to be affected by this.”

The United TTFA plans to have an EGM (Emergency General Meeting) with the TTFA membership by October 25 to continue charting a way forward.

Cudjoe is hoping the TTFA members get to air their concerns.

“I hope that in (the EGM), his membership have the opportunity to stand up and really have their voices heard and they try to redeem this thing in whatever way it could possibly be redeemed and do what is best in the best interest of football.”
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline Storeboy

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #162 on: October 16, 2020, 01:25:13 PM »
Describing the verdict of Judge Gobin is not, in my opinion, a jeer of the TTFA or a criticism of the Judge's decision but a realistic description of where we are. Judge Gobin has made a decision based on law. Unfortunately, the deep corruption of FIFA and its desire to manipulate and control it's member associations, even at the risk of violating the sovereignty of independent countries is the deeper problem. Is playing football more important than legal independence and national sovereignty? Only will determine what price we are willing to pay. A pyrrhic victory indeed. To use local saying, this victory by Wallace may be "sweet in the belly but sour in the bambam!
Never, never, ever give up! Go T&T Warriors!

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #163 on: October 16, 2020, 01:51:08 PM »
Minister Shamfa cudjoe we are well aware of your haste and quick tempered responses In the midst of the Tffa struggle / fight for justice against Fifa  brutal and arrogant behaviour on a democratically elected body ! So your warnings  according to you have come to pass , does it justify the means or make you a prophet now ? Do you recall it is you also who  explicitly threatened no funding will given to the ttfa led by William Wallace by your ministry , do you recall that miss cudjoe ? In order words you began dancing to Fifa's disrespectful threats ,  so let me quote your boss brilliant !

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #164 on: October 16, 2020, 02:13:13 PM »
Minister Shamfa cudjoe we are well aware of your haste and quick tempered responses In the midst of the Tffa struggle / fight for justice against Fifa  brutal and arrogant behaviour on a democratically elected body ! So your warnings  according to you have come to pass , does it justify the means or make you a prophet now? Do you recall it is you also who  explicitly threatened no funding will given to the ttfa led by William Wallace by your ministry , do you recall that miss cudjoe ? In order words you began dancing to Fifa's disrespectful threats ,  so let me quote your boss brilliant !

Big up yuh chest, socalion! The part in bold is especially resonant.

She was dancing like a bridesmaid at a funeral. I thought her previous renditions were lacking but this last one coming after the PM's comment and after having sat down with Wallace and Sam P. strikes me as particularly intemperate.

Too many reactionaries in charge. Where are the visionaries?
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 02:15:30 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline maxg

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #165 on: October 16, 2020, 02:27:12 PM »
So could someone explain to me, how "thousands of our subjects" will now be losing. I can't seem to understand. Maybe I a little slow. Explain to me, how things were going fine with National teams, management, exposure, putting TT on the world stage etc, saving government money etc.. explain to me how young men and women was getting a little food and travel and support regular and on time, and coaches encouraged, over the years, cause I wasn't seeing it, I was watching long time...we had 4 or 5 guys... we have more people in Acting and Entertainment...maybe I miss-understood the Waldrum fiasco begging for our girls, and Nakhid causing a stir etc...oh btw, where are the girls now...Do they have a room at the Home of Football ? How many young men we have out playing the big football, making the big development strides, setting a path for the rest, as and while FIFA was developing us so wonderfully...oh God, we going to really dead now they gone eh..  So everybody FIFA ban they dead ? Everybody who don't play in worldcup or FIFA tournaments can't play football or produce footballers ? I must be really confused.


add: The just concerned now, cause some ppl will actually have to do their job and not just clock in.. but for many, those who really was helping the youths and the people, it will just be business as usual.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 02:30:36 PM by maxg »

Offline socalion

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #166 on: October 16, 2020, 03:11:16 PM »
Meh chest eh big enough seeker ah is a skinny fella breds :) 

Offline maxg

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #167 on: October 16, 2020, 10:59:32 PM »
If only we (concacaf) wasn’t so divided and we ourselves weren’t so divisive

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/sport/amp/football/48506641


We need way more time than that doh.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 11:13:54 PM by maxg »

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: A venture into no man’s land
« Reply #168 on: October 17, 2020, 05:31:52 AM »
A venture into no man’s land
By Rabindra Moonan (T&T Express)


THE recent ruling by Justice Carol Gobin in the matter between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFA) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) certainly generated a lot of interest in the national community. Differing views were expressed by those who looked at the narrow confines of the concept of the rule of law and others who looked at the broader and more practical picture of the implications of the ruling for local football.

The Express editorial yesterday (Page 12) surmised that the judgment against FIFA has kicked T&T football into no man’s land without an exit strategy. The editorial went on to say that it was a classic case of the mouse that roared and the resounding victory in winning the battle very likely means losing the war with dread consequences for local football, its players and legions of fans.

Perhaps the most assertive comments came from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who was at pains to remind us of his knowledge of Greek history. The PM quoted Greek King Pyrrhus who had said “Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined”. Dr Rowley, in his usual cryptic style, reminded us that a pyrrhic victory is one that is offset by devastating losses. He added “we, boys and girls, are free to play by ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. That means we can never lose.’’

If one had read Dr Rowley’s comments without knowledge of the TTFA/FIFA imbroglio, one could have easily believed that he was referring to the upcoming internal elections in the United National Congress (UNC). Here we have a leader who is using the letter of the UNC constitution to offer herself once more to lead the party, notwithstanding a series of electoral defeats.

The leader is surrounded by boys and girls who are free to play by themselves because nobody is allowed into the inner cabal. They were absolutely abysmal during the budget debate, reflecting ineptitude and childish incompetence but saved by blind loyalty. They continue to play in Parliament with their new devices, some more suited to be a poster girl for a popular brand of mattress while another can be seen as a bouncer outside places of ill repute. The boys and girls indulge in selfies showing off their arrival into the halls of the highest court of the land while some walk past their new vehicle bought with funds given as a birthday gift. These are the protectors of the leader, all out of touch with reality.

Dr Rowley, perhaps unwittingly reminded us of the powerful queen who wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose.

Sadly this is the outcome of the UNC internal elections as the queen wins and the party is utterly ruined. A pyrrhic victory indeed as they venture into no man’s land without an exit strategy!

Brilliant.

Rabindra Moonan
San Fernando


How did this article go from TTFA to UNC leadership? - what  an analogy? The opposition leader  could not come close to be seen as a " queen" or winning any thing of significance at this time  that internal election is mere fodder for the blind leading the blind- venturing into no mans land- well that's a good one- still waiting  for a definition of 'Blank man ' 😊

Moonan is probably the only person in the land that has been able to exploit the PM's comments for political benefit and he is spot on. What he contends is not novel, but he has aptly seized the moment to add to KPB's indictments.

Ah know you get rabid when you see "UNC" in print :), but perhaps you should defer to Moonan's authority on this particular topic. Look at it this way: cannibalistic outcomes within the UNC potentially accrue to the PNM.

How yuh feel about that?  :P
« Last Edit: October 17, 2020, 05:34:21 AM by asylumseeker »

Offline Tallman

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Wallace, PM hold 'fruitful' talks on TTFA future
« Reply #169 on: October 17, 2020, 07:52:17 AM »
Wallace, PM hold 'fruitful' talks on TTFA future
By Jonathan Ramnanansingh (T&T Newsday)


DEPENDING ON the outcome of the TT Football Association (TTFA) extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on October 25, the reinstated executive may consider approaching the Government to help chart a way forward.

This was discussed during Thursday’s meeting between restored TTFA president William Wallace, the Prime Minister, Minister of National Security Stuart Young and Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe.

The impromptu meeting came as a result of Tuesday’s ruling by Justice Carol Gobin, which deemed null and void the removal in March of Wallace’s team from the helm of local football and installation of a normalisation committee to run the TTFA’s affairs.

Justice Gobin’s judgement returned control of the TTFA to the ousted administration, although TT remains indefinitely banned from participating in all FIFA-sanctioned tournaments.

Wallace said Dr Rowley asked to meet with him to verify the executive’s plans going forward.

But he said the future of TT football lies in hands of the membership at the EGM.

The EGM will be held virtually and is expected to attract all 47 members of the TTFA, who, after discussion, will vote on the administration’s next step.

“Decisions will be made based on what direction the membership wants us to go in. If the Government can help in any way, then we’d come back to the PM at that point. He (Rowley) was concerned about us (TTFA) being suspended and what they (Government) can probably do to help.

“Of course he was made aware of what FIFA was asking on the issue of TTFA’s statutes, and from all legal opinions, the statute they seem to be targeting is the Act of Parliament (The Act 17 of 1982 which be cited as The TT Football Association (Incorporation) Act, 1982).

"If it’s that what FIFA wants, then it’s out of the TTFA hands and would be up to the Government to make those decisions with that,” he said.

At the meeting, Rowley also asked Wallace to remove all TTFA matters from the local court. Wallace reiterated that the local fraternity does not have any pending matters before the court.

FIFA has a hearing at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

The TTFA has contested, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the global governing body’s decision to suspend it.

The pursuit of TTFA’s appeal at CAS will also depend on the membership’s decision to continue or withdraw the matter from the Switzerland-based court.

“The TTFA has no matters in the local court, because FIFA is the one that brought the appeal, and I explained that.

"The CAS appeal will also be put to the membership at the EGM. If they decide to vote to withdraw that from CAS, then so be it.

“As I said, it is up to them. If they want it to remain at CAS and want us to take our chances with that, if they have another way of trying to help or satisfy FIFA, they can say it at the meeting. Once the members agree and they vote to that, then so shall it be,” Wallace added.

TTFA’s debt of approximately $50 million was also discussed,with Wallace admitting this was a “serious issue”.

He said he was never given a fair chance to have his projected plans come to life, since after just four months as TTFA head, he was dethroned by FIFA, owing to the “massive debt.”

“I did discuss TTFA’s debt with the PM. But regardless of who is in charge of football in TT, that the debt would be a serious issue to deal with. He (PM) recognised that, and I don’t know how that will be dealt with.

"We had our plans. They were never given any chance to materialise. They were maligned and shut down and FIFA came in,” Wallace said.

The TTFA boss also told the PM and his fellow ministers that, “If normalisation meant coming in and paying off the debt, then I would have walked away from this whole thing a long time ago. But that is not what normalisation meant, It mean that we remain normal. We still had to treat with everything that existed.”

Wallace also welcomed suggestions and support from the security and sport ministers.

He concluded, “What the PM wanted out of this was,‘How do we go forward?’ As he said, at the end of it all, there’s nothing much that we can do. We can talk, but if the EGM and membership’s decision is crucial to all of this, then we would have to wait on that.”
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline Tallman

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Wallace’s last stand Move afoot to remove TTFA president, executive
« Reply #170 on: October 17, 2020, 10:01:01 AM »
Wallace’s last stand Move afoot to remove TTFA president, executive
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)


WILLIAM WALLACE may yet pay the ultimate price for not complying with the wishes of Trinidad and Tobago Football Association delegates when he decided upon continuing with a Trinidad and Tobago High Court challenge against FIFA, the international governing body for world football.

Yesterday, TTFA Board Member and Eastern Football Association (EFA) president Kieron Edwards wrote an official letter to Wallace, demanding that the agenda of an October 25 Emergency General Meeting (EGM) also include removal of Wallace’s administration and installation of FIFA’s normalisation committee as administrators of local football.

“In relation to the Extraordinary General Meeting of TTFA scheduled for 9:00 AM on Sunday 25th October 2020 we would like to add the following item to the agenda: “The removal of the current TTFA executive which includes the president (Wallace), vice-presidents and other Board Members and the installation of the normalisation committee as appointed by FIFA to be the new Executive of TTFA,” Edwards wrote.

Speaking to the Trinidad Express yesterday, Wallace seemed resigned to let the membership determine what course they would take. He said that while he remains in office he will keep to his promise to hold the upcoming EGM. The TTFA boss took solace in the fact that his defiant battle against FIFA was a “principled stand;” that the High Court ruled in his favour; and that FIFA’s action towards his four-month-old executive was exposed as being high-handed.

“The judge also made the point about us standing up and not capitulating to FIFA’s statutes which would have basically given their statutes precedence over our act of Parliament. And for me, those things are important, and the people that opposed that, we will see from here,” Wallace said.

Wallace was reinstalled as TTFA president when Justice Carol Gobin ruled on October 13 that FIFA’s replacement of his executive on March 18 by its own normalisation committee—headed by local businessman Robert Hadad—was null and void.

His decision to take the issue to the High Court, contravened FIFA’s statutes which list suspension or expulsion as a consequence of such actions. His United TTFA executive had bowed to pressure from the majority of its membership and initially agreed to withdraw the case but missed filing the application by a September 23 deadline. A day later, FIFA suspended the TTFA and in a strange twist, United TTFA revived the case before the T&T court.

“This suspension was a result of Mr William Wallace instituting legal action against FIFA when the agreed procedure was to take the matter to CAS. This action also contravenes Article 15, part B of the TTFA constitution. The president and his associates, known as the ‘United TTFA’ elected to take this action without seeking the approval of the Board Of Directors or the members of TTFA and the action resulted in the suspension of TTFA and by extension Trinidad and Tobago,” stated Edwards.

He added that Wallace and United TTFA had “perpetuated the expulsion of the TTFA from FIFA through the violations of FIFA statutes” and as such, he should be removed for failing to uphold the TTFA’s constitution, adding that TTFA members had no other choice.

“FIFA has stipulated that the suspension of TTFA would only be removed if the current court case is withdrawn, the normalisation committed is recognised as the legitimate executive of TTFA and the current TTFA constitution is amended to agree with the FIFA constitution. Therefore, for the suspension to be lifted the current executive must be removed and the normalisation committee appointed as the new Executive of TTFA.”
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Re: Wallace’s last stand Move afoot to remove TTFA president, executive
« Reply #171 on: October 17, 2020, 10:17:19 AM »
Wallace’s last stand Move afoot to remove TTFA president, executive
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)


WILLIAM WALLACE may yet pay the ultimate price for not complying with the wishes of Trinidad and Tobago Football Association delegates when he decided upon continuing with a Trinidad and Tobago High Court challenge against FIFA, the international governing body for world football.

Yesterday, TTFA Board Member and Eastern Football Association (EFA) president Kieron Edwards wrote an official letter to Wallace, demanding that the agenda of an October 25 Emergency General Meeting (EGM) also include removal of Wallace’s administration and installation of FIFA’s normalisation committee as administrators of local football.

“In relation to the Extraordinary General Meeting of TTFA scheduled for 9:00 AM on Sunday 25th October 2020 we would like to add the following item to the agenda: “The removal of the current TTFA executive which includes the president (Wallace), vice-presidents and other Board Members and the installation of the normalisation committee as appointed by FIFA to be the new Executive of TTFA,” Edwards wrote.

Speaking to the Trinidad Express yesterday, Wallace seemed resigned to let the membership determine what course they would take. He said that while he remains in office he will keep to his promise to hold the upcoming EGM. The TTFA boss took solace in the fact that his defiant battle against FIFA was a “principled stand;” that the High Court ruled in his favour; and that FIFA’s action towards his four-month-old executive was exposed as being high-handed.

“The judge also made the point about us standing up and not capitulating to FIFA’s statutes which would have basically given their statutes precedence over our act of Parliament. And for me, those things are important, and the people that opposed that, we will see from here,” Wallace said.

Wallace was reinstalled as TTFA president when Justice Carol Gobin ruled on October 13 that FIFA’s replacement of his executive on March 18 by its own normalisation committee—headed by local businessman Robert Hadad—was null and void.

His decision to take the issue to the High Court, contravened FIFA’s statutes which list suspension or expulsion as a consequence of such actions. His United TTFA executive had bowed to pressure from the majority of its membership and initially agreed to withdraw the case but missed filing the application by a September 23 deadline. A day later, FIFA suspended the TTFA and in a strange twist, United TTFA revived the case before the T&T court.

“This suspension was a result of Mr William Wallace instituting legal action against FIFA when the agreed procedure was to take the matter to CAS. This action also contravenes Article 15, part B of the TTFA constitution. The president and his associates, known as the ‘United TTFA’ elected to take this action without seeking the approval of the Board Of Directors or the members of TTFA and the action resulted in the suspension of TTFA and by extension Trinidad and Tobago,” stated Edwards.

He added that Wallace and United TTFA had “perpetuated the expulsion of the TTFA from FIFA through the violations of FIFA statutes” and as such, he should be removed for failing to uphold the TTFA’s constitution, adding that TTFA members had no other choice.

“FIFA has stipulated that the suspension of TTFA would only be removed if the current court case is withdrawn, the normalisation committed is recognised as the legitimate executive of TTFA and the current TTFA constitution is amended to agree with the FIFA constitution. Therefore, for the suspension to be lifted the current executive must be removed and the normalisation committee appointed as the new Executive of TTFA.”

What kind of fantasy land are you in? The NC can't become the new executive.

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #172 on: October 17, 2020, 10:32:22 AM »
Cudjoe: I tried to warn them.
By Jelani Beckles (Newsday).


MINISTER of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe echoed the sentiments of the Prime Minister that the United TT Football Association (TTFA) had won the battle against FIFA, but will lose the war in the end as the country’s footballers will suffer.

Cudjoe, who has criticised the United TTFA’s battle against world football body FIFA, told Newsday on Thursday that she agreed with Dr Rowley’s comments.

On Tuesday, Justice Carol Gobin’s ruling said FIFA’s decision to appoint a normalisation committee to run local football was “illegal”.

On March 17, FIFA removed the TTFA executive led by William Wallace and appointed the normalisation committee mainly because of the TTFA’s $50 million debt.

Wallace and his executive were only in power since November 24, 2019 and inherited most of the debt.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday at 1.18 am, Rowley said, “Success that comes at such a high price and at other people’s expense sometimes results in the price of the 'victory' proving too costly to have been worth it. In that case, what happens when the powerful King wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose."

Rowley said that the country’s footballers will only be allowed to match their skills against each other.

"So now United TTFA has 'won' and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the 'colonial' FIFA. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves. Brilliant!"

Cudjoe said, “I think it is the same thing that I had been warning TTFA about since earlier this year. When I called the meeting on August 27 to meet with the different clubs it was to find out what is really their (United TTFA) plan and the way forward in this matter (and) if they really want to go down this road. It was pretty much warning them against winning the battle and losing the war.”

At the August 27 meeting the Sport Ministry invited local football stakeholders to discuss the way forward for T&T football.

It was reported that Wallace and the former executive did not attend.

Cudjoe said the footballing community will feel the pain. “So you (United TTFA) have won the battle and the young people in T&T, the players, the whole football fraternity, even the fans now have to suffer based on the actions of a handful.”

She added, “It is just unfortunate, another sad day for TT and I agree 100 per cent with what Prime Minister would have said.”

In her ruling, Gobin said the Sport Minister’s intervention could have legal “implications”.

Gobin said, “I am not prepared to ascribe improper motives to the honourable minister for her intervention to 'find a way forward' nor indeed to the delegates who requested the EGM (extraordinary general meeting). These were concerned parties who would not have been cognisant of the negative legal implications of their actions, which I do believe were well-intended.”

Cudjoe said she was not trying to impede the judicial process from unfolding.

“TTFA would have asked her to rule on the fact that I would have called a meeting of the membership to determine the way forward. She said that she cannot fault me for that. At the end of the day the judiciary has its work to do and the executive has its work to do. Justice Gobin has her work to do and I have mine. I don’t get in the way of her work…my reason for calling the meeting is I stand in defence of the young players, the people who are going to be affected by this.”

The United TTFA plans to have an EGM (Emergency General Meeting) with the TTFA membership by October 25 to continue charting a way forward.

Cudjoe is hoping the TTFA members get to air their concerns.

“I hope that in (the EGM), his membership have the opportunity to stand up and really have their voices heard and they try to redeem this thing in whatever way it could possibly be redeemed and do what is best in the best interest of football.”

RELATED NEWS

Wallace, PM hold 'fruitful' talks on TTFA future.
By Jonathan Ramnanansingh (Newsday).


DEPENDING ON the outcome of the TT Football Association (TTFA) extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on October 25, the reinstated executive may consider approaching the Government to help chart a way forward.

This was discussed during Thursday’s meeting between restored TTFA president William Wallace, the Prime Minister, Minister of National Security Stuart Young and Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe.

The impromptu meeting came as a result of Tuesday’s ruling by Justice Carol Gobin, which deemed null and void the removal in March of Wallace’s team from the helm of local football and installation of a normalisation committee to run the TTFA’s affairs.

Justice Gobin’s judgement returned control of the TTFA to the ousted administration, although TT remains indefinitely banned from participating in all FIFA-sanctioned tournaments.

Wallace said Dr Rowley asked to meet with him to verify the executive’s plans going forward.

But he said the future of TT football lies in hands of the membership at the EGM.

The EGM will be held virtually and is expected to attract all 47 members of the TTFA, who, after discussion, will vote on the administration’s next step.

“Decisions will be made based on what direction the membership wants us to go in. If the Government can help in any way, then we’d come back to the PM at that point. He (Rowley) was concerned about us (TTFA) being suspended and what they (Government) can probably do to help.

“Of course he was made aware of what FIFA was asking on the issue of TTFA’s statutes, and from all legal opinions, the statute they seem to be targeting is the Act of Parliament (The Act 17 of 1982 which be cited as The TT Football Association (Incorporation) Act, 1982).

"If it’s that what FIFA wants, then it’s out of the TTFA hands and would be up to the Government to make those decisions with that,” he said.

At the meeting, Rowley also asked Wallace to remove all TTFA matters from the local court. Wallace reiterated that the local fraternity does not have any pending matters before the court.

FIFA has a hearing at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

The TTFA has contested, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the global governing body’s decision to suspend it.

The pursuit of TTFA’s appeal at CAS will also depend on the membership’s decision to continue or withdraw the matter from the Switzerland-based court.

“The TTFA has no matters in the local court, because FIFA is the one that brought the appeal, and I explained that.

"The CAS appeal will also be put to the membership at the EGM. If they decide to vote to withdraw that from CAS, then so be it.

“As I said, it is up to them. If they want it to remain at CAS and want us to take our chances with that, if they have another way of trying to help or satisfy FIFA, they can say it at the meeting. Once the members agree and they vote to that, then so shall it be,” Wallace added.

TTFA’s debt of approximately $50 million was also discussed,with Wallace admitting this was a “serious issue”.

He said he was never given a fair chance to have his projected plans come to life, since after just four months as TTFA head, he was dethroned by FIFA, owing to the “massive debt.”

“I did discuss TTFA’s debt with the PM. But regardless of who is in charge of football in TT, that the debt would be a serious issue to deal with. He (PM) recognised that, and I don’t know how that will be dealt with.

"We had our plans. They were never given any chance to materialise. They were maligned and shut down and FIFA came in,” Wallace said.

The TTFA boss also told the PM and his fellow ministers that, “If normalisation meant coming in and paying off the debt, then I would have walked away from this whole thing a long time ago. But that is not what normalisation meant, It mean that we remain normal. We still had to treat with everything that existed.”

Wallace also welcomed suggestions and support from the security and sport ministers.

He concluded, “What the PM wanted out of this was,‘How do we go forward?’ As he said, at the end of it all, there’s nothing much that we can do. We can talk, but if the EGM and membership’s decision is crucial to all of this, then we would have to wait on that.”

« Last Edit: October 17, 2020, 10:45:07 AM by Flex »
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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #173 on: October 18, 2020, 12:48:51 AM »
TTFA Act misinterpreted
By Gyasi Merrique (Guardian).


Judge Carol Gobin may have given more weight than is due to the T&T Football Association (TTFA) Incorporation Act, No 17 of 1982 when she awarded victory to the TTFA in its lawsuit against FIFA in the T&T High Court on October 13.

The TTFA executive officers of president William Wallace as well as vice presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick, who resigned her post on September 25, and Joseph Sam Phillip were seeking a declaration from the court that FIFA’s action to remove its executive from office in March of this year and appoint a Normalisation Committee was incompatible with the TTFA Act and therefore illegal void and no effect.

FIFA did not enter a defense in the matter, maintaining its view that state courts of its member associations do not enjoy to hear disputes of this nature and prefers those disputes to be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland in keeping with article 59 of its statutes.

According to Sports Lawyer Tyrone Marcus, however, Judge Gobin may have misinterpreted the intent of the TTFA Act and therefore essentially ruled that the TTFA was absolved from abiding by FIFA’s statutes. All member associations are automatically bound by FIFA regulations upon gaining membership and the TTFA has been a member of FIFA since 1964.

Marcus said, “That type of Act of Parliament has a particular goal and objective, which is just to give a sporting association legal personality, to give it legal status. And the benefits of this would be things like entering into contracts, owning property, being able to sue in the name of the organisation etcetera.”

At the hearing of the lawsuit on October 9 the matters to be determined were as follows:

1. Whether the purported appointment of the Normalisation Committee was lawful.

2. Whether FIFA Statute 8(2) is compatible with TTFA Act No 17 of 1982.

3. Whether in any case FIFA has complied with its own statutes in the purported appointment of the Normalisation Committee. Whether there were exceptional circumstances to justify the invocation of FIFA Statute 8(2).

4. Whether on the evidence in the case the decision to appoint a Normalisation Committee was reasonable and made in good faith.

In her determination on points one and two, Judge Gobin drew the conclusion that the TTFA could be considered a ‘corporation created by special act and for a public purpose.’

Her judgment further explained, ‘This protects the public interest because a corporation created for a specific purpose by an act of the legislature ought not to have the power to do things not in furtherance of that purpose. This principle is more applicable to the TTFA Act.’

However, in an interview with Guardian Media Sports, Marcus disagreed.

“Justice Gobin may have given a certain level of weight to the Act of Parliament that I am not too sure she should have,” he said. “She mentions that the TTFA has been incorporated by an Act of Parliament from 1982 and that makes it a statutory corporation. To me that’s too big of a jump.”

Marcus added, “That, to me, is where there may be some issues with the judgement and some of the conclusions that would have been drawn because of the status that she gave it (TTFA). I am not of the view that the TTFA is a statutory corporation. It is still a body that is run privately by its members, it is not government controlled and its decisions are made by the ordinary day-to-day decisions of its members. So, it is very much operating like a private body and like any other one of our sporting associations who were not incorporated by an Act of Parliament.”

Marcus noted that it was not the first time that a local judge has interpreted a parliamentary act in a similar manner, where a sporting body which ordinarily operates as a private entity was given public status, including previous matters involving the TTFA.

“It's not the first case that one of our local judges in a sports dispute has elevated a private body to the status of a public body,” he said.

“And what it does is, if you are a public authority and you bring a challenge against a decision then it brings in questions like judicial review and what not, which is really reserved for public authorities. So, when Keith Look Loy took the TTFA to court, judicial review came up. Thema Williams back in 2016 when she took the Gymnastics Federation to court, judicial review came up again. And in my own view, I’ve been thinking to myself ‘I don’t agree with our judges.’”

On the issue of what needs to be done in order to make the TTFA compliant to FIFA’s statutes as is one of the conditions demanded by the global body before T&T’s current suspension can be lifted, Marcus says that in his interpretation, the Act of Parliament is no hindrance.

He said, “From where I sit, you don’t need to touch that Act of Parliament because it had a very limited goal and that goal has been achieved. Give the TTFA legal status – that was the goal, that was accomplished.”

“The TTFA’s day-to-day running does not depend on that piece of legislation, it depends on what the (TTFA) constitution says. Which is why when FIFA says bring your constitution in line with ours then what ever the gaps are, if any, then the TTFA needs to do that.”

In her judgement, Judge Gobin noted the irony that FIFA has refused to recognised the local court and legal system but demands an alignment of the two governing documents.

Marcus rebutted by saying, “In fairness to her if she concludes that the TTFA is a statutory corporation then that (adjustments of Act No 17 of 1982) is a reasonable outcome. I am saying if we were to take it back a bit the outcome would be different if she had a different assessment of the TTFA’s status. So to me the TTFA can comply without having to touch the legislation.”

FIFA has a pending appeal of Judge Gobin’s decision to allow the case to proceed in the state court which comes up for hearing on Monday October 19. If that appeal is successful, the Gobin’s ruling of October 13 will be voided and FIFA’s normalization Committee will be automatically recognized as the body at the helm of the TTFA.

If the decision is upheld, the TTFA’s executive may remain in charge. Wallace and his Board of Directors have already called and Extraordinary General Meeting carder for October 25 where he will face his membership to decide the direction for the beleaguered body. It is anticipated that members will vote in favour of recognising the Normalisation Committee and taking steps to have the TTFA’s constitution and statutes adjusted as demanded by FIFA.

The TTFA has been given until December 18 of this year to adhere to FIFA’s demands or face lengthened suspension which would see the association forfeit its right to contest CONCACAF Gold Cup 2021 as well as FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers which are both scheduled to be held next year.

List of T&T Sporting Bodies incorporated by Parliamentary Act

Act No. Short Title

14 of 1956 Arima Race Club (Incorporation)

25 of 1967 T&T Motor Racing Club (Incorporation)

32 of 1968 Hunters Association of T&T (Incorporation)

30 of 1973 South Trinidad Darts Association (Incorporation)

27 of 1975 Trinidad Rifle Association (Incorporation)

44 of 1975 T&T Yachting Association (Incorporation)

39 of 1977 T&T Wrestling Association (Incorporation)

29 of 1979 T&T Netball Association (Incorporation)

17 of 1982 T&T Football Association (Incorporation)

13 of 1991 T&T Special Olympics (Incorporation)

18 of 1995 San Francique Sports, Educational and Cultural Council of T&T (Incorporation)

19 of 1995 T&T Secondary Schools Football League (Incorporation)

29 of 1995 Olympic Committee (Incorporation)

34 of 1997 Quarry Superstars Sports and Cultural Club

Editor's note:

Tyrone Marcus is a lawyer specialising in sports Law for 15 years.

He is the author of the book Sports Law in Trinidad and Tobago (2019) and co-author of Commonwealth Caribbean Sports Law (2019).

Marcus has also been adjunct lecturer in sports law at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad for the past eight years and former Senior Legal officer at the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #174 on: October 18, 2020, 12:50:50 AM »
Wallace: Systemic reform needed
By Jonathan Ramnanansingh (Newsday).


Systemic reform of T&T’s youth development programmes and professional league is the only solution to facilitate a smoother transition of younger players into world-class footballers.

Reinstated TT Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace believes last-minute preparations ahead of major international tournaments and unsatisfactory financial incentives on the local pro circuit serve as major detractors to this nation’s potential footballers.

Wallace reassumed his role at the helm of local football on Tuesday after Justice Carol Gobin ruled FIFA’s March removal of the TTFA executive and installation of a normalisation committee null and void.

He has already begun formulating strategies to chart a way forward.

However, many of his plans rely on the outcome of TTFA’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM),on October 25, when the restored executive reconnects with the 47-delegate membership to discuss the future of TT football and its legal quandary with the sport’s global governing body, FIFA.

Looking ahead, Wallace said, “I would like to see that we do some introspection and soul-searching to reassess football in T&T. We need to be honest and look at where our football has gotten to over the last four or five years. Then it means that whatever we had been doing over that duration, that we cannot continue doing that and expect to improve.”

Wallace insists more emphasis must be placed on the holistic development of youngsters as they search for avenues to elevate their playing careers. He admitted that participating in major youth (U13 – U21) international competitions is necessary for athlete growth.

But, he said. a lack of preparation ahead of tournaments of this calibre, backed by shoddy performances owing to these deficiencies, only serves as discouragement for a budding footballer.

“We cannot continue to halfway prepare teams just to enter competitions.

"The better thing might be to sit down and properly put some development programmes in place for our young people so that they can develop their game properly. This goes against running into competition at every minute.

"When this happens, the players emerge disillusioned. This is one way of disenfranchising youths. If the only thing that people could think that because we are suspended, that this is the only thing that can disenfranchise youths, then they are not being honest.”

Wallace was also critical of the TT Pro League, which he believes has been significantly non-progressive for the past five to six years. While he is aware the covid19 pandemic has had a negative impact on sport investment, both locally and internationally, the stipends paid to players by domestic clubs are minuscule.

These shortcomings, the former Secondary Schools Football League president said, are also a deterrent to potential players working towards securing pro contracts.

“We have a professional league in TT that has not really grown in any significant way. If our youths in T&T are intent on going into pro football and all they can see is playing for $1,200 or $3,000 per month, that is not an incentive for young footballers.

“Our systems need to be realigned and reassessed. What is really the motivation for a young man who wants to develop his game to be asked to play professional football in T&T? If he plans to do that, the money is insufficient. He cannot live on these stipends.

"These are the things that we have to be honest with. We’re talking about pro footballers.”

After being elected to run T&T football in November 2019, Wallace and his three vice-presidents – Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillip and Susan Joseph-Warrick (resigned) – were removed from their post by FIFA on the grounds of financial mismanagement and massive debt.

A normalisation committee, led by businessman Robert Hadad, was set up by the governing body to run the FA’s daily affairs.

Wallace then contested FIFA’s decision to remove his executive and shift power to Hadad in the local court. Tuesday’s judgment by Gobin returned Wallace, Taylor and Phillip to the helm of T&T football.

Although he is pleased to have won against the mighty FIFA, T&T still remains indefinitely banned by the Gianni Infantino-led organisation, “for grave violations of the FIFA Statutes,, and still runs the risk of missing out on 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

On August 13, Gobin denied FIFA’s request to have the previous dispute remitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and ruled that the local officials were not bound by an arbitration clause with the CAS and could take the world governing body to court in T&T.

One week later, FIFA appealed the decision to have the matter dealt with locally. FIFA’s hearing at the Court of Appeal is set for Monday. Additionally, after previously questioning the impartiality of the CAS, the TTFA returned to the Swiss court to fight FIFA’s August 24 decision to indefinitely suspend T&T.

The pursuit of this matter in Zurich will be decided at the upcoming EGM, where members will decide whether to drop or continue the case. Depending on the outcome of this meeting, the Government may consider stepping in to assist the still-embattled Wallace-led TTFA unit.

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #175 on: October 18, 2020, 12:51:25 AM »
Fifa’s political neutrality claim ‘patently false’; why Infantino’s woes won’t disappear—even if TTFA officials do.
By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).


On 24 September 2020, even as Fifa president Gianni Infantino flexed the awesome muscles of the billion dollar global sport body that he heads, he revealed its Achilles heel.

It was the day that Bureau of the Fifa Council, headed by Infantino, suspended the Trinidad and Tobago Football Football Association (TTFA) from the international game for the first time. And the implications arguably extended well beyond the fate of besieged TTFA president William Wallace.

“The decision of the former leadership to go to a local court to contest the appointment of the normalisation committee,” stated the Fifa release, “jeopardises not only the future of football in Trinidad and Tobago but also endangers the overall global football governance structure, which relies on the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as the exclusive forum for resolving disputes of this nature.”

Ever since 17 March 2020, and arguably before, Infantino has tried to be rid of Wallace—a retired Carapichaima East Secondary vice-principal. The two men have never spoken.

Infantino convinced his colleagues on the bureau that the appropriate tool for eliminating this ‘fly’ was a hammer. And, on 24 September, he might have overplayed his hand.

By turning the TTFA’s nightmare into reality, Infantino had released Wallace from his only remaining fear. The football official had nothing left to lose and, although Fifa hoped for the opposite outcome, a courtroom showdown had just become inevitable.

Yesterday, Fifa’s knickers were inspected by the High Court. And although there is little surprise that Madame Justice Carol Gobin caught a whiff of something unsettling, her judgment went further than the usual pontificating newspaper column.

The root of the angst between both parties is the Bureau of the Fifa Council’s decision on 17 March to disband the TTFA Board and remove its elected officials, due to ‘extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt’ which put the TTFA in ‘a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity’ and, as such, ‘corrective measures need to be applied urgently’.

It is worth noting here that ‘Bureau of the Fifa Council’ is the snazzy new name for what was once the ‘Fifa Emergency Committee, under previous presidents. Article 38.1 of the Fifa Statutes mandates the Bureau to ‘deal with all matters within the competence of the Council requiring immediate decision between two meetings of the Council’.

Article 8.2 of the Fifa Statutes states: ‘Executive bodies of member associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the Council in consultation with the relevant confederation and replaced by a normalisation committee for a specific period of time’.

But the Fifa Council has never taken the initiative on the issues affecting the TTFA, as its responsibility in the statutes. Instead, the Bureau declared the TTFA’s financial state to be an ‘emergency’ requiring urgent address, and ruled on the twin island republic itself.

The Fifa Council is a 37-member body with wide representation from each of football’s six confederations. The Bureau of the Fifa Council, in contrast, is comprised of Infantino and six other members.

The declaration that the TTFA’s finances had become an emergency was particularly odd since the local body’s last financial statement was submitted to Fifa in the previous year under Wallace’s predecessor, David John-Williams. (In fact, Wallace did not stay in office long enough to hold an audit of his own tenure.)

And here is what Infantino said about John-Williams at the opening of the controversial TTFA Home of Football on 18 November 2019—six days before he was democratically replaced by Wallace:

“I came to Trinidad and Tobago, and I was not believing to find somebody like [David John-Williams] in Trinidad and Tobago. I have to say the truth. Because the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association was more or less in the same state as Fifa at that time. David was saying ‘shambles’, I say shambles was maybe a compliment for the state you found.

“We found a federation which was under the earth. TTFA, Trinidad and Tobago football, very sadly, was in the headlines for other reasons than football, even though linked to football. Today, we are here, and proud to be here, because today, Trinidad and Tobago is the capital of the world of football.”

The Home of Football, incidentally, is still unfinished and is now the centre of a police investigation for corruption. It is an investigation that Wallace and his general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan initially vowed to instigate and share their findings—even if it implicated Fifa officials including Fifa Chief Member Associations officer Veron Mosengo-Omba.

Mosengo-Omba attempted to justify Fifa’s intervention in a 15 June affidavit, which Gobin referenced.

“In 2018, the TTFA was randomly selected for the central review programme [and] coming out of that audit, Fifa was concerned by the high level of debt that the TTFA had accumulated,” stated Mosengo-Omba, “and was of the view that there were serious governance issues at the TTFA. However, the TTFA was due to hold elections for a new executive committee and Fifa’s general practice is to not interfere in governance matters involving member associations during electoral years, so as to avoid giving the impression that Fifa is taking the side of any candidate for the position of president of that member association.

“In keeping with this general practice, Fifa therefore held its hand on taking any action so as to allow an opportunity for those elections to take place and for any new executive committee to begin to address these serious issues.”

So the ‘emergency’ that Infantino decided to address actually existed for two years under John-Williams, who the Fifa president urged TTFA members to re-elect—rather than remove.

Note too that, although Infantino’s Bureau met on 17 March, the Fifa Council convened on 20 March. Was the TTFA matter so pressing that it could not wait three days to be discussed by the proper body meant to oversee the governing body’s affairs?

On 16 August, Fifa secretary general Fatma Samoura gave Wallace and his United TTFA slate until 16 September to withdraw the High Court case, at the threat of initiating proceedings to suspend the local football body.

Wallace did not not comply. On 17 September, the Fifa Council met and dispersed without repercussions for the TTFA. Similar occurred on 18 September, when all 211 Fifa member nations convened for its annual congress.

Immediately after the Fifa Congress, though, the TTFA’s court case became an emergency again, as Samoura offering a new deadline of 23 September—before the matter would again be sent to Infantino’s seven-member committee.

Is Infantino misusing the Bureau of the Fifa Council to further his own agendas, rather than for legitimate emergencies?

Gobin did not buy Fifa’s line about the ‘exceptional circumstances’ that justified the removal of the TTFA’s elected officials.

“If these were exceptional circumstances in Fifa’s assessment then they were not brought about by the actions of the new board,” stated Gobin. “As a matter of basic fairness, the new board ought not to have been penalised with so extreme an action as removal, because of a situation which it inherited, when Fifa was at all times well aware of the history.

“Mr Mosengo-Omba’s explanation as to why it waited until after the election to take action and then to move against the new Board, is unconvincing… The timing of the removal of the new board—after the troubling financial management had been allowed to continue and fester even with Fifa’s annual audits and oversight—makes Mr Mosengo-Omba’s claim that Fifa held its hand until after November elections to allow an opportunity for the incoming board to address the serious issues even less credible.

“On any assessment it clearly did not allow a sufficient opportunity if it moved to normalise after a mere four months.”

The High Court judge scoffed at Mosengo-Omba’s claim that Fifa was trying to avoid  improper interference in the TTFA’s operations.

“When Mr Mosengo-Omba’s explanation is viewed against the claimant’s evidence, it has to be rejected,” said Gobin. “If, as he claims, Fifa held its hand in taking action so as to avoid giving the impression that it was taking the side of any candidate ‘in an electoral year’, then the haste with which it moved to unseat the new board established the opposite.

“[…] On the evidence, I find that the decision to activate the normalisation was improper and made in bad faith. The conclusion that it was a contrivance to subvert the outcome of the 24 November elections is in my view inescapable.

“In the end, it defeated the will of the persons who had elected the new board into office. In the circumstances Fifa’s claim that it remains neutral in matters of politics (within the sport) is demonstrated to be patently false.”

But while Gobin found the specific matter of the attempted overthrow of the TTFA’s elected officers to be ‘unwarranted and indefensible’, she also looked at the Fifa Statutes which emboldened Infantino’s cabal in the first place.

In her judgment on 13 August, Gobin said that since the TTFA was formed by an Act of Parliament, it is outside its jurisdiction to ‘agree to submit to foreign law as FIFA Statutes prescribe’ in accepting its normalisation committee.

However, she also noted that Fifa’s claimed right to eject the elected officers of any member association—on the vague of justification of ‘exceptional circumstances’—ran counter to article 19.2 of its statutes, which states: ‘Each member association shall manage its affairs independently and without undue influence from third parties’.

“What was telling was that [Fifa’s normalisation notice] indicated among the tasks included in the normalisation committee’s mandate was: ‘to organise and conduct elections of a new TTFA executive committee for a four year mandate’,” said Gobin. “The TTFA Act provides for the elections of officers. Fifa has no power to interfere with or override our sovereign Laws. The [normalisation committee] mandate however put paid to its claim that Fifa does not interfere in governance matters during electoral years.

“This action of arrogating an invasive power to essentially direct the holding of fresh elections in violation of the provisions of the TTFA Act, established that contrary to its declared position, [Fifa] was directly engaging in the governance of the TTFA by seeking to remove the newly elected board.”

In essence, there is a contradiction in Fifa’s Statutes which ought to set alarm bells ringing among the other 210 member associations that make up the governing body.

Article 59.2 of the Fifa Statutes states: ‘Recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the Fifa regulations. Recourse to ordinary courts of law for all types of provisional measures is also prohibited’.

However, Gobin insisted that this clause does not provide Fifa with the protection Infantino thinks. Fifa’s legal position appears to be built on bluff and bullying instead.

“If this policy of Fifa’s is to be effective, then it can only mean that Fifa does not recognise the courts and the judicial systems in any of its 212 (sic) member states,” stated Gobin. “This is, in the courts’ view, an astonishing position for any entity, however powerful, to adopt—especially one that has control over world football, or for that matter, any other sport.

“As for its insistence on submission to the CAS in accordance with its rules, Fifa assumes wrongly that statute 59 effectively blocks all access by its members to courts in their sovereign states… By such agreements, parties do not deny the jurisdiction of the courts and the rule of law, rather they agree that the courts would generally hold the parties to the agreement and the courts generally decline jurisdiction.

“But there are some cases in which the court will not hold the parties to their agreement, and I have already decided that this is one of them.”

If Fifa cannot force members to use the Court of Arbitration for Sports, then it ought to convince them that justice can be served in that arena. The High Court judge said that, in the TTFA’s case, Fifa failed to demonstrate it was ‘ready and willing to do all things necessary to the proper conduct of the arbitration’.

“Fifa refused to pay its share of costs of appeal upfront and the CAS administrators allowed it to flout the rules,” stated Gobin. “Indeed [CAS] indicated that it was not Fifa’s practice to pay its share of the costs.

“[…] If it is the case, as Fifa continues to insist, that it will not accept the jurisdiction of the court of any member country, and that CAS is the only dispute resolution forum that it will recognise; then, given what the evidence has disclosed and which it has not denied—that Fifa generally does not comply with a basic rule regarding the payment its share of the costs of arbitration, even when its non-compliance can have the effect of denying parties access to the arbitration process (as it did in this case)—then there is every danger that Fifa will become a law unto itself, if it hasn’t already become one.”

As such, Fifa’s ‘disregard for the rule of law’ in Trinidad should not trouble local football stakeholders only. It should be a concern to all member associations, as well as the sponsors and patrons of ‘the beautiful game’.

“[Fifa’s] conduct regrettably calls into question the sincerity of its vaunted commitment to achieving its objectives to promote integrity, fair play, and friendly relations in society for humanitarian objectives,” said Gobin, “as well as its commitment to respecting internationally recognised human rights and striving to protect them.

“Disregard for the rule of law is inconsistent with these objectives.”

Gobin noted Fifa’s sustained ‘unrelenting campaign against the TTFA, the overt aim of which was to force it a litigant before the courts of this country to withdraw its case’—all while ‘it remained ensconced in its home in Zurich and as a result will probably manage to escape the consequences of its unlawful behaviour’.

Most bullies, deep down, are cowards. Gobin hinted that Infantino and his gang might be no different.

The High Court judge admitted that the ‘repercussions’ of defying Fifa are ‘worrying’ and sympathised with the players, coaches, and administrators who ‘believe that such far reaching consequences should be avoided, perhaps at all costs’.

However, she did not find fault in Wallace’s legal stance.

“It has to be said that the law expects the TTFA to do what its statutory duty requires, even in the face of unlawful pressure,” said Gobin. “[…] In the circumstances, the TTFA’s actions of seeking redress before the court was perhaps the only appropriate response, which avoided capitulating to the demands of Fifa and thereby elevating the status of Fifa Statutes above the laws passed by our Parliament.”

Over the past eight months, Wallace and the United TTFA failed to win the support of a single Fifa member association, let alone the 25-member Caribbean Football Union (CFU). And the former Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) president can no longer boast of majority support even within local football circles.

From here on, the court cannot help Wallace, even though normalisation committee chairman Robert Hadad is at least temporarily taken off the chess board.

Wallace’s critics are yet to formally request an extraordinary general meeting. It gives the TTFA president the chance to draw up the agenda and call it himself—and he is hardly likely to propose his own removal. As such, if he is to depart soon, it will be on his own terms.

Will he quit and pass the responsibility for the local body back to the members? Would he attempt to carry on regardless—as Ramdhan suggested recently?

Or, since he is already contesting the TTFA’s suspension in CAS, might he try to fight for an unlikely reinstatement within the Fifa umbrella against the odds?

Whatever happens now, Fifa’s governance issues are laid bare again. The ramifications of Gobin’s judgment are unlikely to disappear with Wallace.

RELATED NEWS

‘We’re free to play […] against ourselves… Brilliant!’ Dr Rowley appears to mock TTFA court win.
Wired868.com.


Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley appeared to mock a landmark High Court ruling won yesterday by Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace and vice-presidents Clynt Taylor and Sam Phillip, as he suggested it was no more than a Pyrrhic victory.

The TTFA officials successfully defied Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s attempt to replace them with a normalisation committee, just four months into their term. In her verdict, Madame Justice Carol Gobin suggested Wallace had defended the integrity of body formed by an Act of Parliament.

“The wisdom of the challenge by the [TTFA officials] of the actions of Fifa is not for the Court [to decide],” stated Gobin, in her 23-page ruling. “But it has to be said that the law expects the TTFA to do what its statutory duty requires even in the face of unlawful pressure.

“[…] In the circumstances, the TTFA’s actions of seeking redress before the Court was perhaps the only appropriate response which avoided capitulating to the demands of Fifa; and thereby elevating the status of Fifa Statutes above the laws passed by our Parliament.”

However, Dr Rowley, on his personal Facebook page, began his response to the High Court decision with a quote from Pyrrhus, King of Epirus: ‘Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined’.

“Thank God I was taught some Greek History and Latin at Bishop High School, otherwise I would have never been able to understand that adventure,” stated Dr Rowley. “I think we all now need to study the 2000-year events of the Pyrrhic wars to figure out how it all might end. Pyrrhos was indeed king of the Molossians and also of Epirus. However, Rome still stands so what does the future hold?

“Success that comes at such a high price and at other people’s expense sometimes results in the price of the ‘victory’ proving too costly to have been worth it. In that case what happens when the powerful king wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose?”

Although the High Court ruled that Wallace remains the legitimate president of the TTFA, Dr Rowley copied Infantino in referring to the successful claims as the ‘United TTFA’—which is the slate that was elected by local football delegates on 24 November 2019.

“So now United TTFA has ‘won’ and Fifa has lost; the matter is settled in local court,” stated Dr Rowley. “We are now free of the ‘colonial’ Fifa. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves, because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us.

“Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves. Brilliant!”

Ironically, Madame Justice Gobin criticised Fifa’s repeated disrespect to the local courts in her decision yesterday and said it was illegal to hand over control of a statutory body

“Throughout these proceedings, Fifa has persistently paraded its disdain for the authority of our local courts,” said the High Court judge. “[…] Normalisation effectively permits the removal of a body elected in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and the transfer of powers vested under statute to a committee through a process which is outside of the election process established by the statute.

“It is illegal. In its operation, normalisation necessarily requires TTFA to contract out of its duties and responsibilities under the TTFA Act and under its rules.

“There is a well established principle that a public right is not overridden by the agreements of private persons.”

(Full statement by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley)

“Another such victory and we shall be utterly ruined,” Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, 2000 years ago.

Thank God I was taught some Greek History and Latin at Bishop High School. Otherwise I would have never been able to understand that adventure. I think we all now need to study the 2000-year events of the Pyrrhic wars to figure out how it all might end.

Pyrrhos was indeed king of the Molossians and also of Epirus. However, Rome still stands so what does the future hold?

Success that comes at such a high price and at other people’s expense sometimes results in the price of the ‘victory’ proving too costly to have been worth it. In that case what happens when the powerful King wins the battle but the thousands of subjects lose.

So now United TTFA has ‘won’ and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the ‘colonial’ FIFA.

We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us.

Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves.

Brilliant!

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline ZANDOLIE

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #176 on: October 18, 2020, 06:08:34 AM »
With all due respect to the Prime Minister...Pyrrhus of Epirus presented Hellenistic Greece with the last opportunity to curb Roman military expansion. His efforts were lost largely due to bickering, infighting, and insular 'eat-ah-food' self-interest of the Greek city states in the face of the Roman colossus. Sound familiar Mr. Rowley?
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Offline Tallman

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Disillusionment
« Reply #177 on: October 19, 2020, 08:05:20 AM »
Disillusionment
By Fazeer Mohammed (T&T Express)


So let’s say come next Sunday’s emergency meeting the vote, as is expected, goes overwhelmingly against William Wallace and his executive.

Let’s say they resign en masse in response, then next Monday morning Robert Hadad gets an email from general secretary Fatma Samoura reinstating the normalisation committee, returning him as the interim head of the game here, welcoming the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association as a member of the global football family once more, which means the money starts flowing again from Zurich.

And just to ensure such an excommunication never happens again, the members of the shameless, disgraceful organisation known as the PNM and the unelectably corrupt, arrogant institution that is the UNC come together to amend the relevant legislation so that in future, when it comes to football, we remain forever subservient to the will of FIFA but apparently more importantly, part of the global game.

After all that, what? Football in this country will be on a progressive track thereafter? And I suppose you believe in Santa Claus too, or that there is no police and soldier cover-up in the Drugs Sou Sou.

To be clear, if it were to transpire that — miracle of miracles — the Wallace executive gets a vote of confidence to continue the legal wrangle with FIFA, then it will just be a different version of the same bacchanal, because unauthorised alterations to contracts for coach Terry Fenwick and general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan, along with the re-floating of the ubiquitous marketing man Peter Miller, together with one or two other questionable deals mean Wallace on his own may struggle to survive this latest episode of turbulence in the nation’s most popular sport.

There is ample evidence across more than four decades (and no doubt even further back for those with the knowledge and memories to recall) to confirm that football governance here is an accurate reflection of the greed, corruption and, at best, misdirected priorities which define life in this twin-island republic.

So warped in our thinking are we that even historic experiences of unprecedented national unity and fervour under the umbrella of the beautiful game — from the 1989 “Road to Italy” campaign to the Germany 2006 experience to a full house at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in December 2014 supporting the women’s bid for World Cup glory — disintegrate into bitterness and acrimony in the obscene scramble for money and influence.

Sorry, it’s obscene for countries with a culture of transparency and accountability. Here, crabs in a barrel behaviour is normal, normal. Maybe it’s wrong to just give up, to believe that our experiences will forever be a recycling of the consequences of an absence of integrity with only dates and names changed. But where is the hope, or more precisely, what is the hope based on?

This disconcerting disconnection from reality extends across the region. Just last Tuesday I was involved in a discussion on West Indies cricket on commentator Andrew Mason’s radio show in his native Barbados, focussing on the squad to be selected and the team’s chances on the tour of New Zealand.

Just listening to the tenor of the dialogue you would think that the generally routine act of naming 15 players for the campaign was the start of a new era in the Caribbean game, as if picking so-and-so player or players will magically repair 25 years of struggle in Tests. One contributor even prefaced his opening statement by suggesting gone are the days when the West Indies went to New Zealand and regularly trounced their opponents 4-0 or 5-0, which is as disconnected from reality as you can get because that has never happened even once.

Look, I get that this all sounds very negative (and I am by nature a pessimist) but if someone can point to something real – something beyond “hoping” and “thinking positive” – upon which to base optimism then I would be happy to listen.

Maybe it’s a combination of advancing years and experiencing the same blimming thing over and over and over again, but impatience at seemingly perpetual outrage after outrage is intensifying. Outrage like racism, outrage like sanitising cheating, which have contributed to a decision to ease away from supporting Liverpool after 43 years and to make last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Everton as the final English Premier League game I will actually sit down to watch in its entirety.

Space is running out today but suffice it to say that, in the context of the greater awareness brought on by the “Black Lives Matter” movement, Liverpool Football Club’s history of racism when combined with contemporary and broader football issues like players faking injuries and fouls, and the intrusion of VAR technology, make Liverpool and the EPL only worthy of occasional interest now.

Sport should be about joy, not constant controversy.
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Offline Tallman

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TTFA ready to go to CAS if FIFA pays half the cost
« Reply #178 on: October 19, 2020, 04:17:56 PM »
TTFA ready to go to CAS if FIFA pays half the cost
By Jada Loutoo (T&T Newday)


THE T&T Football Association’s (TTFA) legal troubles are not over despite a judge’s recent ruling that the appointment of a normalisation committee by world governing body FIFA, to run the affairs of local football, was illegal.

Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justice of Appeal Nolan Bereaux are, on Friday, expected to rule on a preliminary jurisdiction issue in an appeal by FIFA which can see the TTFA’s victory –which some have described as an own goal – last week being invalidated.

The appellate court has been asked to reconsider its application to set aside service and stay the proceedings in the local courts for the TTFA’s dispute to be heard before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS.) FIFA has stuck to its position the only body to determine a dispute between it and member federations is the CAS.

The application was made before Justice Carol Gobin in May, but she denied FIFA’s request to have the dispute remitted back to the CAS and proceeded to trial, despite FIFA having lodged an appeal.

At Monday’s hearing of the appeal, Dr Emir Crowne, one of the attorneys representing the TTFA, said there was no dispute to send to the CAS since FIFA chose to frustrate its appeal by suspending T&T and the TTFA.

He said FIFA should not have suspended the TTFA until the appeal court ruled on the jurisdiction point.

“But by FIFA taking the extraordinary step to suspend while its own appeal was pending, they introduced their own frustration of the matter,” he submitted.

“There is no dispute left because of its own actions,” Crowne submitted.

However, he said if FIFA agreed to lift the suspension and agree to pay half the costs of the arbitration, then the TTFA would withdraw its appeal at the CAS and have the dispute over the legality of the appointment of the committee resolved in the Switzerland-based court.

At Monday’s hearing, Crowne, TTFA attorney Matthew Gayle and Senior Counsel Christopher Hamel-Smith, who represents FIFA, were questioned extensively on the CAS arbitration process by Archie and Bereaux.

Archie posed the question on FIFA paying half the cost of arbitration and on lifting the suspension since, according to him, “I am assuming the TTFA wants to retain its relationship with FIFA.”

“If these two things were to happen what would be FIFA’s position?” he asked.

Hamel-Smith said while he saw no reason why FIFA would not abide by its assurance to pay half the costs of arbitration, since he suggested it to the body, he said he could not speak to FIFA’s position on the suspension, pointing out that even if the suspension were to be lifted and the normalisation committee reintroduced, there was last week’s judgment of Justice Carol Gobin which prevented them from doing so.

Both teams were urged by Archie to explore the issue amongst themselves before they give their decision on Friday at 3 pm.

However, in response to a possible reintroduction of the normalisation committee which would lead to arbitration before the CAS, Crowne submitted added that to return to the arbitration process would be unconscionable. He urged the judges to protect the sovereignty of the local courts since, according to the TTFA's attorney's , external interference in a statutory body must be subject to the courts of T&T.

On March 17, FIFA removed TTFA’s president William Wallace and his executive (deputies Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip) who were elected in November 2019. FIFA said the decision was made because of the association’s financial woes and “massive debt.”

But in April, the ousted executive appealed to the CAS, saying the decision was a breach of the TTFA’s constitution.

The team later indicated it did not believe CAS would give a “fair hearing”. Instead – on May 18 – they appealed to the local High Court.

Crowne said the main reason why the TTFA withdrew the proceedings before the CAS was because FIFA said it would not pay half the costs. He accused FIFA of mandating member federations to go to the CAS, but refusing, on policy, to pay part of the fees.

He said by doing so, the TTFA was being denied access to justice.

“They are saying ‘you must go to CAS but we won’t pay our share of the arbitration cost’ especially in a case where a federation is mismanaging its funds,” said Crowne.

However, he said he did not see an issue with the impasse being heard and resolved at the CAS

Earlier in the proceedings, Hamel-Smith said Gobin was wrong when she found the High Court had the jurisdiction to hear the matter, adding that it was clear that under the TTFA’s constitution, disputes of this nature would be taken to the CAS.

He pointed out that the TTFA Act incorporated the FIFA statute that called for such a move when disputes arise.

“This does not mean that FIFA is above the law.

“CAS has exclusive jurisdiction. The TTFA cannot ignore the terms of its own Constitution,” he said.

Hamel-Smith pointed out that if the TTFA wished to remove that restriction, then it would have to amend its constitution to give effect to it, but said if that was done, it would mean that TTFA no longer wished to operate under a FIFA constitution.

“As long as the TTFA has not amended its constitution, it has committed itself to go to the CAS… It is not good enough for individuals to get up one day and say ‘we want to try this in the T&T court in the face of what its own Constitution say,’” he said.
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Offline Flex

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Re: FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association
« Reply #179 on: October 20, 2020, 12:39:29 AM »
Appeal Court to render ruling on FIFA/TTFA dispute Friday
By Rickie Ramdass (T&T Express).


Decision delayed

IF FIFA were to agree to lift the suspension imposed on the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and agree to pay its half of arbitration costs, then the TTFA has no issue with having the dispute between it and the world’s football governing body heard and resolved at the Court of Arbitration (CAS) in Switzerland.

This was indicated yesterday by Dr Emir Crowne, one of the attorneys representing the TTFA in an appeal brought by FIFA against the decision of Justice Carol Gobin who found that the local court had the jurisdiction to hear the dispute.

The appeal did not challenge Justice Gobin’s final ruling that was delivered last Tuesday in which she found the removal of the TTFA’s board by FIFA and the appointment of a normalisation committee was illegal, void and of no effect. In fact, the appeal at hand was filed prior to the judge delivering her final ruling.

Should the Appeal Court find in favour of FIFA on the issue of jurisdiction, then Justice Gobin’s ruling will be overturned. Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Justice Nolan Bereaux said they will be delivering their ruling on the issue by 3 p.m., on Friday.

During the proceedings, Crowne submitted that the main reason why the TTFA pulled out of arbitration proceedings at the CAS and filed action at the High Court was because FIFA indicated it would not be paying its half of the arbitration fees. He said it was only following this did FIFA move to have it suspended on September 24.

Crowne said FIFA “has devised a scheme” where, by way of its statute it is calling on its membership to go to the CAS for dispute resolution when they arise, but are, at the same time, refusing to pay its part of the arbitration fees, at least in this instance.

By doing so, Crowne said the TTFA was being denied access to justice since it is currently facing financial difficulties and FIFA knows this all too well.

“They are saying ‘you must go to CAS but we won’t pay our share of the arbitration cost’ especially in a case where a federation is mismanaging its funds,” said Crowne.

However, he said he did not see an issue with the impasse being heard and resolved at the CAS if FIFA was willing to pay its part of the cost.

“Perhaps FIFA can indicate that it would lift the suspension and indicate its intention to pay its half of the arbitration fees and we can go to the CAS and have the matter heard within a week or two,” he said.

Archie commended the position taken, but noted that the court would not be imposing any obligation on the TTFA to do so. “Well that is something that you and FIFA can consider but we do not want to seem to be pressing anyone,” said the Chief Justice.

Earlier in the proceedings, senior counsel Christopher Hamel-Smith said Justice Gobin was plainly wrong when she found the High Court had the jurisdiction to hear the matter. He argued it was abundantly clear that constitutionally the TTFA voluntarily imposed on itself that disputes of this nature would be taken to the CAS.

This was so, he said, because in its own constitution, the TTFA incorporated the FIFA statute that called for such a move when disputes arise.

“This does not mean that FIFA is above the law,” he said, making reference to last Tuesday’s criticism of FIFA by Justice Gobin. “CAS has exclusive jurisdiction. The TTFA cannot ignore the terms of its own Constitution,” he said.

Hamel-Smith pointed out that if the TTFA wished to remove that restriction, then it would be required to have it removed from its Constitution, but this would mean that the TTFA would effectively be taking the position that it no longer wished to operate under the FIFA Constitution.

“As long as the TTFA has not amended its constitution, it has committed itself to go to the CAS… It is not good enough for individuals to get up one day and say ‘we want to try this in the Trinidad and Tobago court in the face of what its own Constitution say,’” said the attorney.

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FIFA jurisdiction appeal decision on Friday
By Derek Achong (T&T Guardian).


The Court of Appeal is scheduled to determine FIFA's appeal, over High Court Judge Carol Gobin's decision to hear a case brought by embattled T&T Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace and his United TTFA executive team, on Friday at 3 pm.

Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Appellate Judge Nolan Bereaux reserved their judgement on the appeal after finishing hearing submissions from the two parties in a virtual hearing, this afternoon.

In the appeal, the panel has been asked to determine whether Gobin had the jurisdiction to hear the case, which she eventually decided in Wallace and his team's favour, last week.

On Monday, FIFA contended that under its constitution, the TTFA agreed to forgo litigation in local courts in favour of arbitration before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

It also contends that the Act of Parliament, which incorporated the TTFA, did not preclude it from choosing CAS over local courts in its constitution.

The TTFA's lawyers have contended that the constitution could not oust the jurisdiction of the local courts.

They also claimes that FIFA frustrated their client's attempt to challenge its (FIFA) decision to replace them with a normalisation committee by refusing to pay its share of the 40,000 Swiss Francs required for an appeal before the CAS.

If FIFA wins the appeal, Gobin's ruling on the substantive case would become null and void.

Delivering her judgement in the case, last week, Gobin ruled that FIFA's move to appoint a Normalisation Committee led by businessman Robert Hadad to replace Wallace and his team was illegal, null and void and of no effect.

Gobin said: "The Court declares that the decision of the Defendant dated 17/3/20 to appoint a normalisation committee was made in bad faith and for an improper and illegal motive."

She also ruled that FIFA's Statutes which speak to the appointment of such committees did not conform with the local legislation which incorporated the TTFA and prescribes how it is governed.

In her judgement, Gobin considered FIFA's Statutes on the committee which stated that it is to be appointed to member federations in "extraordinary circumstances".

"The rule essentially gives FIFA a free hand. The absence of a definition does not however limit my ability to consider the circumstances of it and to determine the lawfulness of FIFA's actions," she said.

"I have considered the evidence and have come to the conclusion that the decision to invoke the normalisation was unwarranted and indefensible," she added.

She said that FIFA attempted to usurp the power of the local legislation by directing the committee to arrange fresh elections.

She also took the opportunity to criticise FIFA for its apparent disdain for the local courts through its actions in repeatedly refusing to recognise their jurisdiction for cases within the country.

"The defendant's conduct regrettably calls into question the sincerity of its vaulted commitment to achieving its objectives to promote integrity, fair play, and friendly relations in society for humanitarian objectives as well as its commitment to respecting internationally recognised human rights and striving to protect them. Disregard for the rule of law is inconsistent with these objectives," she said.

While Gobin said she recognised the effect of the case on the sport in this country, she suggested that it could be considered warranted in the circumstances.

"The TTFA's actions in seeking redress before the Court was perhaps the only appropriate response which avoided capitulating to the demands of FIFA and thereby elevating the status of FIFA Statues above the laws passed by our Parliament," Gobin said.

Wallace and his colleagues are being represented by Dr Emir Crowne, Matthew Gayle, Crystal Paul, and Jason Jones, while Christopher Hamel-Smith, Jonathan Walker and Cherie Gopie appeared for FIFA.

« Last Edit: October 20, 2020, 12:41:23 AM by Flex »
The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

 

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