The call to change citizenship law

[gawd on pitch]

I was reading that some former national players are speaking up about changing the law so grand children of TT nationals can get citizenship. Apparently there's a base of players who are available (I haven't seen or heard of any players).

I'll tell you this, that TT government will never change the law to accommodate a football team. That law is very protectionist and outdated to say the least.

If the government decides to revise that law, they will put in a clause that will only grant citizenship for national interest. Maybe that's the way to go.

[Controversial]

They haven't changed the law because they are operating like the former colonials...

Protectionism to keep ex pats and their kids from changing the old guard that is controlled. They keep these outdated laws this way to prevent change..

We don't live in a progressive TT society...

[gawd on pitch]

@contro

Indeed.

[Thomo]

Law change or not, it I ent see some new fresh quality faces and a new attacking system Vs Grenada then Eve's gotta go!

[gawd on pitch]

@Thomo, Hopefully Barnett and Hackford can get a call up. They are both playing in England.

Sealy from Dallas FC MLS
Yeates from Pacific FC CPL

If we get the above players, that will help a lot

[Thomo]

@Thomo, Hopefully Barnett and Hackford can get a call up. They are both playing in England.

Sealy from Dallas FC MLS
Yeates from Pacific FC CPL

If we get the above players, that will help a lot

Barnett and Hackford depends on if they are eligible via parents or grandparents. From my investigations Barnett's mum is Trini, so might be easier. Hackford not too sure but if it's grandparents he would have had to apply before he's 18. DJ Buffonge has a Trini passport and he's a capable attacking midfielder, didn't get much playtime this season but training these days is like a full on game. There's also the right back at Crystal Palace, Danny Imray and Deron Payne in the Eredivisie. Loads of other players, Eve just needs to get his finger out his arse and get it done and at least put us out our misery by letting us know the outcomes of these players. He might at least get some sympathy and understanding if he's upfront with us about the talks he's had. This secrecy thing ent working for fans at all. Ghana and Jamaica letting yuh know out loud who they have on their radar!!

[gawd on pitch]

Yeah Thomo. Payne is a good find. One parent is Trini. He should be called up long time. He is a 6 footer RB that can probably play CB. We need a good CB. David is 34, he struggles to stay quick after the 65th minute.

[Thomo]

Yeah Thomo. Payne is a good find. One parent is Trini. He should be called up long time. He is a 6 footer RB that can probably play CB. We need a good CB. David is 34, he struggles to stay quick after the 65th minute.

I agree totally about David. It's time to move on. We have Leland Archer, and Luke Singh, Justin Garcia.
I believe the average age of the squad should be above 25 and maximum age should be no more than 28

[Trini _2026]

Archer is certainly not ready. 

[Trini _2026]

The aim of our players these days seems to be the USL or JPL. But anyway I am 100% angus ain't really looking if he was justin obikwu would have been discovered long ago.

[Trini _2026]

Thomo  the squad named . I really wonder who is out there eligible for us . There are ways to get this info... No justin OBIKWU he must be injured

[Fyzoman]

Out of the five or six men that other members named in previous posts, Barnett seems to be the only one who is not listed as outright having a Trinidadian parent...all the others are fair game.

Funny enough Steffen Yeates is listed as having been called up in May in a 39-man squad for WC qualifying?
Has a squad been named??

[Controversial]

Angus "sell out" Eve has a secret weapon so he plans to keep all selections close to his chest 

[Trini _2026]

A constitutional review is happening

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/vk2AmeQBTqs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/vk2AmeQBTqs</a>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/F6BEKkFt-mE&amp;t=1397s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/F6BEKkFt-mE&amp;t=1397s</a>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/86__K5IH8jw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/86__K5IH8jw</a>

[reggae-fan]

A change of that nature does have consequences some of which might be of national security interest.
This is not a sporting matter, its a national constitution matter that must go through due-process.

The Jamaican Government was very generous with this law when it was made part of the constitution back in 1962.

[gawd on pitch]

@reggaefan . . Exactly. Jamaica has benefited a lot from this.

Trinidad was more interested in protecting the wealth of the nation. This includes the social programs. If it is changed, there will be certain provisions to ensure it is not taken advantage of. I can see this law only being applied in cases of national interests.

[Controversial]

TT needs it's players, we are the only nation with backward policies like this other than Suriname who also had this nonsense... Neo colonial policies, has nothing to do with security. Yard is dangerous even without that law being passed lol 

[gawd on pitch]

In this case it does have to do with protecting the wealth of the country. Trinidad used to lead the Caribbean with social policies like free education, etc.. this law came from the people who were on Trinidadian soil. Is the law neo colonial? Possibly, but it wasn't scribed into the constitution to appease the monarchy or anything like that.

Good point about Suriname. I expected them to do better. If people think that Jamaica has a wide pool to choose from, they should see Suriname's. I wouldn't be surprised if 70% of the black and mixed players in the Eredivise have Surinamese heritage.

[Controversial]

@gawd

From my perspective and I'll explain. Why would a nation that fought for independence and self rule deny expats kids and grandkids etc from playing for their family's home country?

Neo-colonialism is far reaching and affects many facets of society. In this particular instance it's also tied to voting and keeping potential unbiased and well informed expats from changing the tide locally. You see the original plan of the PNM was emigrants for votes to continue the control in an invented two party oligarchy, while maintaining the racial divide as prescribed by the former colonials to control resources and limit progress. All while presenting the illusion of democracy. So that's where the in flux of Grenadians and Vincey's (like my great grandmother) came to Trinidad. The same principle being practiced now in other regions of the world.

However, in the case of football it is beneficial to our sporting organizations as a whole to grant citizenship to play for our nation, but that doesn't bode well for the former oppressors. They want an unfair advantage in world sport, meaning they don't want strong competition against the big nations. So our sell out governments continued to maintain outdated and neo colonial laws that affect our nation negatively.
It works well for the party in power and the controlled opposition.

The DLP was not formed because indians wanted segregation, it was formed because unity is not profitable and controllable by the former colonials. High profile assassinations wasn't beyond any outside influences in order to control resources and limit nationalization of industries stateside.

Capildeo wasn't a racist, his good friend was Williams and Williams also was of mixed heritage but both were under control and knew their place, which was at the opposite ends of one another in parliament. Where the former colonials wanted them to be, Capildeo didn't want to be in politics, he wanted to change the world through science and mathematics. The orchestration continues today while the nation is lost and cannot decipher between fact and fiction. 

Oppression is tied to old laws and regulations and it remains that way for a reason and has nothing to do with national security, but neo colonial agendas living on to retain control.

[Controversial]

@gawd

when my uncle was growing up with guys like Gullit and the boys from Suriname who he knew, were friends with and played with, they all would not mind playing for Suriname but there was no money, despite the gold resources which Holland took full advantage of.

But yes Netherlands is filled with Surinamese, Arubans and St Maarten players who could come back and make a strong side. Suriname even more so, sadly it has taken a while to get that law changed. I think my uncle when he was finance minister he pushed for it but there were other powers at play that prevented that from happening...

[gawd on pitch]

@ contro I don't think it's that pervasive. So in otherwords the colonial powers had meetings to devise a plan so Trinidad would not have a wide pool of players to choose from? I do agree that the colonial hegemony would want control of the affairs of their subjects. But I can't see the colonial powers meeting to create obstacles for Trinidad football team so Trinidad football team does not beat a big European country on the world stage. . If what you're saying is true, then how come Trinidad qualified in 2006? Wouldn't plans be in place to prevent that from happening back then?

By the way, Caplideo and the DLP was not about self determination for Trinidad and Tobago. The DLP wanted Trinidad and Tobago to stay under British rule. Why? They felt that black people would have taken over control of the country and marginalized the Indian population. Only the leaders of the DLP felt that way. It wasn't supported 100% by all Indians in Trinidad.

Caplideo was a brilliant man. Far from being a racist. It's too bad that he died at the age of 50. He would have made Trinidad and Tobago the center of science in the Caribbean.

[Controversial]

@gawd

FIFA and the powers that be do not want TT to have a strong team, it also holds for other nations like Suriname etc. It is the main reason why Caribbean teams have not progressed and also have not been given WC qualifying spots like other regions, despite having the second most votes behind Africa. So yes it is that pervasive because sport is a medium for change. The WC qualification in 2006 was a favor to JW for his loyalty to FIFA, we were allowed to have our players and play but Beenhakker ensured we didn't advance past the first round because of his tactics.

Capildeo did not feel that way, he was a friend of my grandfather, who was also friends with Williams and my grandfather was one of the very first to canvass for the PNM. Capildeo was forced into politics due to outside colonial interests that could not have a united TT. Don't believe what people tell you, it is not true, the colonials tend to re write history in a narrative that doesn't expose the truth of what really transpired.







 

[gawd on pitch]

One thing I thought about, we want the citizenship law changed. But has anyone identified top league players who will be eligible playing for us if this happens? I combed through the scouting for TT threads and all I see is a bunch of teenagers that might be eligible.

To play devils advocate, can someone identify at least five players who are between the ages of 21 and 30, and are playing in top leagues. I thought with this citizenship law being changed, we should have a handful of quality players ready to put on the red, white and black. Again, the only ones that have been identified are between 16 and 20. If this is the case, let's not bank on this citizenship law being the thing to help strengthen the squad and get us into the world cup.

Jamaica just copped Mason Greenwood. I thought our pool of players would be at least a quarter of the Jamaican pool. 

Are we sure there are "quality" players available for us? Or is it the 16, 17, and 18 year olds that I seen in the scouting for TT threads.