Camps says he’ll give up football job if challenged.
By Walter Alibey (T&T Newsday).
It looks likely that the reign of longstanding football administrator Oliver Camps could soon come to an end.
And a new era with former Trintoc, United Petrotrin and national team football manager Richard Braithwaite could soon begin
Newsday understands a number of top officials, including Keith Look Loy who is a FIFA Youth Development Officer and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation’s (TTFF) vice-presidents Raymond Tim Kee and Rudolph Thomas, are among a list of administrators that will be contesting the post of president at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of the TTFF.
Braithwaite is not among the list to contest the election but a number of ex-national players are calling for him to throw his hat in the ring.
The election, it is understood, is carded to be held within the next few months when a new president will be elected.
This is because Camps, who served as president of local football federation for the past 20 years, has agreed to step down if anyone decides to challenge him for the top post.
Contacted recently Camps said: “I have never contested the post of president because I was never challenged for the position.”
He made it clear his decision to step down in the face of competition is strictly to avoid disharmony in the federation. “Once there is competition, you always have one faction against another and this causes people in one faction to be angry or against those in the other,” Camps said last week.
However a number of ex-national football administrators are saying that while they support the choices of Look Loy, Tim Kee and Thomas for the top job in the football federation, they feel that business consultant Braithwaite is the best man for the job.
Camps said he will support anyone who wants to go up. “I have served and I have done so well, so I have no problem stepping down if there is need for it,” said Camps who was also manager of the Trinidad and Tobago “Strike Squad” during the failed World Cup campaign in 1989.
Ron La Forest who is considered one of the best strikers to play for Trinidad and Tobago, called for Braithwaite to take over at the helm of local football.
“I have worked with Braithwaite and he has always been a very honest, straight-foward and fair person who will not be afraid to call a spade a spade,” La Forest said.
La Forest feels confident that there is unlikely to be any sort of change to take place in the administration of local football if Look Loy, Thomas or Tim Kee should be elected.
Brian Williams, another former national defender is also lobbying for Braithwaite to throw his hat into the ring to contest the post of president. Like La Forest, he explained that he has worked with the affable Braithwaite at Trintoc and on the national football team.
“He has shown an interest in taking football to the next step. He is knowledgeable, he has experience and he has the interest of football at heart” the rasta hair-styled Williams said.
Known for his rugged tackles on the right of the TT defence, Williams was quick to add however that while he also knows Look Loy, Thomas and Tim Kee to be knowledgeable administrators, he feels that Braithwaite appears to be the perfect man for the job.
Edgar Vidale has also described Braithwaite as the number one choice for the position of president. But he is calling on the clubs to throw their support behind him if local football is to be moved foward.
Vidale stressed that Braithwaite has operated in that capacity for several years and he knows about the management of the football federation. According to Vidale, Braithwaite has also been at a number of high- profile international football meetings with the FIFA and was instrumental in guiding the Soca Warriors to the 2006 World Cup.
“Outside of Braithwaite I think Look Loy is the next best choice for the job as he has the academics to operate in such a position,” Vidale said. He dismissed Tim Kee’s candidacy saying the other top contenders will provide more enlightened stewardship of the local football organisation.
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