The Normalisation Committee of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) now holds the responsibility of confirming whether seven clubs, suspended by the T&T Super League for being non-compliant, are really suspended.
The Super League teams were suspended back in 2018, but last month (August 27) were given appeared to have been spared via a letter by the normalisation committee's acting general secretary Amiel Mohammed, that his association has no documentation to show that they were suspended.
The suspensions were done under the then David John-Williams-led TTFA, but since the football association has changed leadership twice, from John-Williams to the William Wallace-led United TTFA administration, to the now Robert Hadad-led Normalisation Committee/TTFA, where the documents appear to be non-existent.
From 2018 to now, the clubs- Central 500, Defence Force, Harlem Strikers, Marabella Family Crisis Centre, Tobago Phoenix, WASA and the Youth Stars were not able to take part in any football-related activities of the TTSL, including having voting rights.
Last year as the Super League voted in Clayton Morris as the new president in place of Jameson Rigues, the League's first vice president who took over the leadership following the resignation of Keith Look Loy in October 2020.
Mohammed in his letter to TTSL secretary Peter Thomas, said: "The T&T Football Association acknowledges receipt of your letter dated 24th August 2021 and writes to inform you that the TTFA has no documentation indicating the suspension of the TTSL clubs from the TTFA.
"Additionally, since the League's inception in 2017, no TTSL club has ever been suspended by the TTFA. Noting the above, if you do not have any communication that indicates that a club was suspended by the TTFA, we kindly ask that the TTSL forward those correspondences that were sent from the TTFA, informing the TTSL of the suspended clubs in the past."
Contacted, Thomas referred to a notice of a reconvened Extraordinary General Meeting of the TTFA on April 21, 2018, at which a decision was taken by the AGM to direct the Board of the TTFA to suspend non-compliant members provisionally and to recommend their dismissal.
He said this document was resent to the TTFA on either Sunday or Monday (September 5 or 6).
The TTFA secretary is set to deliver its ruling by the end of this week.
Guardian Media received a copy of the minutes of the AGM which showed that not only were the seven TTSL clubs suspended, but they were among 21 organisations to have been suspended, namely - Barrackpore United, Cunupia FC, Coaches Association, Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU), Edinburgh 500, Futsal T&T, Guaya United, Harlem Strikers, Matura Re-United, Petit Valley Diego Martin United, Police FC, Players Association, Primary Schools League, 1976 Tobago Phoenix, Real Maracas, Saddle Hill, Siparia Spurs, TTWOLF, UTT, WASA FC and the Youth Stars of Tobago.
Some of the reasons given for being non-compliant includes having no constitution, no bye laws and audited financial statements, among others. Following the TTSL's AGM and Elections last year, it was stated that Defence Force was the only one of the seven suspended clubs to have fulfilled all the requirements to be compliant to date.
The TTSL prepares for another AGM and election on September 19 as a battle rages between Kieron Edwards, the Eastern Football Association (EFA) president and Ryan Ottley, the manager of the Defence Force TTSL football team, for the leadership of the TTSL.
The two are the only candidates after current president Clayton Morris decided not to seek re-election.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian