After nine days of matches in the new T&T Premier Football League (TTPFL), the tournament now faces an injunction via the T&T courts that will stop play indefinitely.
Damian Prescod, a former player now turn administrator, told Guardian Media Sports on Wednesday that his attorney will have the tournament stopped at any time now for breach of intellectual property rights.
Prescod, who played for Malabar football team—Drummers back in 1992/93 as a defender before he transitioned to football administration, said he is expected to benefit from millions of dollars from a football development plan that was conceptualised by him, before it was given to the T&T Football Association’s (TTFA) Technical Director Anton Corneal back on September 2, 2021.
Corneal, he said, gave a promise that he will take the proposal all the way to fruition.
With nine rounds of matches completed, Prescod said he has twice written to Corneal, the normalisation committee and the embattled football association to follow up on their agreement, but to no avail.
“I am fed up of the advantage. This is not about money really, because the proposed structure was designed to benefit all stakeholders, from players to coach to officials to clubs, referees, communities and then the country as a whole. I don’t know what was the hurry in getting the league started so fast, but I had plans of getting international investors to come here and assure all players receive a minimum salary of $10,000 a month.
“It was also designed to award the winning team a cash prize of $1 million, plus move on to contest other regional competitions in the Caribbean and CONCACAF.”
To date, the League, the first tier, has been a welcomed display by all, with players at each club receiving $50,000 from government/FIFA to share up in salaries. It also provides players with the opportunity to showcase their talent for national coach Angus Eve.
Eve, who took up the national coaching job back in 2021, following the exit of the national team from the Caribbean round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers under then coach Terry Fenwick, has called for a domestic competition to help with the selection and formation of his team.
The second tier of the competition is expected to begin this month, organisers have said.
Corneal yesterday described the claim as absurd. He said, “I gave him a listening ear. He came to me for ideas about a community league many years ago because I know the person who introduced us. I didn’t even know his real name, now the TTFA started a league he claims it’s his idea. We have had league football for many, many years.”
Chairman of the FIFA-installed Normalisation Committee Robert Hadad said he took no advice from anyone but the sport’s world-governing body FIFA and CONCACAF for the start of the league.
He warned that although he is aware of the proposal, no agreement was reached between the parties.
“I am aware of him (Damian Prescod), but there are hundreds others like him who have sent in proposals to reshape and re-organise the TTFA, but at the end of the day, nobody signed any contract with anyone of the many people, and I would not call any names who sent in proposals to put the TTFA back on its feet or reshape T&T football. Secondly, Anton Corneal has nothing to do with the TTPFL. The TTPFL was a plan that germinated from FIFA. The FIFA hired a consultant Giovanni Pavarotti from Italy and he presented a proposal for a developmental league. It is his proposal that we followed. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many different types of ways we can play football to reshape an organisation, but I am only guessing that everybody’s approach will be similar.”
According to Hadad, “If it similar to Mr Prescod’s, then that has nothing to do with us. At the end of the day, nobody signed any contract. Mr Prescod or none of the other people have any signed document or contractual arrangement with the FA.
“He (Mr Prescod) can do anything he wants, anybody can go to court, but he would not have any legs to stand up on. Everything we did went through FIFA. And as there is a God above, I have taken nobody’s advice, I have done this my way and when I say my way, the way guided by CONCACAF and FIFA.
“CONCACAF and FIFA have many organisations under their purview and they have many successful FAs. All we’re trying to do is imitate successful FAs all over the world, the primary one being America which is right around the corner.”
SOURCE: T&T Guardian
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