The following article was first published in the Jamaica Gleaner on Friday 20th March, 2020.
You can read the entire article on their website HERE.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA), now over the initial shock of being taken over by the world governing body for the sport, is challenging the move in court.
TTFA president William Wallace said on Wednesday that the association had mounted a challenge to FIFA’s decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
On Tuesday, FIFA said that the TTFA board would be replaced by a normalisation committee to restore governance and financial stability to the organisation. It took the decision after an assessment it carried out in conjunction with continental governing body Concacaf found extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt that resulted in the local body facing “a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity”.
INITIAL REACTION
In an initial reaction, Wallace, whose team took over from the David John-Williams-led executive last November, said he was surprised by the move.
But he told local media on Wednesday that he has now given his lawyers authorisation to challenge FIFA’s decision. The TTFA has retained the services of prominent sports lawyers Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle.
“We are going to challenge it because we don’t think that the process was followed. We don’t think that it is justifiable,” Wallace said.
In announcing the appointment of the normalisation committee, FIFA said that the current financial situation was putting the TTFA and the development of football in the twin-island republic at risk and that corrective measures needed to be applied urgently. It said the committee would have up to two years to do its work, which would include creating a debt-repayment plan that the TTFA could implement and overseeing new elections for an executive committee to run the TTFA again.
But Wallace was puzzled about why such drastic action was being taken, considering no such move was made against the last administration, from which his executive inherited a multimillion-dollar debt. And he questioned why new elections would be needed.
“They are talking about elections in two years or less,” Wallace said. “We are a duly elected body. There was nothing wrong with the elections and so on, and that is the course of action you would have taken.”
FIFA SUPPORT
Wallace’s United TTFA team defeated Team Impactors, led by John-Williams, 26-20 in the November 24, 2019, elections. In the build-up to the vote, John-Williams had appeared to have the support of FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, who visited the island for the grand opening of its Home of Football complex in Couva.
Wallace also had queries about FIFA’s selection of accountant Tyril Patrick to be in charge until the normalisation committee was set up.
He said the TTFA was informed, via communication from FIFA general secretary Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura to TTFA general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan, that until the committee is fully operational, the TTFA administration’s management will be supervised by Patrick, who will directly report to FIFA.
At the root of Wallace’s concern was Patrick’s connection to the former TTFA regime.
“The whole situation is a farce, as far as we are concerned. Here is a young man who was part of an administration that was part of a regime that led to the collapse of the association,” he said.
