The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has opted not to do further business with a local T-shirt producer, but maintains that neither it nor the Native Spirit company profited from a recent charitable venture in aid of sick T&T footballer Akeem Adams.
In light of negative feelings generated, TTFA president and new Port of Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee declared an end to the business relationship with Native Spirit.
“It is twice that we have had dealings with that company. The first and the last,” Tim Kee declared, at a media conference at the Queen’s Park Oval.
Controversy arose after it was announced that of the $200,000 raised from 2,000 T-shirts sold, just $50,000 representing 25%, will be donated to the “Heart Of A Warrior Fund” in aid of the fallen national team player Adams.
The 22 year-old former T&T Youth World Cup suffered a heart attack on September 25 in Hungary where he played for the Ferencvárosi Torna Club. He has since had a leg amputated due to complications and has also had four life-saving surgeries.
The argument yesterday, was not that Native Spirit had done any wrong, but that in the spirit of the occasion, more should have been donated to Adams. Some felt it would have been better to directly donate $100 to the player’s bank account instead.
“Let me make it clear that not any thought of profit was discussed,” Tim Kee said. “It was made clear by both parties that this was not a profit-making venture.”
Tim Kee also said it was important that the TTFA send an apology to the public, stating again that there was “mis-communication” about how much of the T-shirt project would be donated to a charity in aid of Adams. According to Tim Kee, Native Spirit’s position was that they had produced a commemorative T-shirt at production cost--with no profit garnered for themselves.
“Accounts have no consideration for human feeling and situations,” Tim Kee said, while explaining Native Spirit’s position.
Native Spirit had been in negotiations with the TTFA to become a licensee, when Adams suffered a heart attack. The production of the T-shirt became a Native Spirit project with the TTFA preparing for the October 15 international friendly against New Zealand.
Yesterday, TTFA general secretary Sheldon Phillip said after a meeting on Monday, he accepted Native Spirit’s explanation that $75 from each of the $100 t-shirts went into production costs.
The TTFA general secretary commended Native Spirit for accepting the responsibility to produce the T-shirts on short notice. Phillip said figures indicated that a quarter (25 per cent) went to the charitable fund, 15 per cent to Value Added Tax, and the rest went to production costs.
“It is very easy to see where the $100 went,” Phillip said. “None of that went into the pocket of Native Spirit or the TTFA”