Members of the national football team who played in the early rounds of the Concacaf qualifying matches leading up to the World Cup Finals are unhappy with their rewards.
The players met with members of the Football Federation, including team manager Bruce Aanensen, yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium to discuss their concerns.
Some 55 team members will receive bonus payments for leading the team to its first World Cup Finals.
The total number of players represents those who were part of the national squad dating back to T&T’s first qualifying match against Dominican Republic on June 20, 2004 up to T&T’s 1-0 second-leg win over Bahrain in Manama on November 16 last year.
The players are to share just over US$1.6 million, part of the US $6 million Swiss francs, for qualification to Germany.
Among members of the T&T team who met with Aanensen were Anthony Rougier, Cornell Glen, Kerwyn Jemmott, Anthony Wolfe, Glenton Wolfe, Anton Pierre, Gary Glasgow, Nigel Pierre, Jerren Nixon, Kerry Baptiste, Scott Sealy, Brent Rahim, Daurance Williams, Jan-Michael Williams, Nigel Henry, David Atiba Charles, Errol Mc Farlane Jr, Michael Celestine and Arnold Dwarika.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one player explained that the group of players understood fully that they were not there in the end.
“But at the same time, we feel that being there at the start of the journey was as important.”
Another touchy issue was that the players felt the T&TFF should have first made sure that everyone was happy with what they were getting before finalising a figure to be given to charity.
The T&TFF said that the players had decided that a balance of US $36,822 was for two local charities, one in Tobago and the other in Trinidad.
“We are not against giving money to charities, but we would have liked to meet with the representatives of the T&TFF before this was done.”
In the release from the T&TFF on Monday it was stated that the proposal which came after the first three final round matches when T&T held one point was presented to the players, and they all agreed that the players who were part of the final round squad would benefit from the amount.
Players who were part of the team in the second round (T&T had a first round bye) and semi-final round would also receive a bonus payment.
According to the release the overall structure of payment was once based on a points per match system and players’ overall international appearances which was mutually agreed upon by all parties involved.
In response, Aanensen explained that some of the players did not fully understand how the payments were worked out. “I believed some of them feel that they were entitled to a little more than they will be actually receiving.”
He added: “The players who were involved in the first round were not originally going to be part of the pay-out.
“An agreement was reached between the players representative and the T&TFF representative at the beginning of the second round of matches in terms of incentives and reward for the players.
“However Mr Warner felt he needed to reward everyone who was involved in the team’s journey to the finals.”
Asked if all the guys were happy at the end of the meeting the team manager said: “We are all human and it is only natural to feel that you deserved more that you got in the end.”