All is being done in anticipation of an October start to the Ascension Invitational Football League, this year.
Keiron Edwards, the La Horquetta Rangers general manager said he is hoping to ensure that all T&T Football Association's (TTFA) member clubs reach a point of at least full vaccination soon, to bolster their chances of having football.
On July 25, Edwards who also holds the position of president of the Eastern Football Association (EFA), said all the Rangers players, coaches, and other staff were either fully vaccinated or had received their first dose of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. The intention now is to ensure that all other club members receive their vaccines.
The Ascension League will cater for nearly all divisions of football in T&T, inclusive of the T&T Pro League and Super League; the six Regional Associations - such as the EFA, Northern FA, Southern FA, Central FA, Tobago FA, and the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU); Futsal; and the Women's Football League (WoLF).
However, a proposal for an Under-20 League is now gaining the attention of the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee. The League (U-20), has been organised by officials of Club Sando and its sponsor Tiger Tank, Edwards has said, but it is uncertain when it will get going.
The proposal is said to be in the hands of the normalisation committee chairman Robert Hadad, who is out of the country, attending the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States. But Edwards and Brent Sancho, interim chairman of the T&T Pro League, are both convinced that the U-20 tournament has won the heart of Hadad, and is certain to be approved.
Edwards and Rangers received approval last year to hold the Ascension League from the normalisation committee, but now he said the organisers are confused after Hadad, told Andre Baptiste during a TV interview in June that no permission would be granted to individuals to hold competitions this year.
He believes that the Under-20 tournament should not be approved if the Ascension Leagues is not given similar approval.
Guardian Media Sports was reliably informed that Hadad held a meeting with the pro league clubs, as well as Clayton Morris, president of the T&T Super League (TTSL) to garner support for the U-20 competition.
From that meeting, the clubs were all given the option to field a team in the tournament if they can.
Edwards said he wrote to Hadad last week and awaits a meeting with the local football boss on his return to the country.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian