Federation

UNITED TT Football Association (TTFA) lawyer Dr Emir Crowne says a media release issued by FIFA, on Tuesday, is “misleading on several fronts.” He is now wondering if the world-governing body for football “ever had the intention” of mediating the ongoing dispute or if it was “all merely a game.”

Four days after T&T Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said he was willing to talk to FIFA, to assist in the impasse involving the world governing body for football - FIFA and T&T Football Association (TTFA), FIFA has responded to the ongoing court matter which the TTFA has lodged in the local courts.

“[…] Forget however one might feel about [Terry] Fenwick on a personal basis, the simple fact that he has allegedly encouraged [William] Wallace to bypass the TTFA Executive Board and sign off on ‘secret’ contracts demonstrates that Fenwick was not concerned with proper administrative process, protocols or practices, but rather his own selfish interests.

I saw in the Express yesterday (back page) that William Wallace is open to Government input on the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association’s (TTFA) issue with FIFA. I agree with the Prime Minister that the Government’s concern is the future welfare of the game of football and the resounding benefits it confers on the development of our youth, to mention one critical aspect of it. But taking that exact premise into consideration who would want to consider as an option second guessing the experience, success and strategic might of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

TT Football Association (TTFA) lawyer Matthew Gayle said they made a request to FIFA that all matters between the parties would be resolved through mediation, so it came as a shock when FIFA said the mediation it agreed to previously had nothing to do with the legality of the appointment of the normalisation committee.

FIFA agreed, on Monday, to settle its dispute with the former T&T Football Association (TTFA) executive led by ousted president William Wallace out of court.

"If we win in the court, we lose and if we lose in the courts, we lose."

This is the position taken by Mike Awai, a former Business Development Officer at AC Port-of-Spain, towards the current situation where football's world governing body - FIFA, and the United T&T Football Association (TTFA) are locked in a battle for the right to manage the affairs of T&T football.

The following is the second part of Wired868’s look into the short but eventful tenure of the William Wallace-led Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA); and was done through a series of interviews, on condition of anonymity, with five persons from the United TTFA slate and/or employed elsewhere within the local body: