Federation

Letter to TTFA Membership

On October 25, the membership of football in T&T will decide on the way forward for the sport, coming on the heels of the T&T Football Association’s (TTFA) triumph in the court, and a FIFA suspension that has caused tension among the football fraternity.

MINISTER of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe echoed the sentiments of the Prime Minister that the United TT Football Association (TTFA) had won the battle against FIFA, but will lose the war in the end as the country’s footballers will suffer.

“[…] I note that in response to Mr [William] Wallace’s indication that Parliament can change our law if it wants, the prime minister responded by saying that he is willing to help wherever he can.

I have noted the response of the Honourable Prime Minister to Monday’s ruling of the High Court in the TTFA v FIFA matter in which the PM said, among other things: “So now United TTFA has ‘won’ and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the ‘colonial’ FIFA. We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us. Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves.”

DEPENDING ON the outcome of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on October 25, the reinstated executive may consider approaching the Government to help chart a way forward.

The great English writer Charles Dickens in his book Oliver Twist, said the “…the law is a a** — a idiot”. This is not illustrative of what transpired in the courts of Trinidad & Tobago regarding the T&T Football Association (TTFA) nor an indictment on the learned High Court Judge’s ruling on the matter between Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the TTFA but rather an illustration of what occurs when egos overwhelm common sense and refuge is sought in the courts.

Four days after the embattled T&T Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace and his United TTFA executive team won their controversial lawsuit against FIFA in the T&T High Court when Judge Carol Gobin ruled that FIFA's move to appoint a Normalisation Committee led by businessman Robert Hadad to replace Wallace and his team was illegal, null and void and of no effect, Keith Look Loy, who was instrumental in the United TTFA team battle in every aspect and at every stage, has resigned.

THE recent ruling by Justice Carol Gobin in the matter between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFA) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) certainly generated a lot of interest in the national community. Differing views were expressed by those who looked at the narrow confines of the concept of the rule of law and others who looked at the broader and more practical picture of the implications of the ruling for local football.