Former international referee Ramesh Ramdhan today officially launched his campaign as he bids to become the next president of the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association (TTFA).
At a gathering of sports media, zonal representatives, representatives of TTFA and supporters at the Trotters Sports Bar and Restaurant in Port of Spain, Ramdhan presented his vision and 4-year plan to recapture the heights of Trinidad and Tobago football reflective of our legendary qualification at the 2006 World Cup.
Central to Ramdhan’s 10-point plan is re-engaging corporate T&T and the implementation of a good governance structure. Ramdhan says he wants to ensure consistent qualification of T&T teams at the World Cup and the commoditization of sport through sport tourism.
Ramdhan described the current state of national football today as “lacking proper plans and processes and plagued by weak financial systems.” He said, “It is my commitment to re-boot the TTFA through strong leadership and clear direction to rebuild the TTFA’s image and reputation both at home and abroad.”
Ramdhan stressed that his vision is one of inclusivity. He said, ‘There will be no unilateral decisions under his leadership as success can only come through participation by all stakeholders.”
Lending his support to Ramdhan’s bid is businessman and owner of Trotters, John Sabga who is seeking election to the position of 1st Vice President alongside Ramdhan. Sabga has been involved in football for over 18 years having served as both referee and coach to the American Youth Soccer Organisation (AYSO) and as sponsor and manager locally.
In his address to attendees, Sabga said, “What football needs is someone with true passion for the game, a love of country and a vision to resuscitate the sport… I know that we can return the glory to the sport and Ramesh is the man to do it.”
Ramdhan pointed out that Trinidad and Tobago is in the midst of World Cup preparations and has promised to utilise all available resources to support national coach Stephen Hart, as the national football vies for a place at World Cup 2018.”
Ramesh Ramdhan is the first Caribbean national to ever have officiated in a World Cup final. He has over 30 years of experience in local, regional and international football and is the recipient of the Trinidad and Tobago Hummingbird Silver Award for contribution to sport.
Related News
Central clubs want Concacaf involvement.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).
Even as Ramesh Ramdhan, the T&T referee who officiated at the 1998 World Cup, was launching his campaign for presidency for the T&T Football Association (TTFA) at the annual general meeting and election of officers at Trotters Bar, Maraval Road, yesterday, clubs in Central Trinidad were contemplating writing the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) to overturn a decision for Ramdhan to be their choice for that election.
They feel their rights are being infringed upon as they had no say in who would represent them at the election and in the future.
The clubs have been clamouring for Central president Bryan Layne to call elections for the past months, as they claim he is reluctant to name a date for Central Zone elections for fear of loosing. But yesterday Shymdeo Gosine, managing director of Harlem Strikers, said a date of November 25 was called for the elections, but still it failed to satisfy the clubs as Ramdhan, who is not their choice, will still represent them at the TTFA presidency election.
Ramdhan got the nod from the executives of the CFA overwhelmingly without the knowledge of the clubs and yesterday representatives of the nine clubs in the top flight Central association league continued their call for the former T&T referee to be removed and the clubs under the new executives, which will be after the elections, be the ones to nominate the choice for the central zone.
Gosine told the Guardian yesterday: “As it is now, Ramdhan is still the one because the executive of the CFA took too long to call the elections. However we at the clubs level will not be accepting that and will call on the Concacaf or Fifa to get involved to ensure that democracy in football prevails.
“We will do anything necessary to have Ramdhan removed, whether he is voted as the TTFA president or not.”
Elections in the different zones were suspended earlier this year, pending the amendments to their constitutions which is suppose to be in line with that of the parent TTFA. After the constitutions have been amended it will go for approval by a Constitution Committee of the TTFA.
It is understood that all the zones such as the Northern Football Association (NFA), Central Football Association (CFA), Tobago Football Association (TFA), Southern Football Association (SFA), Eastern Football Association (EFA) and the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU) had completed their amend ments and sent them for approval.
However Guardian was reliably informed that minor changes had to be made since the TTFA represents a wider base in the sport which meant the constitutions of the regional associations had to scaled down to suit their mandate.
A representative of the Northern FA explained that following the approval of the TTFA constitution on July 12, a meeting of the different zones was held recently to rectify the problems with their constitutions and from this meeting it was agreed that Southern FA officials would make the necessary amendments to their constitution and send it for approval by the TTFA constitution committee.
It was also agreed that if that constitution is approved then all the other zones would just use that as the accepted model to correct their constitutions. Gosine yesterday explained that this new development was not communicated to the central clubs.
However he told the Guardian that their main concern is that if the executives were the ones to chose Ramdhan, then why weren’t the clubs called to a meeting, if their members make up the executive.
“If members from the different clubs were called to vote for Ramdhan then show us the minutes of the meeting,” Gosine said.
Gosine promised that clubs will not stop until the right thing is done and there is democracy within the management of the sport in Central.