Angry Warriors
Recently elected president of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) David John-Williams has come in for some blows from angry members of the Soca Warriors, who have described him as insensitive.
In response to that decision, John-Williams said players received salaries from their clubs while all costs incurred when representing the national team, such as flight, accommodation, meals and sundry expenses were being met by the T&TFA.
The statements have infuriated the players who feel that John-Williams was out of place.
The players, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, also took offence to calls by John-Williams for a policy document on players entitlement to match fees, which he described as a serious oversight. The embattled president expressed concerns, saying “It appears that match fees are not a function of experience, number of appearances at national level, time on the field or category of staff.”
One member explained that the players all want to be paid the same fees. “When we are on the field and a player is in the area with a clear shot at goal, no-one studies if he has been on the field for five or 10 minutes, neither do we wonder about his experience or how many caps he has. All we care about is scoring the goal for our country.”
They are also questioning the necessity for a board of directors meeting to address the issue of the payments. The meeting will be held tomorrow at the TTFA’s office. TTFA officials say the board will determine how much match fees will be paid to each individual.
The players have said that the new president knew what he was getting into when he campaigned for the position of president. “We know the Association has money because we were asked to fill the stadium the day before the Guatemala encounter for us to be paid and that is what happened.
We want to be paid before the expenses are taken care of because these fees can be covered when the TTFA gets funding from corporate T&T,” said one senior member. He added: “The new president came into office promising to get investors so now is the time to do so.”
They are sending a warning that although the players want to represent their country, they are taking a stance at the Haiti match, but they explained that if the matter is not resolved soon, they will look at other means.