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Wallace launches fund to challenge FIFA.
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It's now official. Former president of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) William Wallace will challenge FIFA's decision to remove him and his three vice president from elected office.

Wallace, the former president of the Secondary School League (SSFL) is calling on the nation to support he and his elected vice presidents stance to challenge the world governing body for the sport of football - FIFA through the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, via a ‘go fund me’ campaign which was launched yesterday.

The campaign will require members of the public to contribute generously towards fighting the cause of injustice against FIFA, through the website (TTFAFights). Wallace together with vice presidents — Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillip and Susan Joseph-Warrick will be represented by sports attorneys Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew GW Gayle. The legal cost is estimated to be around TT$300,000 to $500,000.

After more than a week of deliberating on their next move, after the FIFA decided on March 17 to appoint a Normalisation Committee to run the affairs of T&T football, in accordance with articles 8.2 of its Statutes, Wallace and company in a strongly-worded letter released on Monday, said the actions of the FIFA were unwarranted and illegal and called on the public to cover the tremendous cost involved in fighting for the rights of the people of Trinidad and Tobago to have the normalization committee removed, and reinstate the democratically elected administration. Wallace and his attorneys have until April 8 to make their submission to CAS.

According to Wallace's release: “The legitimately elected officers of the T&T Football Association, democratically elected by the electorate in the presence of both FIFA and CONCACAF officials on 24 November 2019, wish to assure the people of our beloved country of our continuing rejection of FIFA’s unwarranted and illegal intervention into football in T&T. FIFA’s injustice is made all the more transparent by the fact that it failed, consistently, to intervene against the David John-Williams administration that operated and generated massive debt for four years with FIFA’s knowledge and supervision, through their annual audit.”

It added “It is ironic that after we assumed office and generated a report which pointed out the absence of any financial internal structures, that the report was sent back verbatim as one of the two reasons given for FIFA’s action. Moreover, based on recent information we are aware that FIFA’s intervention was premeditated and the implementation of this action commenced since we won the elections. The elected officers of TTFA advises the public that we will oppose FIFA’s injustice at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.”

“We need to be heard and that right is enshrined in the FIFA statutes that govern all Member Associations. Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle. The expense of this legal challenge is a tremendous obstacle but we are determined to fight for what is right, to defend democracy and the sovereign right of our people to determine our own affairs. To that end, we have created a “go fund me” campaign and are calling on all patriots to contribute to our national cause as generously as they can. Please visit (TTFAFights).”

However, Ramesh Ramdhan, the current general secretary of the TTFA, publicly outlined a debt-relief plan which Guardian newspapers published on March 21 which he said was given to a FIFA/CONCACAF auditing team which came on a fact-finding mission in February. The payment of the mounting TTFA $50 million-dollar debt was to be done via a multi-million-dollar partnership deal between the TTFA, UK Architecture firm Lavendar and the Arima Borough Corporation which were to embark on a state-of-the-art sporting, a commercial and residential facility in Arima.

Still, the FIFA was not convinced and sought to appoint businessman Robert Hadad to head its normalization committee, with his deputy being Environmental Attorney Judy Daniels, another businessman Nigel Romano, as well as two other members, to be appointed soon FIFA disclosed.

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TTFA moves forward with Court of Arbitration for Sport case vs. FIFA.
Supporters of United TTFA


If you are a fan of the beautiful game and are tired of FIFA abusing its power as the governing body of world football/soccer then please donate today!

Here is our story, on November 24, 2019, we (the United TTFA) won the Presidential election to become the governing body of the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association 26-20. The incumbent, David John-Williams in four years increased the debt to TT$50 million and left the association in financial ruin. During his time, FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited John-Williams three times in four years, with his last visit in early November before the elections when the Home of Football (which was illegally opened because it didn't meet codes and standards) opened.

Now, let’s fast forward to March 4, 2020. On this day which marked the first 100 days in office, our President William Wallace who ran his election on transparency, revealed to the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association stakeholders and supporters a detailed plan of how much debt we were in and how we were going to get out of it in the next two years. An extremely feasible plan based upon an audit that took place within the first month of office. After this press conference, FIFA officials traveled to Trinidad & Tobago and were happy that President Wallace and his team had provided a financial synopsis of where the TTFA stood. They said that they were happy because this was 50% of the work.

Less than two weeks later, March 17, 2020, FIFA refutes the financial synopsis and installs a normalization committee, meaning that they will develop a board of local Trinbagonians to take control of the TTFA. Originally, FIFA had appointed Tyril Patrick, an individual who was John-Williams' accountant during the four years of his presidency. Ten days later, on March 27, 2020, FIFA appointed Robert Hadad, Judy Daniel, and Nigel Romano as normalization committee members. On a local radio station, Hadad mentioned that he had been in talks with CONCACAF and FIFA for several weeks prior to his appointment, proof that all along FIFA had been plotting this normalization committee without consulting with the administration in office, the United TTFA. 

FIFA and Infantino have proven in this case that nothing has changed since the United States government took down Sepp Blatter and other officials in 2016. They oversaw the democratic election win of the United TTFA, but because John-Williams did not win, they decided to enforce draconian principles that are both immoral and illegal. Therefore, the United TTFA will take its case to the highest court of appeal.

We are raising funds on behalf of the United TTFA as the team is set to appeal FIFA's decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). A victory will be historic and could change the way that FIFA treats its 210 association members forever. We are David in the fight against Goliath but with your help we can appeal to the CAS to rescind FIFA's decision to re-instate the United TTFA to the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association executive board and amend its statutes for “normalization”.

Deadline:
Register with CAS - April 7th

Here is the team who will battle FIFA in the Court of Arbitration for Sport:

President - William Wallace
1st Vice President - Clint Taylor
2nd Vice President - Susan Joseph-Warrick
3rd Vice President - Sam Phillip

A small donation will help us reach our fundraising goal. And if you can't make a donation, then it would be great if you could share the fundraiser to help spread the word.

Thank you for your support of the United TTFA!

TTFA moves forward with Court of Arbitration for Sport case vs. FIFA - Change.org