MATTHEW Gayle, one of a pair of lawyers for the ousted T&T Football Association (TTFA) executive led by William Wallace, is still hopeful of a fair hearing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The ousted TTFA executive has appealed to CAS over the March 17 decision by football’s governing body FIFA to appoint a normalisation committee to oversee the daily operations of the TTFA.
The ousted TTFA executive’s legal team of Gayle and Dr Emir Crowne proposed that English solicitor Mark Hovell be the sole arbitrator in their legal battle against FIFA. They have stressed that FIFA acted in an unconstitutional manner, when appointing the normalisation committee.
But, on Tuesday, FIFA said they are in favour of a three-member panel to hear the dispute.
Gayle said on Thursday, “FIFA has objected and said they want three arbitrators. CAS knows that we want one arbitrator. What will now happen is (CAS) will make a decision, as to whether or not it should be one arbitrator or three, and they will let us know what the decision is.
“It’s that simple. We have to abide by the rulings that they gave in that respect.
Gayle noted, “We have confidence that we’re going to get a fair and balanced hearing from CAS.”
FIFA decided to scrap the previous executive led by Wallace and appoint a normalisation committee, led by Robert Hadad, due to concerns over the financial status of the TTFA.
“We’re of the view that it’s a relatively simple and straightforward point, for determination by an arbitrator,” Gayle said. “It’s not the sort of question that requires three arbitrators to sit and deliberate an item. It should be pretty straightforward.
“It’s not to say it should affect our ability to get a fair hearing, with three arbitrators,” added Gayle. “If we get three good arbitrators, then we’ll have a fair hearing.
SOURCE: T&T Newsday