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President of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Randy Harris believes that the region needs to understand the role of FIFA in football a lot more and that Trinidad and Tobago may have been spared in the past but not now.

In an exclusive interview with Andre Errol Baptiste on isports on i95.5fm on Saturday, Harris reiterated his call for the region to get its affairs in order.

“I believe that looking from the outside, that FIFA was giving Trinidad and Tobago a Bligh as we say in the Caribbean because of the home of football, it was supposed to be a revenue-generating, income project but it was closed. But all of us are answerable to FIFA and from time to time, all of us are in situations that have to be regularized,” said Harris

“Fifa is very serious about how they operate in the Caribbean, if they are giving you these annual sums of monies, you have to be accountable. It happens to all of us, there are always questions being asked,” explained Harris.

On March 17, Fifa announced that it was implementing a Normalization Committee (NC) to run the football affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, replacing the duly elected Trinidad and Tobago Football Association led at the time by president William Wallace, who has challenged FIFA's decision since then in every aspect of TTFA's operations.

Speaking about the upcoming CFU, Harris said,” It is an ExCo meeting and at the moment, Trinidad and Tobago do not have a representative on the ExCo of which Fifa is the World Governing body, they will decide who will represent T&T, not the CFU. At the moment and until we are told something different, it will be the Normalization Committee.”

Asked if as CFU President if he has spoken with members of the Normalization Committee which are headed by businessman Robert Hadad, Harris said, "The NC has not reached out to the CFU. The CFU will wait until the situation is settled. There's a lot of reports, but most seem to be political. For right now, I prefer to stay outside. It's Fifa Matter, a T&TFA matter.”

Harris said that just before FIFA stepped in he had reached out to William Wallace despite claims by Trinidad and Tobago that the CFU was dead. He said, "We are working for the betterment of football in the region. CFU is unified contrary to many persons saying otherwise."

Wallace and his vice presidents Taylor, Phillips and Joseph-Warrick are challenging FIFA decision to remove them from office on March 17, and appointment of the Normalisation Committee on March 27 to run the affairs of T&T football, through the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. The former executive members are also locked in a battle with the sport bankers First Citizens bank for control of the accounts.


SOURCE: T&T Guardian