Businessman and former club owner Arthur Suite is urging ousted Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace to call off legal action against FIFA for sidelining him and his executive.
“Sorry, Mr William Wallace. I have tried very hard but have failed to come up with a reason that I can support your actions to oppose FIFA’s appointment of a “normalisation committee”, Suite wrote in an open letter yesterday.
In his letter, Suite was clear in his view that FIFA was not the enemy.
“Sorry, Mr Wallace, but your fight is not against FIFA but the state of the bankrupt TTFA that you inherited,” he wrote.
In the late 1970s and early ‘80s Suite, the owner of Aviation Services Limited, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Trinidad and Tobago Premier Soccer League, an attempt at professional football that was short lived.
In his letter, Suite suggested that Wallace’s team would lose their case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Noting that the Act of Parliament granted the TTFA the right to regulate and control football in the country under FIFA, he argued that in so doing, it surrendered all the TTFA’s rights to the world body.
Suite also described the local FA as bankrupt, with a debt of approximately US$5.5 million that it is unable to liquidate. He added, “...and as such, this debt affects TTFA’s ability to operate on a daily/monthly basis without one of its creditors seeking and obtaining judgment against the TTFA and the threat of one of its creditors foreclosing on the TTFA. This could be a major embarrassment, not only to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago but to FIFA as well.”
The TTFA’s current debt actually lies in the vicinity of US$7 million.
Suite stated it was well known that the TTFA’s financial state was not created by Wallace and his executive but he added that no one knew how Wallace intended to liquidate the organisation’s massive debt.
The former football promoter then raised the question of whether it was more than that debt that prompted FIFA to move against Wallace and his executive.
“Was there such an insurmountable problem after the official opening of this joint venture, ‘Home of Football Hotel’ between FIFA and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago that caused the closure of this Football Hotel immediately after Mr Wallace was elected into office?” he asked.
“Could Mr Wallace not have fixed this problem quietly, quickly and peacefully in order to save any embarrassment to (the) FIFA president, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the Minister of Sport and the former president of TTFA who attended the official opening of the Hotel?” Suite continued, adding: “It’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Suite added:”TTFA is totally dependent on finances from FIFA and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and as such the TTFA cannot be disrespectful at any time to FIFA or the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.”
He urged the Wallace-led executive to withdraw its action, accept change and “do what is best” for the country’s football.
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FIFA gives Wallace until September 16 to withdraw
Ian Prescott (Express).
BAN COMING
FIFA yesterday threatened that suspension proceedings will be initiated against Trinidad and Tobago should TTFA president William Wallace not withdraw the country’s High Court proceeding against the international body by September 16.
Without compliance, Trinidad and Tobago could likely be banned from international football and frozen from FIFA funding on September 18 when the governing body for world football holds the 70th FIFA Congress. Yesterday’s FIFA ultimatum came on the same day Wallace wrote directly to FIFA president Gianni Infantino seeking an avoidance of impending High Court action by negotiations between the TTFA and the world governing body for football.
Through general secretary Fatima Samoura, FIFA communicated in a letter to Robert Hadad, chairman of the normalisation committee it set up to run football in T&T after dissolving Wallace’s executive on March 17, 2020.
Samoura’s letter said: “We firmly request the TTFA to ask to the TTFA former leadership for an immediate withdrawal of the claim at the Trinidad and Tobago High Court by 16 September 2020, at the latest.”
“We deem that a failure to comply with this directive would result in the commencement of suspension proceedings via the relevant FIFA bodies.”
A mere four months after winning the TTFA elections, Wallace and his vice-presidents were booted from office when FIFA intervened and appointed its own committee to run T&T football.
Wallace’s exiled executive has since initiated High Court proceedings against FIFA, contrary to the world body’s statutes which mandate suspension from international football for such action. On August 13, High Court judge Carol Gobin ruled in Wallace’s favour, giving the former executive leave to challenge FIFA’s action.
In his letter to Infantino yesterday, Wallace vowed to continue court proceedings unless FIFA negotiates. “If you will not talk and if no agreement is reached, the TTFA is left with no choice but to continue on the path FIFA has forced us down through the courts,” wrote Wallace.
“That being said, together with my executive, I remain willing and ready to work with FIFA to resolve the outstanding issues in the interest of Football in Trinidad and Tobago. By refusing to work together with us and by repeatedly refusing to engage in mediation as we have called not less than six times for FIFA to do, you run the risk of irreparably damaging football in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Wallace described normalisation is a draconian and unfair act which he felt “seeks to undermine the independence of the TTFA and ride roughshod over the will of the electorate who voted for the United TTFA slate in November, 2019. Normalisation should not have been an option in this instance but rather, to allow the newly elected executive to work hand in hand with FIFA for and in the best interest of the TTFA.”
Meanwhile, Infantino’s general secretary Samoura was only interested in laying down FIFA law.
“FIFA is extremely concerned regarding the decision of the claim and the arguments used to dismiss FIFA’s application. In this context, we draw your attention to art. 59 of the FIFA Statutes, which expressly contains the prohibition of recourse to ordinary courts of law unless specifically provided for,” said Samoura.
“FIFA takes such a principle with the utmost seriousness and therefore considers that it is the responsibility of its member associations to ensure that this principle is implemented. We further wish to underline that the failure to meet these obligations may, according to art. 14 par. 4 of the FIFA Statutes, lead to sanctions as provided for in the FIFA Statutes, including a possible suspension.”