The determination of an application for a stay of FIFA's decision to suspend the T&T Football Association (TTFA) has been deferred.
Guardian Media Sports understands that when lawyers representing embattled TTFA president William Wallace and his remaining executive members applied to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) based in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the temporary injunction on Friday, they requested that it be determined before Concacaf's 2021 Gold Cup draw in Miami, Florida, USA at 8 pm on Monday.
However, as Concacaf subsequently agreed to hold this country's place until December 18, in the hope that the suspension is eventually lifted by then, there was no longer an urgent need for a hearing on the stay.
Sources told Guardian Media Sports, that FIFA's lawyers will now file their submissions against the stay on October 5, before it is determined by the CAS.
The date for the filing of submissions comes four days before Wallace and his team's controversial lawsuit against FIFA, which was the catalyst for the suspension, comes up for trial before Justice Carol Gobin on October 9.
Last Wednesday, Wallace and his team missed FIFA's extended 3:00 pm deadline for withdrawing the case as their application was filed at 3:23.57 pm (TT Time) which was minutes after the deadline had elapsed and was not served or determined by Gobin.
After FIFA announced the indefinite suspension (T&T Republic Day) the following day, Wallace filed another application seeking to withdraw the initial withdrawal application, in which he admitted that he was grudgingly discontinuing the case based on a majority vote during an emergency meeting between his team and stakeholders. (21 votes to withdraw; 8 to continue and 3 abstained).
The legal manoeuvre coincided with an announcement from Wallace's second vice president Susan Joseph-Warrick, that she resigned as president of the women's body and as the TTFA second vice president.
On Thursday night, Concacaf announced that its council had met and agreed to conditionally keep T&T's place in the draw.
In the event, that the suspension is not lifted by either FIFA or the CAS by 5:00 pm on December 18, T&T will be replaced by Antigua and Barbuda as the next highest-ranked team based on performances during the 2019 Concacaf Nations League.
Through the lawsuit, Wallace and his three vice presidents — Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillips, and Joseph-Warrick are seeking a declaration that the decision to remove them in March and replace them with a Normalisation Committee (NC) comprising of businessman Robert Hadad, attorney Judy Daniel, and retired banker Nigel Romano as a member, was null, void, and of no legal or binding effect.
They were also seeking a permanent injunction barring FIFA from meddling in the TTFA's affairs by allegedly seeking to circumvent the democratic process by removing duly elected executive members.
Wallace and his team initially brought proceedings against FIFA in the CAS in but were forced to withdraw in May as they could not pay the 40,000 Swiss francs (TT$276,000) in associated costs.
Their position was partly due to FIFA's policy to not pay its share of the fees and CAS's rules, which require the other party to pay the full costs when the other fails in its obligations.
Sources said that the costs associated with the application for injunctive relief, which is currently before the CAS, are considerably less than for the substantive appeal.
After the local case was filed, FIFA applied for it to be struck out as it claimed that the TTFA, by virtue of its membership with FIFA, agreed to forgo all legal action in local courts in favour of proceedings before the CAS.
The application was initially blanked by Gobin, who ruled that the local courts were the appropriate forum to resolve the dispute.
FIFA appealed with a hearing set for October 21.
While the appeal was still pending, Gobin set the date for the trial of the case on October 9 and gave FIFA an extension to file its defence.
FIFA failed to meet the deadline as it maintained its position that it did not accept the jurisdiction of the court in the matter. Its decision means that its legal team would now have limited scope to challenge the substantive case when it goes to trial before Gobin.
Wallace and his team also obtained an injunction against the normalisation committee after it attempted to facilitate an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) among members to vote to withdraw the case.
The injunction, which will remain in place until discharged by Gobin, was not opposed by FIFA and was granted.
Wallace and his colleagues are being represented by Dr Emir Crowne, Matthew Gayle, Crystal Paul, and Jason Jones, while Christopher Hamel-Smith, Jonathan Walker and Cherie Gopie are appearing for FIFA.
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Wallace tells coaches: "Bare with us two weeks again"
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).
"Bare with us two more weeks again and your matter concerning salaries will be taken care off," said William Wallace, president of the now-suspended T&T Football Association (TTFA) to the coaches of this country's national teams.
The coaches expressed concerns over the none payment of their salaries from a Steering Committee comprising Angus Eve, Clayton Morris, Wayne Sheppard, Jefferson George and Richard Hood, after ongoing negotiations with Normalisation Committee chairman Robert Hadad broke down over the TTFA's decision to challenge FIFA's ban, and reinsert their legal battle in the T&T High court with FIFA.
A letter expressing the concerns of the coaches on Monday stated: "The T&T technical staff members have been locked in negotiations with the FIFA-appointed Normalisation Committee for the better part of the last month. At present, we believe that we have an understanding and agreement between both parties, of the payment amounts due to us and the mechanism by which we will be paid.
"In previous newspaper articles and interviews, you and other members of the United TTFA have indicated that you were not opposed to the office staff and coaches being paid by the FIFA or Concacaf, and would not interfere or act in any manner to negatively affect the payment of staff. On Saturday 26th September, however, we were informed by the Normalisation Committee that FIFA is unwilling to make these payments because of the reinstated court action by the United TTFA. We, the national staff members, would appreciate hearing from you on how you can assist us with regards to our remuneration in the existing circumstances."
Wallace gave the assurance that a solution will come in two weeks time, October 9, when the court is expected to rule on their fight against FIFA for the legitimacy of having the normalisation committee replace them (TTFA) as the rightful administrators of football in T&T.
Wallace said although FIFA has money set aside for the payment of coaches, his group has already started working on a way to pay the coaches if the judge rules in their favour.
"If the judge rules against us, then it would be easy, as we will drop the case against the FIFA and the normalisation committee will pay them," Wallace explained.
However, if the judge rules in their favour, then they will call an emergency meeting among their members to decide how they will move forward. He did not say where monies to pay the coaches will come from if they are recognised as the legitimate administrators of local football.
Wallace, who said he took appropriate steps to ensure that the country is not left out of the Concacaf Gold Cup Draw last night by filing an Injunctive Relief in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland on Friday.
The TTFA also agreed to challenge the suspension by FIFA in the CAS, as well as reinsert the court battle with the FIFA back in the High Court.
Wallace assured they will not prevent the payment of salaries by the normalisation committee. He noted that matter is still the same way, as it was last month, as the matter is still in the court.
Wallace and his three vice presidents — Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillips, and Joseph-Warrick are seeking a declaration that the decision to remove them on March 17, and replace them with a Normalisation Committee (NC) comprising of businessman Robert Hadad, attorney Judy Daniel, and retired banker Nigel Romano as a member, was null, void, and of no legal or binding effect.