TTFF collect W/Cup document$
By JOEL BAILEY (Newsday)Tuesday, September 18 2007
DUE TO the lateness in submitting relevant documents by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF), the football body will make a delayed comment today on a newspaper report on Saturday which claimed the TTFF received over $173 million after the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
According to the TTFF media officer Shaun Fuentes, the Sports Ministry sent documents to the TTFF at 3.30 pm yesterday, hence the Federation decided to make a response today, instead of yesterday, as promised.
TTFF special advisor Jack Warner, general secretary Richard Groden and a pair of lawyers, Om Lalla and Kelvin Ramkissoon met at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence, Macoya on Saturday, the same day as the newspaper article which accused the Federation of presenting an unaudited statement to the World Cup players.
Brent Williams, the Legal Advisor at the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, faxed figures of the sum received by the TTFF — $173,690,133.50 from the public and private sectors (a contrast to the $18,255,952 reportedly presented to the players by Groden last October) - to the players’ legal representatives Bates, Wells and Brathwaite London LLP Solicitors.
The $173 million sum was disclosed by Government after a request by the aforementioned legal firm on August 22, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
The London-based firm are representing the World Cup players in the bid to recover monies that they claim have been owed to them by the TTFF, insisting that Warner agreed to share with them 50 percent of all sponsorship funds derived from the team’s World Cup campaign.
The players blanked the TTFF’s $18 million offer and, having formed the Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT), agreed to take legal action against the TTFF.
It is stated that, based on the $173 million figure, the players are each entitled to a minimum of $6,947,604.54 for their participation in Germany.
Warner has repeatedly slammed the players for their stance, and the majority of the squad — goalkeepers Kelvin Jack and Clayton Ince; defenders Marvin Andrews, David Atiba Charles, Cyd Gray, Brent Sancho, Ian Cox and Avery John; midfielders Evans Wise, Aurtis Whitley, Carlos Edwards and Chris Birchall; strikers Kenwyne Jones, Stern John, Collin Samuel, Jason Scotland, Cornell Glen and Anthony Wolfe — have either been blacklisted or (in the case of Ince, Edwards and Scotland) refused to play the national team until the matter is settled.
Captain Dwight Yorke, defender Dennis Lawrence, goalie Shaka Hislop and midfielder Russell Latapy have all retired from international duty while Densil Theobald led the national team during the Digicel Cup here in January-February and the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States last June.