A workable structure and a good challenge.
Kieron Edwards, general manager of Terminix La Horquetta Rangers and Caldenonia AIA Morvant president Jamaal Shabazz both saw opportunities for football to capitalise on the latest incarnation of a professional league.
On Monday, the TT Premier League (TTPL) was launched at the Hyatt Regency hotel, with the first season in Tier 1 of the competition set to kick off on March 10.
In her address to the audience, Minister of Sport, Shamfa Cudjoe said Government’s investment in the TTPL would be $3 million per year for the next three years in the first instance, with world governing body FIFA contributing approximately US$300,000-US$400,000.
The Minister acknowledged that Government was giving less than it had done in the past to the TT Pro League but she insisted that clubs had to “come up with something” themselves.
“We will support you as long as you are willing to support yourself, to conduct yourself to attract funding,” Cudjoe added.
Representatives of the Ministry of Sport and the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago will be part of the league’s oversight body, and league operations will be reviewed annually.
Despite the reduced allocation, however, Edwards said the structure can work, “once we stick to the plan.”
The Rangers GM pointed out that the previous Pro League also had a structure that included checks and balances and that, “the first four years of the league, the league was totally funded by the clubs.”
And noting that his club puts out, “almost $2m a year,” he stressed: “We need to give respect where respect is due and kudos where kudos are due to the clubs that continue to support the professional football in Trinidad and Tobago.
And Edwards was keen for the TTPL to be proactive about revenue generation.
“The issue is how can the powers that be generate sustainable measures within the sport,” he told the Express. “We talking about revenue from gates; we talking ‘bout revenue from image rights. That is not really a club (responsibility), is more a league direction; if the league is going to go in that direction in terms of ensuring that the clubs that make the investment can gain revenue from playing in the tournament.”
Shabazz saw the birth of the TTPL as the beginning of something promising.
“We’ve not had enough focus on the football on the field; we’ve had focus on who should be president, who should be this, who should be that, but I think this is the start of something special, I am excited,” he said.
Shabazz acknowledged though, that clubs will have some hard work to do.
“The fact that FIFA and Government are part of the funders of the programme, it puts out a challenge to the clubs to come up with their part, which would be some funding and also the performance to gain the interest of the fans; the community engagement.”
But he said it was, “a good challenge.”
He explained: “Outside of the economic aspect, we have the social aspect. What will this do for a community like Caledonia/Laventille? If we could employ 15 to 18 players and pay them $3,000 to $4,000, it gives them food for thought in terms of the choices they make on the street.” Under the TTPL arrangement, players will be paid through the TTFA.
Shabazz said this was, “good for transparency.”
He noted: “We’ve had instances in the past where clubs allegedly received funding and it didn’t reach the players, so this is a good step.”
Coming back to the funding issue however, Shabazz said that the subventions being given, “would not be enough to carry a team for four months.”
But he remained optimistic that clubs would be able to work with what they will receive.
“Even teams working with the tightest of budgets, it is a big start, especially for a team like Caledonia to have a certain amount of funding to guarantee us to employ X amount of players.”
However, he said of his club: “For us, we want to be ambitious. We have some corporate partners that we accustomed dealing with, COURTS, Massy, couple others, so we want to go to them with a proposal and we want to get the community involved again with the team, because with that little buffer we have, we could now really go full speed ahead into the training.”
SOURCE: T&T Express