Believe it to achieve it

Looking at the body language and generally sullen expressions of David John Williams, Jamal Shabazz and Anthony Rougier on "Sporting Edition" on TV6 last Friday you would certainly think so.

In fact, whenever there was a wide shot of the dialogue, the enduring impression to me was one of three friends at the deathbed of a lifelong compere while the attending physician--in this case host and former national player Marlon Morris--outlined the grim prognosis.

I know the intention was to face up to the realities and challenges being encountered by the League and to chart the way forward with hopes and maybe even realistic expectations of support from government and the corporate community. Still, my lasting impression was one of three fellas burdened by a task that was crushing both their spirit and enthusiasm.

Let's hope that this interpretation is way off the mark, and even if it is, that it has nothing to do with speculation that Jack Warner's days as one of the most influential personalities in football may soon be at an end. Indeed, to suggest that storm clouds are gathering over the game in this land merely because of the situation involving one man is to confess that nothing meaningful has been done to put the sport on a solid, progressive, developmental footing in the more than one hundred years of its organised existence in these parts.

And that just cannot be so. Not when we were a force to reckon with in the region long before Jack was developing into the personality that he now is. In the same way that many of the younger generation know nothing of the long and glorious history of global dominance of West Indies cricket, there seems to be a blissful ignorance to the achievements of Trinidad and Tobago in the true golden era of our football in the 1960s and '70s, including a bronze medal at the 1967 Pan American Games and the performance at the qualifying tournament for the lone CONCACAF spot at the 1974 World Cup finals in then West Germany, where corrupt officiating in Port au Prince robbed us of victory over hosts Haiti, a result that ultimately proved decisive despite a 4-0 thrashing of Mexico. Yes, Mexico.

But I digress. The point I'm trying to make is that if the officials of the TT Pro League and the key personalities of the various clubs are themselves lacking in the conviction that any new plan will work, then they might as well not bother. You better believe in the product you're selling, or go and sell something else.

Dexter Skeene and others at the hierarchy of the League have every reason to tire of endless comparisons with the top flight in England, Spain and Italy. In fact, it is more than a little irritating to hear them respond to those remarks, so giving validity to such asinine observations.

Rather than aspire to a champagne existence on mauby money, football at the top level in this country, like any other undertaking that seeks to achieve viability through spectator and commercial support, needs to be run efficiently. More than anything else, that means scheduling well, well in advance and sticking to those schedules, come what may.

I know it doesn't sound as enticing as having some big-name star of the European leagues to promote the thing or some female entertainer to wine down the place with almost no clothes on just before kick-off or at half-time, but if you want to sow the seeds of support for the League to the extent that it will take root and flourish as part of the culture of our various communities in years to come, you have to start making the product as accessible as possible to the people who are likely to be the most loyal supporters.

Of course it involves a tremendous amount of marketing. But how do you market something consistently, effectively and well in advance of kick-off in August in the midst of an information vacuum? Who's in the League? How many teams? We in June already, so where is the fixture list?

We need to get away from this notion that we must somehow be seen to be comparing with Old Trafford or the Nou Camp or the San Siro. If you're about selling a product, isn't it worth considering that a greater atmosphere can be created and greater grassroots identity with teams nurtured if well-maintained community grounds are used rather than having the same couple hundred fans lost in the comparative vastness of the established stadia?

Just a thought or two that I felt may be worth pondering upon. But even if these options are completely doltish, utterly impractical or entirely unrealistic, officials of the TT Pro League must believe that their alternatives are going to work, that it's going to make a difference in regenerating interest at the top level of our club game.

More than cricket, more than any other sport, football is in our blood. Just check almost any open space in the country. The challenge is to tap into that rich vein in a way that connects with our people, and so avoid any preoccupation with being a poor man's Premier League or La Liga.

Lift your heads fellas, there is hope. But you have to believe it first.