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“[…] We have instructed our representative on the former TTFA Board, Mr Brent Sancho, that the TT Pro League will not support any move by the former administration to engage in any legal battle against FIFA over their removal from office…”
The TT Pro League, via a press statement, has distanced itself from Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace and his team and support Fifa’s decision to send in a normalisation committee to run the affairs of the local football body.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/Wired868)
In a separate radio interview this evening on i95.5FM, Pro League chairman Brent Sancho declared that he was fully behind Fifa’s controversial decision, which his former 2006 World Cup teammate Shaka Hislop described as a betrayal of the local game.
The following is the TT Pro League statement, which was not sent to Wired868:
The Board of the TT Pro League has unanimously accepted the decision by Fifa to establish a normalisation committee to steer the financial and statutory affairs of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association.
As a football company who have invested over two hundred million dollars into the national economy over the last 18 years, the TT Pro League stand ready to work alongside the Ministry of Sports and the FIFA appointed normalisation committee for the continued development of the game.
We have instructed our representative on the former TTFA Board, Mr Brent Sancho, that the TT Pro League will not support any move by the former administration to engage in any legal battle against FIFA over their removal from office.
Wallace was SSFL president at the time.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-images/Wired868)
At a time when the dreaded coronavirus is taking its toll on the health and economic welfare of the country, on the request of the Minister of Sports, we are sending a proposal by 31st March for rebranding the professional league, use of community fields and developing a proposal for a partnership with FIFA, the Ministry of Sport and corporate Trinidad and Tobago. A plan aimed at addressing the economic, social and sporting needs of the national and regional community.
While we cannot pre-empt any selection by FIFA, we would like to see the normalisation committee comprise of credible non-partisan persons from the local legal, sporting and business sector.
We at the Pro League feel the time for mudslinging, character assassinations and egotism in our football must be replaced with a greater resolve to collectively address the challenges ahead.
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The position taken by Sancho/TT Pro League should come as no surprise to anyone following T&T football. I certainly would not be surprised if he is appointed to the Normalisation Committee. Fifa has a right to be concerned about the state of affairs here, but having witlessly contributed to its development, they should be ashamed of the action that they’re now seeking to heavy-handedly impose on us.
What the heck does this Pro League statement mean ? Nowhere does it attempt to explain (for bemused fools like me) why we are in this situation or why FIFA’s decision is fair (or even sensible at any level). It just supports a position ? A set of platitudes with no context ? Not good enough Mr. Sancho.
If I were Wired868, I would have a reporter ask Mr Sancho to tell me, speaking as former T&T footballer Brent Sancho rather than as a representative of any organisation, what he thinks of the Fifa move.
Methinks T&T football would be very interested to hear that.