A journalist learns quickly the importance of confidentiality and protecting one’s source. So it is an exceptional circumstance that leads me to now reveal one such informant, in a bid to defend my reputation against a curious onslaught by Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid pulling aside the veil, I messaged my source this morning and offered him a six-hour deadline to recant his public position that was compelling me to expose him.
You see, my source for the story about the confrontation between then Men’s National Senior Team assistant coach Kelvin Jack and 18-year-old footballer Gary Griffith III—which the police commissioner complained about at length in a TTPS media conference yesterday—was none other than Gary Griffith himself.
In essence, Gary Griffith sr leaked a story involving Gary Griffith jr to me. Then, when he saw the published article, he proceeded to attack the reporter, me, for even giving an ear to the source, Gary Griffith.
It is enough to make one giddy. Did the police commissioner just invent the fourth person?
Griffith yesterday made three main assertions regarding the football team. He claimed that my stories are essentially negative gossip, the fall-out from them had impacted on the performance of the national team and caused the demise of their 2022 World Cup campaign, and that his son was a talented player who was suffering because of the identity of his father rather than benefiting from it.
As a long-standing sport journalist, it is literally my job to explain why a sport team is doing well or poorly. So I am duty-bound to respond to this invitation to reveal what off-field business might have affected the fate of the Trinidad and Tobago national football team, particularly where Griffith III is concerned.
First, the most important question of all: is Griffith III good enough to be an elite level footballer?
I have been asked this repeatedly by readers over the past year. I always take pride in providing straight answers. But in this case, I could not.
Wired868 generally covers the Republic Bank National Youth League, the Secondary Schools Football League, the Trinidad and Tobago Super League and the Pro League. The norm is that players distinguish themselves in one of those domestic youth or adult competitions before they are considered for national selection.
Yet, before he was selected two years ago on the National Under-17 Team, led by head coach Stern John and his assistant Kenwyne Jones, I had never heard of Griffith III. To date, I have never seen him stand out in a football match at any level—nor has any of the coaches, players or reporters I have spoken to on the subject.
The police commissioner, like many proud parents, has trumpeted his son’s perceived accomplishments the ‘first and only TT national to get a full scholarship in England’, and ‘signed by Northern Ireland team Coleraine FC’.
Far from justifying his call-up, however, Griffith III’s CV has only raised more questions.
Unlike the United States, England does not have a competitive university football programme. In fact, English footballers who are not good enough to turn professional and want to further their studies seek scholarships to the US.
The reason that the likes of David Nakhid, Shaka Hislop, Brent Rahim and Leston Paul attended universities in the US is certainly not that they were not good enough to cut it at an English university.
But look closer still at Griffith III’s ‘scholarship’ to Sunderland College, which was announced by coach Terry Fenwick in a media release that was subsequently published by the Trinidad Guardian newspaper on 30 May 2019.
‘National Under-17 midfielder Gary Griffith III and Brandon Alves have been accepted in a scholarship programme in the United Kingdom with Catalyst Agency, Improtech and Sunderland College to pursue his (sic) football and academic ambitions through the efforts of the local club, Football Factory Foundation (FFF)…’
For starters, Griffith III was clearly never the ‘first and only’ person to get a scholarship. He travelled with Alves. Is it possible that his father did not know this?
Football Factory is run by Fenwick, who further declared to the Guardian that:
‘[…] Our aim is to fill that void and fast-track youngsters of T&T into life-changing opportunities for the future stars of T&T football. It is fitting that FFF, who have engaged and partnered with Catalyst Agency and Improtech since November 2018, is now partnered with the T&T Police Service (T&TPS).
‘The partnership between FFF and the TTPS will provide expertise, knowledge and experience in the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup and Scholarship Program to ensure a solid, professional and achievable program to project our program nationwide through the multiple police youth clubs.’
So Griffith III’s scholarship was part of a business arrangement between an obscure UK company, Fenwick and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service?
‘The son of Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith II was accepted,’ the release further claimed, ‘on his own merit for his abilities and commitment to work hard and smart to make it.’
Doth thou not protest too much, sir?
Coleraine FC is a top team in the Northern Ireland League, which is a semi-professional competition. Their players work during the day and train at night.
A Trinidad Express article further suggested that the team planned to stick Griffith III and his best friend Jesse Williams into their academy rather than have them compete for places on their adult first team.
Neither player was granted a work permit to join the team in any case, and they were never going to come close to meeting the criteria set by the British Home Office.
Is it likely that Fenwick and the other British middle-men involved were unaware of this?
But two things seemed odd about Griffith III’s dalliance with Coleraine. First, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) began announcing Griffith III as an employee of the Northern Ireland team from as early as July 2020. Yet, Griffith III’s and Williams’ trials with the club only took place in October 2020.
Clearly the TTFA, through its media statements, was passing off the young man as a professional player when he was not. But why was the police commissioner so certain that his son would be accepted by the team when, in the football industry, nothing is more uncertain than a trial?
(Up until last month, TTFA releases still claimed that Griffith III was a Coleraine player.)
The second thing about Coleraine that caught my attention was their kit sponsor: Avec Sport. It was the same sport apparel supplier that Fenwick’s friend and agent, Peter Miller, brought to the TTFA in a controversial deal signed without board approval and subsequently voided by the Fifa-appointed normalisation committee.
So although I could not speak directly to Griffith III’s qualities as a player, it seems clear that, whether directly or indirectly, Fenwick was involved in virtually every aspect of his football career. And that, simultaneously, Fenwick was enjoying—or seeking to enjoy—benefits from the TTPS.
The reason that Wired868 readers have not heard more about these odd links is not negligence on my part. In fact, Griffith’s professional relationship with Fenwick has been the subject of quiet probes for months. The commissioner’s knowledge of such investigative work was partially responsible for his angry rant on 4 June, directed at Trinidad Express journalist Denyse Renne, in which he vowed to withdraw all his beneficial support from the national team.
But more on that later.
Unsurprisingly, in June 2020, Fenwick named Griffith III on his first training squad as national head coach. The Englishman invited several national youth players supposedly to aid in their long-term development rather than to necessarily play them with the senior squad.
Young Griffith qualified on the basis of his selection at Under-17 level—in conditions where, with the youth team starved of funding by the TTFA, Griffith sr stepped in with TTPS resources.
However, in July, when Fenwick trimmed his training squad and Griffith III was still included, a school coach rang me.
One of his former players, he said, was in tears. The young man had worked hard and tried to please Fenwick as best as he could, only to be dropped. But what really deflated the Pro League stand-out was that Griffith III was still on the squad.
“It is not right what is going on here, man,” said the coach. “The youth man from the ghetto, giving his all, and you take his dream away from him because of blatant favouritism?”
The coach and I agreed to talk on the record. But when the time came, he had a change of heart.
“I talked it over and I feel if I say anything, they would only victimise the boy more,” he said
The coach might have no regrets about that decision. The axed player went on to regain his place on the national team and eventually earn a cap under Fenwick—something that Griffith III still has not managed.
Despite the school coach’s about-turn, I reached out to others who had worked with Griffith III. All suggested that he was not nearly good enough for consideration on even a national youth team, let alone a senior one. But none would say so on the record. They did not want the ‘top cop’ as an enemy.
Earlier this month, however, Wired868 received correspondence that revealed what it was like as a coach to have Griffith III around your team.
Ken Elie, a retired army warrant officer class one, is a former Trinidad and Tobago national youth team coach and one of only two coaches to win the TTFA FA Trophy while in charge of a second tier team, WASA FC.
In 2018, Elie was head coach of lower mid-table SSFL Premier Division team, Trinity College Moka. Griffith III, who went to St Mary’s College but never made their first team, transferred to Moka.
In October, Trinity College Moka principal Carl Tang called Elie into a meeting with Griffith. The topic was the coach’s failure to use the police commissioner’s son in his first team.
“It was a straight case of trying to undermine the selection process,” said a member of the Trinity Moka technical staff.
Wired868 was unable to reach Tang for comment. Tang is also vice-captain of the Trinidad Rifle Association, which is headed by TTPS superintendent Wayne Mystar.
Elie stood his ground, insisting that Griffith III did not have the necessary quality to play for the Trinity Moka first team.
After their meeting, Elie wrote Tang on 15 October 2018 to clarify his views on ‘our most recent intervention with one of our parents, whose child is a member of our football team’.
‘[…] The perception of fairness goes a long way in harnessing, moulding and protecting the school and sports team/s from the perception of bias, favouritism and nepotism. This, of all the external concerns, is a most swift and corrosive element that diminishes, retards and poisons team cohesion. In fact, in some constituents the team never recovers.
‘The coach is the hub on which salient decisions are made in sports. His duty conduct and decisions are always effective and just when it’s done from an ethical and moral conscience (informed decisions).
‘[…] The ‘greater good’ must be the ‘golden rule’. Generally, based on the meeting’s core purpose, aim and understanding of the parents’ desire for their child, I perceive that the ‘greater good’ may not be realised, if all conditions remained unchanged.
‘What was clear, however, is that the parent will simply be satisfied if the child is automatically selected to participate in the Premier Division. This I suppose is a criteria (sic) for the student to gain acceptance at another organisation.
‘It will require an explanation to another player(s) on the team that will question justification for the inclusion of one against the exclusion of another. Presently, in the circumstances, this justification cannot be valid…’
Elie never played Griffith III. Yet, within six months of his failure to make a modest school team, the young man was jetting off to Florida as part of the National Under-17 Team.
In between, Griffith made a handful of appearances for North East Stars in the local Pro League. Stars finished bottom of the table with one win and six points from 18 games. They scored 16 times and conceded 58 goals.
Wired868 asked then Stars head coach Zoran Vranes, a former Trinidad and Tobago national senior and youth team coach, about his reason for selecting Griffith III.
Wired868: Was that because you thought he was at that level?
Vranes: Hahaha. At that time he was very young. He wasn’t ready yet, but you know l love to support young guys. He has a football future, but needs to work hard and be patient…
Vranes’ assessment was the most generous one offered to Griffith III by any coach, with the exception of Fenwick. Still, the Serbian said the commissioner’s son ‘wasn’t ready’ when he picked him.
Wired868 spoke to several current national players and technical staff members. They all agreed with the first part of Vranes’ assessment: the boy was not ready.
It is harsh to so dissect the dreams of a young athlete, but then it is his father who, inadvertently or otherwise, chose to make the boy’s supposed talent a topic of national discussion; and a rod with which to attack the credibility of Wired868’s coverage.
In truth, Griffith III seemed to always be a distraction to the national team.
“He was normal at the beginning but then you saw the spoiled brat behaviour start to come out,” said one national senior team player, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He is a player that holds on to the ball. He has always been that type of player from the first day he started to train.
“He would hold on, and hold on. And if anyone talks to him, he would say some kind of foolishness.”
Several eyewitnesses report that, once during a training session in Nassau, national midfielder Hashim Arcia was irritated by Griffith III’s antics.
“Boy run back, nah!” Arcia shouted, as the rookie repeatedly lost possession while trying to dribble and then left it for his teammates to attempt to win back the ball.
It is alleged that Griffith III’s angry response included the phrase ‘I am a real bad man!’
Arcia, a soldier, just walked away.
“Hashim [Arcia] just laughed,” said the source, “and said ‘I am not wasting my time with you’.”
By the end of the following day, nobody was laughing.
Editor’s Note: Click HERE to read Part Two, as Wired868 looks at the role played by both Griffiths in the implosion of Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Senior Team, when the commissioner threatened to make me ‘a person of interest’ in two police investigations, and when the fate of Soca Warriors assistant coach Kelvin Jack was sealed.
Wired868 has provided readers with solid, independent journalism since 2012. If you appreciate our work, please contribute to our efforts. Support Independent Journalism |
Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
De flciking entitlement of father and son is beyond belief … unless you have been following the antics of dem both.
Nothing can be worse than taking tax-payers money to fund this debacle, right? I tell you what is worse – elevating one who has not proved his worth, above those who have.
Like father, like son.
This is what proper journalism looks like
Clinical. So far.
I wanted to say something I hearing fuh donkey years about the fruit and the tree but I cyar remember it.
Next time fuh sure.
Lovely article lots of stuff in it for discussion. Not convinced u met your objective. History littered with players like this . I recall Theo Walcott being picked for England and darr3n bent as I recall a black player left out . Coaches and team management are responsible here . But I enjoy your writings maybe u could do one on the selection of the latest coach. I am sure there is great story there. Good luck and keep up the high standard
Unfortunately this is a case of a father, a man who has a very important and public role in T&T, putting his own son into an unwinnable situation. And when the world comes crashing down it will be the son, not the father who crumbles. This is THE most selfish act as a father or parent I can imagine.
The truth is, to the best of his abilities, GGIII could not make a CIC team, Moka team, QPCC academy team, North Zone U17 team and should never come close to a national U17 or senior men’s team.
The national U17 team was just about selected when GGIII appeared on the field – quickly followed by police lunches for the squad as well as police transportation. Was GGII being a good citizen (using public not private resources) or was there a deal to be made? Similarly, when Fenwick was appointed and national coach and GGII came bearing resources (again taxpayers resources not his own), GGIII suddenly had a spot on the team.
There are many, countless more, deserving young players who should have had a spot on the team before GGIII (Che Benny, John-Paul Rochford, Jabarry Francis, Kevon Williams and Jaheim Faustin to name but a few).
But you see, when big men come together to fool other people in private, they end up making fools of themselves in public.
Is this about the ability of a young player or the exploits of a parent? After the much touted TTFA “expose” a la David J. Williams I am even more cautious with “credible sources” that may also have hidden agendas. As to independent journalists, can they ever truly exist?
I agree. It sounds like cyberbullying. The dude is only 18. Many sportsmen become good in their 20s. What if Griffith III is a late bloomer…….for example, like Steve Waugh, the great Aussie captain? Waugh only scored his first hundred after two and a half years of international cricket. We don’t know and the level of needless criticism could potentially torpedo the young man’s development. I don’t know when in this country, disagreeing with someone meant you also had to disrespect and humiliate them. Its the epitome of childishness.
Thank you for being one of the people to address this. This young man’s inclusion in the National Team was transparent to all from day one. How many previous versions of this squad has had some form of player favouritism. How has corruption tainted this beautiful game. Now adults who have grievances with the father choose to lash out at his innocent son. He was not one of the eleven that stepped out on the field and demonstrated a lack of pride in themselves and their country in putting their best performance forward. Each player on that field should have realised this was an opportunity for them to be visible on worldwide media and not a single player recognised that by their performances. This article is not journalism in my opinion and is shameful. The world has changed and this sort of bullying can no longer be tolerated. As a father I empathise with this young man. He does not deserve this. We obviously still do not understand the emotional and psychological consequences of this type of abuse.
“Is this about the ability of a young player or the exploits of a parent? ”
‘Exploits’ if you want to be kind and spin it that way. I can think of several much more accurate words, starting with ‘meddling.’
But my questions to you are these: the two are mutually exclusive, aren’t they? It is simply not possible for both things to be true, right?
Thanks for agreeing. I am really surprised.
Congratulations on this article. People need to have their K-pax exposed at times for all and sundry to see and smell.
@stacy, does the minister of sports even knows about sports ??????
i love the response from Arcia. It shows a level of maturity. Gary III is just ridiculous, he should have been proving he must be part of the set up.
Mr Liburd, you provided a lot of insight here, for this I thank you!
Waw… What in the dark does eventually come to light.
This is a TLDNR summary for those who want a quick gander…(my comments in brackets):
Fenwick does a bunch of things that make you go hmmm…too many to name all involving helping Griffith III in one way or another
Ken Elie said: Griffith III did not have the necessary quality to play for the Trinity Moka first team.
Elie had to stand up to pressure from the school Principal Carl Tang on this matter (hmmm)
Six months (later), [Griffith III] was jetting off to Florida as part of the National Under-17 Team. (hmmm…what?)
Vranes picked him for Stars even though he “wasn’t ready” (why?? Since when do coaches pick team members who are not ready? Is this normal?)
Also agreeing on GIII’s lack of readiness: several current national players and technical staff members.
Some teammates allege GIII has a problem: always holding onto the ball. (No wonder they said he wasn’t ready! He is not a team player! Looks like his dad isn’t either…if all he can do his push his own agenda in a TTPS press conference – how is he NOT fired for this?)
To be continued later today…
This was your best article. I always had my doubts about the player. Your solid facts in a chronological timeline confirmed this. I played football and follow football and never heard about the player in school football or the pro league. We don’t deserve to play in a World Cup for 50 years
Good morning to to this reporter u are so about what you said about Griffith son his father is just out to make problem with coaches and know the press I am living in NY now but i play a lot of football in Central Trinidad in the 70 up. it don’t work like this to really make a national team. gary is talking about his 18 year old son, how good he is? as far as I could remember Trinidad history of great players like Warren Archibald the Douglas Brothers from point all these guys there many more I cannot remember now never never never made the national team at 18. the only guy I could remember was Leo Brewster. he was still in college but man he was very good. Dwight yorke and Russell latapy and marvin faustin and all those great guys never made the team at 18. so gary Griffith is a dam foolish making more trouble in Trinidad football big time shame. u doing u great job. expose these corrupt ppl. shame on Fenwick for putting Trinidad football in all this mess again
as a journalist myself, i wanted to satisfy my curiosity and i checked Coleraine’s website. Griffith II was nowhere there… I knew something was up with and fishy with that.. I had also seen another player listed as being a member of Banfield. He was not in that team list either.
Exactly Ian.
Perhaps we would have reached further if favoritism wasn’t the name of the game. We need better coaches who will pick the cream of the crop
Has the Minister of Sport seen this article and if so, does she have a comment?
The minister would be wise to stay out of this.