Wired868 Wired868 for smart sport news and opinion
“[…] Despite occasional mutterings, all those who pilloried and cursed William Wallace and Keith Look Loy to leave forthwith in 2020 have been silent since we left. Not a word from them.
“So much for their ‘love for the youths’. They are cowed into subservience to Fifa because they are afraid to stand on their own legs like free people, and are addicted to dependence on FIFA funding—which never reaches down to the membership, and which they never receive the benefit of…”
The following Letter to the Editor on Fifa’s unilateral decision to extend its ‘normalisation’ of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) to three years was submitted to Wired868 by former TTFA board member and TTSL president Keith Look Loy:
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)
Wow! So Fifa has extended the reign of the emperor who has no clothes. What a surprise!
Well, not really. I saw this one coming from around the block many months ago.
Despite the demonstrated failure of those who populate the Fifa normalisation committee—by which I mean their clear failure to 1) produce a viable plan to save the Association from historic debt and immediate ruin, and 2) prepare amendments to the existing TTFA Constitution, which was approved by Fifa in 2015—the world body has rewarded Robert Hadad and his merry band with another year of Fifa US dollar stipends.
Hadad hasn’t initiated ONE discussion with the membership regarding constitutional matters since March 2020. His response to his mandate to solve the financial predicament of the Association is a joke.
We remember only too well his initial tilt at debt repayment—begging the government and the private sector for donations. This from a ‘big business’ man.
Now, the Association is in the hands of bankruptcy experts. This failure is buttressed by Fifa’s apparent lack of care for membership concerns regarding financial transparency.
At the recently held AGM, members were bullied into accepting a financial statement that they initially refused to approve only because Fifa ‘reminded’ them that TTFA would not receive its annual Fifa subvention without an approved statement.
The truth is that TTFA stability and viability were never Fifa concerns—witness Fifa’s mollycoddling of the dodgy David John-Williams-led administration and its futile effort to have DJW returned to office in November 2019.
The truth is that TTFA is merely one part of the Caribbean and African vote farm that Fifa leaders harvest at will.
The truth is that the Fifa bosses need to retain control of TTFA and to secure its vote in FIFA Congress.
That security was assured with the DJW administration in place, but was threatened by the election of the William Wallace-led administration, which Fifa promptly removed.
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)
God alone knows who and what will inherit TTFA from Hadad. Fifa is probably scared stiff of a possible return by United TTFA (which I can say is not going to happen).
It is in Fifa’s interest to maintain the current, failed status quo for another 15 months.
But THIS is exactly what TTFA members wrote to Gianni Infantino on bended knee, LITERALLY begging for. They begged Fifa to impose its normalisation committee. Well, they got EXACTLY what they asked for.
And now, despite occasional mutterings, all those who pilloried and cursed Wallace and Keith Look Loy to leave forthwith in 2020 have been silent since we left. Not a word from them.
So much for their ‘love for the youths’. They are cowed into subservience to Fifa because they are afraid to stand on their own legs like free people, and are addicted to dependence on FIFA funding—which never reaches down to the membership, and which they never receive the benefit of.
(Copyright Sean Morrison/Wired868)
People will use and abuse you as you allow them to. Unfortunately, Trinidad and Tobago football deserves the contempt with which it is being treated by its masters in Zurich. Just so we like it.
Cry for our beloved country.
NLCL directors Brian Jordan and his wife Germaine Jordan officially announced the cancellation of the 2024/25 season of the NLCL Read more
“[…] The bigger problem here, is twofold. Firstly, Signal Hill Secondary is a former footballing powerhouse since the days of Read more
“[…] School opens on Monday. I can’t go to Massy Stores and say: I’m a ‘professional footballer’ in the TTPFL; Read more
The Trinidad and Tobago Men’s National Under-17 team will not have the benefit of an international tournament in Mexico, as Read more
“[…] The West Indies board may have, as I wrote, taken Alzarri Joseph out of the England series and provided Read more
The following Letter to the Editor, which deals with the aborted CG United Super50 Cup final between Barbados Pride and Read more
Want to share your thoughts with Wired868? Email us at editor@wired868.com.
Please keep your letter between 300 to 600 words and be sure to read it over first for typos and punctuation.
We don’t publish anonymously unless there is a good reason, such as an obvious threat of harassment or job loss.
