T&T referees president unhappy with TTSL disciplinary decision against Look Loy

Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees’ Association (TTFRA) president Joseph Taylor is unhappy with the decision handed down by the Trinidad and Tobago Super League’s (TTSL) Disciplinary Committee to the FC Santa Rosa duo of Keith Look Loy and Jovan Rochford and vowed to inform the TTSL on the next step forward for the local referees.

No match officials turned up for Santa Rosa’s away match to Siparia Spurs on 19 November, and a TTSL source told Wired868 that the TTFRA were awaiting the Disciplinary Committee’s verdict on the 5 November incident involving Santa Rosa before officiating at any of the club’s games.

Photo: FC Santa Rosa coach Keith Look Loy (centre) talks to his players at half-time while then captain Jovan Rochford (right) has a drink of water during 2015/16 CNG National Super League (NSL) Premiership Division action against Club Sando Moruga at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya.
(Courtesy Nicholas Bhajan/Wired868)

Yesterday, the TTSL Disciplinary Committee decided to hand TT$1,000 fines and one-match bans to each of the two Rosa coaches. However, Taylor suggested that the decision was too lenient.

“We are not happy with the verdict,” Taylor told Wired868, “especially when the attacks against referees continue on social media from the same gentleman, Keith Look Loy.”


Taylor, who had previously said local coaches and players needed to show more respect towards referees, stated that he would be writing TTSL secretary Camara David to find out how the Disciplinary Committee arrived at their decision.

The TTSL’s Disciplinary Committee, according to David, operates independently and without influence or interference from executive members. The committee comprises lawyers Chandelle Delzin, Rhyjell Ellis and Stefan Fabien.

Earlier this season, Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) defender Chad De Freitas was fined TT$500 fine for alleged verbal abuse of referee Joel Cox on 2 July.

Photo: Referee Rashby McPhie (centre) tries to play peacemaker during a skirmish between Defence Force’s Keston Williams (second from left) and Cunupia FC’s Dinelle Lopez during TTSL One action at the Larry Gomes Stadium on 2 July 2017.
Williams and Lopez both received red cards before the matter was finally settled.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)

In the aftermath of the 5 November game between Rosa and Guaya, referee Cecile Hinds sent an incident report to the TTSL, which was copied to Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams, Head of TTFA’s Refereeing Department Wayne Caesar and Taylor.

Hinds stated that Look Loy and Rochford swore at her and the former made sexist remarks while the latter threatened her.

Look Loy admitted to cursing at the official and subsequently apologised. However, he denied the other accusations and claimed that the Disciplinary Committee had rejected Hinds’ claim that she had been threatened.

“We have never threatened anybody,” said Look Loy. “And there was no issue with FC Santa Rosa before that game on 5 November. This picture about Santa Rosa being gangsters who bully referees is a fabrication.

“Now that the Disciplinary Committee has decided, I hope the refs will come out and do their jobs. They are paid for a service well in advance.”


Photo: TTFA president David John-Williams (right) smiles with fourth official Cecile Hinds before the First Citizens Bank Cup final between Defence Force and Ma Pau Stars at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on 2 December 2016.
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)

On Monday, Look Loy submitted a proposal to the TTFA president for the improvement of local referees.

“My thing is not to fight a war with the referees, it’s about developing football,” said Look Loy, who claimed that there was a turnout of under 33% for a recent referees fitness test. “There are issues like recruitment, training and accountability.”

At the moment, though, Taylor does not think the TTSL president is a friend of referees.

“We want to see the development of football and we also want to see better refereeing,” said Taylor. “This platform created by Look Loy cannot help the development of football. It can only break it down and turn persons away from the refereeing fraternity…

“As coach and president of the League, he needs to be more careful with his utterances.”

The TTSL general secretary agreed with Taylor—at least in part.

Photo: Then TTSL interim executive (From left to right) Lt Ryan Ottley (TTSL interim VP), Keith Look Loy (TTSL interim President), Minister Darryl Smith, Camara David (TTSL Secretary), Kester Lendor (TTSL interim Assistant Secretary) and Quincy Jones (interim Board member).
(Courtesy TTSL)

“I think it has been known for a while that the refereeing could be better,” said David. “But the way [Look Loy] went about expressing himself was unquestionably the wrong way.”

David insisted that the TTSL was trying to stamp out the abuse of referees.

“We have been encouraging officials to write reports to us,” David said. “We want to be pioneers […] For us to improve our football,  things like this need to be stamped out.”

With just three games left in the inaugural TTSL season, the immediate test for David, Look Loy and the League is to finish the season in accordance with regular scheduling.

“We would really like to put this behind us now,” said Look Loy.

Santa Rosa’s next TTSL assignment is a rescheduled fixture against Siparia Spurs at the Palo Seco Velodrome on 26 November.

Photo: Referee Rashby McPhie (right) has a word with FC Santa Rosa midfielder Durwin Ross during TTSL One action involving Bethel United at the Arima Velodrome on 18 June 2017.
(Courtesy Annalicia Caruth/Wired868)
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About Roneil Walcott

Roneil Walcott is an avid sports fan and freelance reporter with a BA in Mass Communication from COSTAATT. Roneil is a former Harvard and St Mary's College cricketer who once had lofty aspirations of bringing joy to sport fans with the West Indies team. Now, his mission is to keep them on the edge of their seats with sharp commentary from off the playing field.

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155 comments

  1. CFA, Veteran Footballers support FC Santa Rosa’s call for immediate end to referees’ boycott

  2. ..And so did Ramesh Ramdhan, former head of TTFA Referees Department, last night on I95.5fM..

  3. Listen tgese refs feel they drop from heaven. Who assesses the refs? The executive that they elected assess refs. I5s like the doctors in T&T, no doctor says the other doctor did sonething wrong. We have some of the worse refs in the world. As for Tobago, one place you sure to get dubious decisions is there. As a player we always knew when you go to tobago you playing against 14 Men

  4. Keith got off easy (sic). Cyd Gray allegedly told Tobago’s top referee, “Ref you’re f’ing shit and yuh ain’t f’ing good”. He was charged with: a) Using abusive language towards a Game, and b) Behaviour that brought the game into disrepute. He is suspended from from all activivities of the TFA which includes attendance at matches organised by or under the auspices of the TFA at any venue.
    This at the end of a game where the ref gave 2 penalties in added time, sent off the keeper for a “phantom offence resulting in a 2-1 lead becoming a 3-2 defeat for his team. Note: matches are also played at the Cyd Gray Complex…..(perspective is always good :)) … These thing are seldom heard whenever the happen, or at all.

  5. this will always happen coach and presedent at the same time abuse off power

    • Simply holding the two roles does not constitute an abuse of power!!!!! This whole imbroglio is heightened by some of the senseless commentary surrounding it.

      We can agree that there is the potential for conflict. But to argue that simply by virtue of holding the two roles power is abused is ridiculous. Secondly, the current situation is clearly one where KLL spoke as the coach of a team which was affected by two sets of decisions. He did not speak as president

    • Brian – I’m always amazed at how you can so easily separate Keith’s two roles. The perceived conflict of interest is so obvious. The league’s constitution should not allow for this joint role. It’s crazy and outside of Trini there’s no precedent for such.

    • Brian, the England Premier League board is made up of Premiership club directors. So it is about what checks and balances there are to ensure that the boss doesn’t have a free hand but is held to account in my opinion.
      And I think when the TTFA board overruled DJW’s wishes when he wanted to have Stuart Charles-Fevrier become head coach, it showed that even the TTFA constitution is much better at dealing with such stuff now.
      The president can only get away with what the board/members allow him to get away with. The Super League would be no different I’m sure.

    • Carlos Lee you should reread my message . How does his role as president impinge upon his behavior as coach?

      You keep speaking of referees as protected species that nonsense. Over the last three weekends in the nfl several referees were called to the carpet by coaches and the officiating panel had to issue some rulings. It happens in the nba often when s few days after a game the league will rule that a certain call was wrong. You are wrong !!!!!!! You believe that it’s ok to critique the performance of the prime minister. President, commissioner of police, teachers, medical process – but not referees. That’s ludicrous! You have ordained them untouchable. People criticize Keith Rowley and Anthony Carmona everyday. Tell me a few intelligent reasons that what place them above scrutiny.

    • Bear in mind that it would obviously be easier if Look Loy was NOT head coach in terms of perception. And it is wrong for him to be cursing referees as TTSL president. Absolutely.
      But I just don’t think it is necessarily a conflict of interest.

    • Lasana Liburd I don’t disagree. I did state that there is the potential for conflicts of interest. His actions in those two games were not influenced by his role as president but as coach . Should the roles be separate? Of course !

    • Brian – your comments suggest that you’re in agreement with my point. Ie. There’s a perceived conflict of interest and the constitution should be amended to not allow this dual role.

    • Lasana – yes. It’s a lot better now than the days of Jack Warner. Back then the president, Jack Warner, and the board were “fingers of the same hand”.

    • Some of the things said to the referee at the side of the field, I’m sure Look Loy would not have said if he was meeting her as president in a board room. And that’s a problem.
      It is possible but tricky to have dual roles. But when one role makes the other problematic for the league, eventually something will have to give. In my OPINION. Just an opinion.
      In the end, democracy will prevail and the TTSL clubs will decide what is best for them.

    • Brian – I think you would agree that the situation in other football leagues would be much better comparison. For example, can coaches in the EPL criticize match referees without being fined? You and me as spectators can criticize a ref and get away with it. But those in authority are not usually afforded the same pleasure. For example – you wouldn’t find president Camona criticizing the police or the army. But you and I could call them all kind of names. You wouldn’t find the provost of a university criticizing the professors under them. But you and I could say what we want about them. You wouldn’t find Dave Cameron criticizing the West Indies players. Wait – poor example. Lol

    • Carlos, who’s paying for the services of the referees in Super League games.

    • Lasana – I do hope so Lasana. Hopefully we have some “smart” club reps on the board who will look at what transpired this year and champion for changes in the TTSL constitution.

    • Timothy – I assume the clubs. Who else would pay for their services? Lol

    • So you paying for a service that you are not satisfied with and you should just accepted it and say nothing.

    • Timothy – there’s a reason the TTSL elected Keith as president. If the clubs, who he represents, believe that overall the performance of the refs doing TTSL games have been piss poor, then he should sit with the Association to which the refs belong to discuss these concerns and develop a plan of action to improve the situation. The refs don’t go out there to intentionally perform poorly. No ref is going to reject opportunities to improve his/her game. Keith was elected to provide leadership to the league. He needs to start leading.

    • Carlos Lee no I don’t agree. Sports administration is sports administration. The actual sport does not matter

      Also it not true as both the prime minister and the president have criticized police performance.

      Yes as a professor at times you come under the whip of the provost. Been in a faculty where that happened. It’s their job to do that at times.

      The nature of the relationships you are questioning is problematic. KLL criticized them as a coach. The referees are a separate body. They don’t have a reporting relationship to Keith so they not under his thumb

    • Carlos Lee I’ve always said that the potential for conflicts arise. But let’s separate that potential from what has happened. His actions occurred as coach! He has not invoked any presidential powers. Great with the matter at hand – a coach criticized two referees for poor performance. Plain and simple. The coach was deemed to be disrespectful and sanctioned according to league standards. The referees say they not happy with the sanctions. You now need to call them out because they can’t make that call and want to be taken seriously .

    • Brian – I’m curious to know who recommended the current members of the Disciplinary Committee? If Keith was involved in their appointment – directly or indirectly – then it all boils back down to the perception of conflict issue.

    • Carlos Lee ask him. I don’t know myself.

    • Maybe Lasana can dig that up for us.

    • Lol. Roneil is doing aa good job staying on top of this. He will follow up. 😉

    • Carlos keeps moving the goal post. Take win! Tired see this proverbial goal post move. Maybe, some should just come out and say what they really want to say a-la what the penalty should be and what position they want KLL to hold if any instead of moving goal! Jeeeze!!

    • Junior – how so? I’ve been pretty consistent. I’ve always thought that Keith’s action was deserving of hash punishments. A $1000 fine and one game ban is not a reasonable deterrent. If I was on the Disciplinary Committee I would have pushed for an unconditional public apology from Keith, a minimum of 2 game ban, and a club fine of at least $10K.

    • The above would serve as a good deterrent and I’m sure would have been seen as appropriate by the referee association. Thoughts?

    • Ever thought for a second there might not have been any statues on the TTSL books to treat with such an incident? As a result, the league cannot just go pulling numbers from out of the air to treat with such. Now that is has happen and, in the absence of statues, the league can now sit down and implement laws to treat with such. Further, the TTSL, in a democratic process, voted KLL as president knowing full well he held the position of Head Coach to a member club. Before the vote everyone involved knew of the ramifications of him wearing 2 hats. So, it is not now our business to argue conflict of interest. The TTSL Clubs had every opportunity to do so before voting him in. We, as, armchair critics have no business in TTSL conflict of interest argument – that is the business of TTSL. Neither are we or the refs to decide what punishment is fair when a matter is before the TTSL Tribunal.

    • Junior – TTSL and it’s member clubs are either partially or completely funded by state dollars, so it gives the citizens every right to question what goes on within. Additionally conflict of interest issues provides an environment for corrupt activities, which ultimately affects all citizens either directly or indirectly. Do you prefer to close your eyes and wait till corrupt activities occur or should one shed light on it early and try to prevent it? Turning a blind eye to potential conflicts of interests allowed Jack Warner to steal millions of dollars from the TTFA coffers. Let’s learn from past mistakes bro.

    • The point I’m making is, everyone involved (directly or indirectly) were quite aware of the conflict of interest before a vote was cast. Similar was the situation with the TTFA Presidency. However, with the TTFA Presidency people rose the issue and argued before the vote that such position of the President holding position in a member club was untenable. Thus, DJW “gave up” (or appeared to have given up) his position at WC. No such argument was made in the situation of KLL in the TTSL. So doh come now after the horse done left de gate to call back de race!

    • Carlos Lee make sure that your facts are correct.

    • Brian – please correct me where you think I’m wrong bro. Talk to me.

    • Carlos Lee I’m not sure about the funding of TTSL . Please look back at the interview of KLL with Steve David

    • I asked you to correct me if I’m wrong and you asking me to go look for the facts? Can you provide the facts to correct my statements? Who funded the Tobago teams?

    • Carlos Lee in a higher education department, don’t Professors in a department, say Mathematics elect a Chair for the Math department. In such a case doesn’t the professor elected by his peers serve in a dual role as Professor and Chair? Dual roles exist in multiple industries to suggest otherwise disingenuous. In this structure there are disciplinary procedures through a structure. The TTSL went through its process and their is no accusation of bias by the Referees Association but rather dissatisfaction with the result. Imagine refereees dont care about rules and process but focused on result.Your commentary on the fine and penalty is rluninformed, please look at the English FA fine structure for verbal abuse for a referee, it would greatly inform your commentary. I mentioned specifics early in this thread. Lastly, please educate me on the government funding levels of TTSL teams. I would be curious as Pro League teams were not making payroll due to lack of funding. If the levels are as you state then I would start a TTSL team tomorrow.

    • Based on your logic there’s no potential conflict of interest in having a coach hold the role of president of the league. Hey – more power to you. We don’t seem to learn from our mistakes. We truly get the leaders we deserve in Tnt. If you want to form a TTSL team and would like to get them funded with state dollars I suggest you form one in the sister island?

    • Please address my point that dual roles exist in multiple sectors, I never questioned the posibility of potential conflict. However, you have yet to provide evidence of actual conflict of interest or abuse of power. Ironically, shockingly you can not see the dual role by the referees and how it has negatively impacted this matter. You must be a fantastic goal scorer because you always move the goal posts to suit your shot. I am from Tobago its not a sister island for me, please provide data for your assertion. Is it your position that the THA wholly finance Tobago based TTSL? If that is the case please state the clubs and level of funding. I recently spoke with Speyside and they had challenges with funding fo SSFL so please educate me.

    • ..Lasana. For the record, I said to the referee and apologized the next day, that she was “effing up the game”. That is my crime for which I will pay the $1’000..

    • Sean – so you’re saying that the Tobago clubs did not receive financial support from the THA to cover league dues and other expenses?

    • Sean – your statement with respect to a head coach and president being equivalent to a university professor and department chair is a very poor analogy. There are checks and balances within a university to ensure that conflicts of interest issues are minimized. A chair cannot singularly hire staff or other faculty members. A chair can’t enter into contracts alone – those are handled by independent procurement offices. A chair also reports directly into a Dean or other university official, so there are checks and balances in place. The only thing a chair can do is assign preferred classes to himself. And there’s no real conflict of interest there.

    • Carlos, you seem damn sure that there are no checks and balances in the TTSL. Enlighten we Nah? Time to stop dragging yuh flag! The matter yuh went all around de world and move de goal about 40 times to deal with, is done and dealt with. Why is it so hard to move on from it with plans to avoid it reoccurring? Why can’t we collectively provide ideas as to move the TTSL forward? In my opinion, it is the best functioning league in Trinidad. How can we protect it? It seems, some of us, are intent on destroying it once KLL is at the helm. Leh we wave de flag together nah?!

    • Junior – I’m done. Peace out!

    • Nah, ah doh want yuh to done! You are an asset to everything football in Trinidad. Continue to be an advocate for positive change. However, let us not come across as being biased for personal or unknown reasons. If we are to be biased, let us be biased for the greater good my brother. Bless up! We waving!

    • Carlos Lee I had to check out for a while as here in NJ we having “Thanksgiving” dinner at my house and the wife vex with Lasana Liburd because I am on Wired 868. Coincendenatally a University President, a couple VPs, an AVP or 2 and a couple department Chairs are at my house and they could not stop laughing at your response about the analogy. For the record they are laughing, not me. I still see no numbers from you on THA funding for levels for TTSL clubs from Tobago? I caution you that my cousin is the THA Secreatary of Finance and Admin and I have reviewed the THA budgets in line item for the last 10 years through Anslem London. Again, doh hide tell me your understanding of the level of funding for TTSL clubs by the THA?

    • ..Nor does TTSL receive any funding from MSYA. Still, the league will complete its inaugural season in the black and without debtors..

    • Carlos you suggested that Santa Rosa be fined $10k. Why is that… why do you believe the club itself should be punished?

    • Carlos said a lot of things that I hope he has proof of, including statements about Jack Warner.

    • Nigel S. Scott also just pulling a number out of the air is nonsense. I’m assuming that there are guidelines for fines like in the nba and the NFL etc. just pull a number and hit the club and that would make you feel good. As I’ve said until there is sensible and thoughtful discussion on this and other national issues we going no where

    • Do folks accept that KLL behavior with respect to the match official was appropriate? If no, then the next question is do you think the punishment was reasonable? Before answering the second question do consider if you think such behavior is good for the game or does it bring the game into disripute. Should all attempts be made to erradicate such unacceptable behavior, to ensure that it does not occur in the future? To accomplish the above, appropriate deterrence are needed. An obvious deterrent is the punishment factor. Make the punishment appropriately severe and folks will think twice about engaging in unacceptable behavior. Make it lenient and you’re basically encouraging the behavior. Recall that the behavior was exhibited by not just FC Santa Rosa coach, but by its president and the president of the TTSL – the man who should be working diligently to ensure the game is not brought into disripute. Hopefully the above provides the background for my desire for more appropriate sanctions. Some think I’m bias towards Keith. Strange, because I have never met the man nor have I ever had any type of interactions (negatively or positively) with him. I’m simply assessing his behavior in the incident in question and the potential impact it could have on TTSL as a product, if not dealt with appropriately. On the question of conflict of interest by holding dual roles of club coach and league president (and club president by the way), one should ask if KLL’s behavior would have been different had he not been coach of FC Santa Rosa. If he was only league president, would he have taken the time to verbally attacked the refs for their poor performance? Would he have made sexist comments to the female ref? Would he have made demeaning comments to Tobago based refs?

    • Nigel – the club failed to control their coach, so hence the basis for fining the club. However, this is mere simantics in this case, as the coach is also the president and founder of the club. So one of the same. And just for the record, I don’t have a problem with fining the coach himself.

    • Sean and Brian. I’ve provided a couple links below with respect to THA support for TTSL clubs. It appears that they have been supporting clubs in the Super League for a few years now, which i think is a good thing. http://www.socawarriors.net/national-super-league/14094-tha-supports-its-four-super-league-clubs.html

    • Carlos not that we are duty bound to walk in the shoes of others, but Chelsea ever get fined because of Mourinho mouth?

    • Carlos didn’t you have family in FC Santa Rosa at one time

    • Nigel – good question. He’s been fined a lot for bringing the game into disrepute. I honestly don’t know who paid the fine. But as I said, I’m fine with either club or coach being fined. And in the case of FC Santa Rosa it’s likely irrelevant, as KLL is coach, president, and founder.

    • I believe my nephew played with the youth team at the U13 or U14 level. As far as I know he had no issues with the club and represented them very well. Feel free to shed additional light, as I’m not aware of any fallout between him and the club.

    • That’s good yet your comments are solely based on the referees report and what allegedly happen. You weren’t there. You did not hear and even the coach admitted what he said to the referee yet we talking about sexist remark. Seems to me you are the only person believing everything that the referee had in the report. It’s simply amazing.

    • Carlos not irrelevant I don’t think. If the individual is fined the it’s the responsibility of the individual to pay. If the club is fined then that money has to come from club funds. Plus there would now be history and precedence set against the club, permitting escalated penalties for future violations. A bit more than just semantic.

      With regards to the sufficiency of the penalty, missing from the analysis is the question of fairness. Beyond punishment, an equal if not greater objective is deterrence, which is twofold. There is specific deterrence as to the individual (deterring KLL from repeating his actions), and general deterrence as to others in his situation (deterring other stakeholders from abusing match officials). Your focus seems (I don’t want to assume) less on the former and more on the latter. But you can’t hang a man for stealing as deterrence for would-be thieves, the punishment must fit the crime. There has to then be a balancing of the competing interests: a penalty that would serve the desired deterrent effect, but that is fair to the accused.

    • Nah Timothy – you don’t hear me. You’re too close to your partner KLL to really hear and understand me:-)

    • You’ve repeated yourself so many time with the same issue it’s hard not to hear you. And you have no idea how close I am to KLL . God speed bro.

    • Nigel – fair point. My focus is on both groups. I think our views about the seriousness of the behavior is different. I think it’s serious enough to impact the league as a viable product. Remember this is supposed to be a community based league. A family friendly league. Doesn’t look good when a coach and league president goes out and verbally attack and abuse a ref at one of its highest profile games. However, if the TTSL had previously established punishment for the types of behavior exhibited by KLL, then I’ll say let’s more on.

    • Carlos Lee yiu continuing to sadly make no sense. The “club failed to control their coach”. I will stop reading and responding to your post. They are progressively make les and less sense.

    • Brian – good chatting with you Brian. Have a blessed weekend. I also see you’ve ignored the info provided with respect to THA support of Tobago clubs. Be blessed!

  6. ..I have already spoken to my lawyer about the referees’libel in today’s Guardian and Newsday. More than that, the ONLY Super League team that provides uniformed security for referees at its home venue is FC Santa Rosa. And further, with only three matches left in the schedule, and with NO previous claims to the effect, why is it that the referees ONLY NOW find it comvenient to talk about “lives being threatened”? As one referee said to me: Referees work in all kinda minor league for $200 without protection but they claiming Santa Rosa “threatening lives”. Bad, bad precedent if referees are allowed to get away with this extortion. They will threaten anyone as they please..

  7. Referee through out the world are at their lowest point did you all see the World Cup match between Italy and Sweden the referee tried his dam best to give the match to Italy he should have been banned by FIFA these referee in T&T should be fined and disciplined for not showing up st the Gomes they were assigned . They are paid to referee and if they have an issue with s coach or player then they should go through the process and let the system in place work if they do not like the system then I suggest they find another job hopefully they would try and elevate themselves to do the best job possible

  8. Is it that the referees are infallible and a law unto themselves? They get criticised and withheld their services by boycotting certain matches. They said that were awaiting the decision of the Discplinary Committee which has been delivered, however, it seems that they want to dictate the deliberations of the Committee. Complainant, jury, judge and executioner????

  9. You cyah stage ah coup because you doh like the level of punishment …as far as I’m concerned Taylor could go ….. (Allyuh know what)

  10. all this bachanal over words inno…now.if. Keith Look Loy had pull out ah three canal and Lego planass….well ah cud unnerstand then

  11. steups.. one seyta mad ppl in this country yes.. mad mad people… man transgressed.. judgement passed..apologies given…move orn… again the referees should look INWARD to try and improve themselves.. but alas koochoor and bachannal.is the order of the day

  12. Not accepting KLL’s behavior and he deserves to be punished but referees not showing up to games in Tobago and then to SR’s game in T&T…isn’t that like wanting justice [Dis. Com decision] and then taking natural justice at the same time. That’s unfair from referees department…

  13. Keith Look Loy didn’t stage a coup and foist himself upon the TTSL as president…he was duly elected so all parties were quite aware he was simultaneously coach and league president. I do not agree with or condone his treatment of the referee and regardless of frustration levels that may have contributed to his outburst he ought to have known better. The matter has been well ventilated and a sanction handed down and accepted. That should be the end of it….at least for now. Mr Taylor is wrong for wanting to determine or influence the disciplinary committee’s level of punishment. That is setting a horrible precedent and lends itself to assumptions of bias and potential victimisation against Santa Rosa.

    • ..At the start of this season I advised my club and players that this would be last season. I have been coaching now for thirty years. And everyone in TTSL knows that I undertook the role of President for one term. Then I gone. Life awaits..

  14. So in seeking Justice the actions of the referees has cost the league monies, how do we address this.

    Because if we go by the rules, somethings referees should be familiar with, hey also broke the rules, they did not act in good faith, as my lawyer would say at this juncture.

  15. I’m disappointed Roneil K Walcott didn’t hold Taylor’s foot to the fire on the premature decision made by his referees to punish FC Santa Rosa before the Disciplinary Committee had an opportunity to act. It would have been nice to know also, what if anything the TTFRA plans on doing going forward, whether they would put aside their petulance and act like the professionals they aspire to be, or whether they would continue boycotting Santa Rosa.

  16. The TTFRA have proven themselves to be wholly incompetent on and off the field. Mr. Taylor is unhappy with the disciplinary committee decision but based on what criteria. Does he reference an international standard, does he name the TTSL rules, does he reference the TTFRA, TTFA or TTSL disciplinary structure? NO!. The English FA has a Mandatory Minimum Sanctions of 84 days & 100 pounds minimum for physical contact on a match official, the FA also has a 56 days/6 match &50 pounds minimum sanction for County FA which in my opinion is equivalent to our SSFL(open to discussion). Any and all disciplinary structures always afford the charged, the right to appeal which would delay any action. The parties agreed in advance to not appeal the decision of the committee which in my opinion was a major concession, however the TTFRA still posturing. The TTSL need to get its own referees. If its an option, I will over USD$1,000 to finance the transit of referees from any other Caricom country to facilitate completion of the TTSL season. I can not tolerate this level of B.S., so what Keith Look Loy maybe arrogant to some, so what he may be harsh, sometimes that is the price of progress. I prefer breaking a few eggs to make the omelette than having a bunch of posers and complainers starving and not helping create opportunity but only talent is talking about the person who is trying to get things done. I am not saying that Mr. Look Loy nor Mr. Rochford actions are correct, however enough is enough we need progress.

  17. It’s not what you say that matters most but how you say it and the approach taken to get your point across. If the TTRFA realizes that they hold the power over the entities and wish to hold the development of football at ransome by boycotting football matches then that issue needs to be addressed from an administrative level. What you Sir, can do, is to refrain from belittling the referees association via socal media, apologize without contradiction and focus on the development of football. This has been ongoing for far too long and has become a childish event of “Spite”. Drastic measures must be put in place if football in this country is to succeed and it starts from the top.

    • Zane in the same breath please be balanced. Call upon Joseph Taylor and the referees to step up their game. I watched four QRC games this past season and the quality of refereeing was horrendous. It’s also an insult to the young men and women playing the sport to be subjected to poor officiating far too much that it has become “the norm”.

    • And this is why I stated that it needs to be addressed from an administrative level.

    • Zane Coker so why not use the proposal he wrote as a starting point of discussion. Did you read it? Isn’t it reasonable?

    • It definitely is from what I have read. Didn’t go all the way into detail with it. Taylor and his gang needs to take responsibility and do their jobs for which they are elected for the sake of football in this country. That doesn’t mean that they must be scrutinized by the heads of any league, it’s members or players so as to bring the sport into disrepute. Who is responsible for the TTRFA and why are they not being held responsible for their actions?

    • Zane Coker – Well said. As president of the TTSL Keith is in a perfect position to lobby for and champion change. He just needs to stop fighting down the refs in the media and start sitting down with them. He seems to be all about totting his horn. Wants everyone to think that he has all the answers to everyone’s problem. He just needs to humble himself, sit down with the powers that be – be it the referees’ association or TTFA – and share his ideas for improvement of the game with them. He needs to forget about who gets credit. Just do it!

    • Wow! Absolutely amazing discourse guys.

    • Zane Coker yes they should be scrutinized by ALL stakeholders

    • Folks I have looked on and partially remained quiet. Before I am accused by Carlos of also tooting horn, would like to place on record some years of experience on this matter. I want to agree with the sentiments of many of the manner in which KLL went public on social media about these events, but but then experience would also dictate that by not going public, these matters may not have been ventilated. History would also show that Match Commissioners were required to assess referees performance, of course this was fought vigorously by the Referee fraternity, and perhaps rightly so, but there must always have a neutral voice in the assessment of performance. Which brings me to my second point. Is there any good reason why the proposal submitted by KLL is not being used as a tool for closing the gap of this perceived conflict? You may observe that I said that I remained partially quiet, because I communicated with some Senior Officials to bring an amicable settlement to all this tension. The truth is the both parties (KLL & Referees body) have very strong views and to me that is not a bad thing, and therein is a good reason for a neutral entity getting involved with both parties and work on a sensible resolution to this impasse. Football must always be the winner.

    • Norris Ferguson you and I know and understand each other quite well. I agree with your clear, reasonable and dispassionate views. Imagine I read on today’s Guardian that referees fear for their lives when doing Santa Rosa games. Now that is called “high drama” and exaggeration. So now criticism and assessment of performance is life threatening. Joseph Taylor and his sidekick are completely off the chain. Desiring resolution, one cannot make assertions like that because you have just upped the ante as you are ascribing behavior to the other party that appears unrealistic and improbable.

    • This situation is getting far from ridiculous. There does not appear to be any attempt to truly resolve this situation. I put my hands up as someone willing to sit with all parties in an attempt to arrive at an amicable resolution. Not sure if we recognize where we are heading. Take a good look at all the major tournaments and see how many of our administrators/officials are being appointed. We are shooting ourselves in the feet.

    • ..I have already spoken to my lawyer about the referees’libel in today’s Guardian. More than that, the ONLY Super League team that provides uniformed security for referees at its home venue is FC Santa Rosa. And further, with only three matches left in the schedule, and with NO previous claims to the effect, why is it that the referees ONLY NOW find it comvenient to talk about “lives being threatened”?

    • Norris – In all reasonable countries referees are a heavily protected species. Penalties and punishment for verbal abuse and or physical abuse of them are often quite severe. And rightly so. A female referee in Trinidad and Tobago was verbally abused, bullied, and basically called a liar by the president of the TTSL. And who did the league essentially side with – the president. Only in Tnt is a referee report called into question. If I was a ref in Tnt I would seriously be concerned about my safety and well-being, and reconsider being a part of this rapidly diminishing fraternity. Refs need to understand the power they have. They should put their whistles down and not do a single game in the TTSL until the Disciplinary Committee reconsider the match referee’s report and the case against the president of the league. The Disciplinary Committee has called the character of Cindy, the match referee, into question. Her fraternity needs to fully support her.

    • Carlos I am in no way condoning any of the actions under review. My main purpose of intervention is to bring an amicable settlement. There is always one consideration that we pay no attention, that is, without the game there will be no officials/administrators or the like. That is my interest.

    • Understand. Truly hope you can help bring some resolution to this.

    • Timothy – sorry. I miss your point. Can you clarify where you’re going with this? I thought that was the name of the match official at the center of the controversy.

    • It doesn’t matter we got your point.

  18. ..If only they would respond to a civilized approach Zane. Years of ignored conversations, messages, emails, videos, have produced frustration and this unfortunate impasse. I sent a proposal to them some days ago – not even an acknowledgement. I want this foolishness to end but Taylor and Company wish to continue it..

  19. Brian Harry this is not just a citizen of TT speaking on social media, this is the “President of the TTSL”. If a decision is made by the disciplinary committee, which is an independent entity, then so be it but having the President of the league criticize, ridicule and downgrade the referees via social media is everything but professional. If his intention is to develop the sport of football in Trinidad and Tobago, he needs to meet with the TTRFA and representatives of the teams in a structured meeting and come to an agreement/understanding that can in fact develop the sport in Trinidad and Tobago, not come to social media to vent. You and I, my friend, can do that, not the President of the TTSL. #heavyistheheadthatwearsthecrown

    • Every citizen of any country I know in the free world has that right. The right to free speech is enshrined in our constitution. A decision was made by the disciplinary committee and unless the referees are above the law, they should abide by that decision. They as a stakeholder body can not determine what the punishment should be. What are the assessments or sanctions or for their poor performances ?

    • I think it’s entirely fair to say that cussing out the referee is highly unprofessional. Doubly so when you’re dealing with a young referee, and a female referee at that. That being said, I can’t say that I’ve seen anything posted by KLL on this matter that would count as “unprofessional.” Unhelpful? Perhaps, but not unprofessional.

    • Nigel S. Scott but clearly Joseph Taylor believes in the “shut up” version of leadership.

    • Brian not really sure what his deal is. I’m sure he feels aggrieved, perhaps even rightly so. I learned in Form One that even though I didn’t like de fella who the class elected prefect, I still had to respect the process. Seems like this lesson is lost on some of these wanna-be professionals.

    • Thank you Nigel S. Scott. By the way Rashad Griffith has been cleared to start back training. God is good, football wins

  20. Joseph Taylor cannot do two things (1) dictate to the league what is an appropriate sanction (2) tell a citizen of TT what to say on social media.

    Now he’s really overstepping his boundaries.

  21. The decision of the disciplinary committee is overly lenient. A more hefty fine and a longer ban would have gone a long way to stop future abuse of referees by Keith and other league officials. The Disciplinary Committee also took too long to make their decision. Issues like these must be acted on decisively and within days not weeks of their occurrence. The league should also take another look at their constitution. An active coach should not be allowed to hold the position of league president. Too much of a potential conflict of interest.

    • This I totally agree with ” An active coach should not be allowed to hold the position of league president. Too much of a potential conflict of interest.”

      We have too many officials attached to too many teams.

    • The Heads of Football must be only the Heads of Football.

      I have already pointed out that this is why we get no sponsorship etc.

      Businessmen deal with businessmen, let Coaches coach, players play, and Business men run the business of the league.

      That is professionalism.

    • “The decision of the disciplinary committee is overly lenient. A more hefty fine and a longer ban would have gone a long way to stop future abuse of referees by Keith and other league officials. The Disciplinary Committee also took too long to make their decision. ”

      Very subjective statements. Is there precedence you could point to that suggests the penalty for cussing out a ref should have been greater? Also, you say the Committee “took too long”… perhaps. Remember however that these are volunteers, not full-time, salaried individuals. The one thing I would say is that the Disciplinary seems relatively inexperienced.

    • Nigel – fines / punishments are forms of deterrents. The Disciplinary committee has now set precedence as far as how future similar cases will be handled. Do you think a $1000 fine and one game suspension is a sufficient deterrent to ensure similar unprofessional behavior are minimized? $1000 is ridiculous. A decent all inclusive party cost significantly more than that

    • It can always go up, it has been punished, if it becomes prevalent a stronger penalty can be imposed.

      Now there are 2 sides, will there be steps to improve the refereeing, a different club has also complained, a disciplined club, military club, so we cannot let these complaints fall by the way side

    • And by the way, Keith was alleged to not only verbally abused the ref, but also made sexist remarks to her. Both are serious issues and the disciplinary committee should have come down a bit hasher on Keith. I assume his position as president of the league was a key factor in terms of the extent of the penalties dealt out.

    • Sheldon – it can go up for repeat offenders, not for first time offenders. Precedence has been set for first time offenders.

    • If the committee decides the offense is getting out of hand, they can decide to increase it in light of the circumstances. This happens everywhere.

    • Sheldon – not sure. That was not shared in the article. It’ll be good to know what was he found guilty of.

    • And I believe he was not found guilty of every charge, hence the seeming leniency of the penalty.

    • Sheldon – that would have to be made clear before hand. Otherwise it’ll give the appearance of unfair and inconsistent treatment.

    • Carlos you have been away too long Buddy, this is Trinidad. Your standards of disclosure etc are way too high

    • Either way – it’ll be good for Lasana to update the story at some point.

    • Carlos KLL claims that the Disciplinary Committee rejected the claims of sexism, which leaves only the verbal abuse. Since there is no precedent they can’t just come with the sledgehammer. I would hope that they would have looked elsewhere to see what other professional footballing bodies have done in similar situations. I understand your comment, but I think we need to consider how the Committee might have struggled with finding the right balance. Again, I note their relative (professional) inexperience…. two of the three attorneys graduated UWI four years ago, and have been practicing an average of two years. The other, has about 10 years legal experience.

    • Nigel – So basically they took the word of the president of the league over that of the official with responsibility of the game lol. Crazy. Only in Trinidad and Tobago can a referee report be rejected. Good point though about the inexperience of the DC. I imagine that the TTFA could come in and review the decision of the DC if they feel the fines/punishment were insufficient.

    • I imagine you imagine wrong pal. This is one of the few occasions that all the accusations were not taken as gold because it could not be proven. But I guess Who don’t agree with the decision could appeal. Otherwise we just bantering about something that should really be put to rest.
      #staywoke #footballalwayswin
      #notreferees

    • Carlos not sure, hopefully they interviewed players who were on the scene… which itself (tracking down and then interviewing the witnesses) might have contributed to the delay in returning a decision.

    • Plenty people would like to see Keith Look Loy head on a platter for some reason or the other boy… up to now nobody ain’t talk about the quality of the refereeing… Why not deal with the quality of the cause( poor refereeing )… Does the super league pay? I would think not…. why then would people hope for a greater fine?? This isn’t the English Premier League. Look loy is being charged and banned based on the words of the ref… When ever has a ref been held accountable for the things they do to football games ?

  22. ..Joseph taylor wants to dictate to an independent member of TTFA and TTFA is allowing him to get away with extortion because it is politically convenient..

  23. As much as I agree with the fact that referees need to be more professional in their duties, I still cannot understand how it’s not a conflict of interest that the president of the TTSL is also the head coach of one of the teams in the said league. I do not know him personally but from the few years of football I’ve been involved in he is a bully in the local football fraternity. If this is the 1st time something like this was sent to disciplinary committee then the verdict is not bad but his post of “President of the TTSL” should be something of concern. In any other entity, his position would be revoked with immediate effect. Again, as I said I don’t know him personally but this is how it looks to me and many others from the outside.

  24. ..THIS is why people won’t speak out. They are afraid of receiving “the Look Loy treatment”. But Look Loy is not afraid..

  25. I hope when others show their unhappiness with referees in a similar manner it is taken into stride.

    The refereeing in piss poor, instead of getting better, they get bitter

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