We can save T&T football! Group promises ‘roadmap’ to revive local game after removal of DJW

On Thursday morning, a group of football stakeholders vowed to present a united front and a new vision to challenge incumbent Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams at the upcoming elections, which is tentatively scheduled for November 2019.

The media launch was chaired by Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) president Keith Look Loy who made it clear that, although he fully supported the initiative, he would not run for election in any capacity this November.

The other stakeholders identified as part of the movement are Anthony Harford (Northern FA president), Shymdeo Gosine (Central FA president), Susan Joseph-Warrick (Women’s League of Football president), William Wallace (SSFL president), Joseph Taylor (Football Referees Association president), Clynt Taylor (Central FA general secretary) and Raymond Tim Kee (immediate TTFA past president).

Look Loy explained that the group will agree on a single slate to challenge John-Williams in November. And, come September, they will present a ‘roadmap’ for the game, which will be open for consultation with the football fraternity and the wider public.

Look Loy: “If you follow football in Trinidad and Tobago, you know we’re in the grip of a […] existential crisis. This group has united to create a united front to save our football.

“[…] The TTFA is not our property; and it is not the property of the president or any official of the TTFA.

Wallace: “There are people who are saying we have an agenda and, yes, I want the media to know we have an agenda ;and I want the people of Trinidad and Tobago to know we have an agenda.

“And the agenda is to bring back some sanity to Trinidad and Tobago football. That is the agenda… We cannot continue down this road.”

Harford: “We are convinced that good leadership of football has completely evaporated in Trinidad and Tobago. We also feel that there is very little chance of the current leadership recovering from the present position.

“We believe that they lack the skill; we believe that they lack the imaginative ideas to take us into the 21st century. In fact I’d go as far to saying that have fossilised on the job…”

Gosein: “We are not going anywhere. We have fallen so low down, I don’t think the line on the road can keep us up anymore. [We] might even break the paint.”

Joseph-Warrick: “It is simply not logical for there to be disconnect between stakeholders responsible for developing players for the national programme and the people making the sole decisions for that programme…”

Tim Kee: “If you look at the organisational chart that was put in place, you have the general membership first, the board second and the president third. So the president is the servant of the board and the organisation. It is not his private property and that’s what I see… We have seen some people posing as board members who are imps…”