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The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has officially outlawed former national youth coach Terrence Marcelle and his club, Toda-World Football Academy, after finding that the academy has been managing children without a license.
Toda-World FA, which officially started in 2017 according to its social media page, is based in south Trinidad and caters for children between the ages of six and 17.
Photo: Toda-World FA
The youth club stated its mission as: “to educate and develop young footballers as sports champions and ambassadors over time; to foster holistic development realising a healthy spiritual, physical, moral and ethical active lifestyle”.
It further stated its goal as “to be recognised as the nation’s leading football academy in holistic development of youth footballers”.
However, Toda-World FA failed to inform parents and potential players of the troubling history of its 48-year-old founder, Marcelle.
In 2013, Marcelle was fired as head coach of Pleasantville Secondary and from the Trinidad and Tobago Boys National Under-17 Team after an explicit exchange between him and a Pleasantville Secondary schoolboy was unearthed.
In the chat, the then 38-year-old Marcelle appeared to press an unwilling boy to engage in sexting and eventually sent the aspiring footballer an image of what his avatar said was his erect penis. (Click HERE to read full story.)
Marcelle admitted to Wired868 at the time that sent some “inappropriate” messages to the boy, but did not take responsibility for the entire exchange.
The coach, who claimed to be a regular at the San Fernando Open Bible Church, said he received counselling from elders at his church and insisted that the episode was a “one-off”.
“[…] The picture was sent—sometimes you send something and it ends up in the wrong message and you say ‘sorry’,” said Marcelle. “[…] But parts of the chat were doctored… I have done what I had to do and I leave the rest in God’s hands.”
Marcelle was an assistant coach of the national youth team.
Three years later, he officially launched Toda-World FA with several high-ranking PNM and UNC politicians in attendance. However, Marcelle’s club remains unlicensed and does not operate under the TTFA’s Safeguarding Policy.
On Wednesday, TTFA general secretary Amiel Mohammed declared Toda-World FA and Marcelle as virtual pariahs of the football community and warned of sanctions for any officials, clubs or service providers that have any relationship with them.
“Please be advised that it has been brought to our attention that Mr Terrence Marcelle is currently involved in the coaching of children and youth players through the academy, Toda-World Football Academy,” stated Mohammed, in a circular to all football stakeholders. “Both Terrence Marcelle, and the Toda-World Football Academy do not possess the TTFA Safeguarding Licences which are mandatory within the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) for coaching minors and vulnerable persons.
“The TTFA Safeguarding Policy prohibits unlicensed individuals and academies from working with children, youth players and vulnerable persons.”
However, his academy remains unlicensed.
According to the TTFA Safeguarding Policy, individuals can be fined $5,000 and banned for five years for working with an unlicensed academy while clubs that operate without a license can be fined $10,000 and banned for five years.
TTFA Safeguarding manager Gary St Rose confirmed that Toda-World FA is unlicensed, despite trying to pass itself off as an academy in advertisements.
He explained that the first step, in instances of unlicensed academies, is that the local football body reaches out and invites the teams to become licensed.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868
“Taking action isn’t the first step,” St Rose told Wired868. “Once a person says they are willing to be licensed, we try to work out the logistics with them.
“However, if someone declares they are not willing to be licensed for whatever reason, the TTFA has the responsibility to alert all members that this entity is not licensed—because they have indicated that they will not be going through the TTFA process.”
St Rose declined to elaborate on the specific case of Toda-World and Marcelle and said only that they would be allowed “due process”.
Photo: Wired868
He confirmed that Marcelle’s past issues would be taken into account if he applied for a license but, again, did not say whether it automatically disqualified him from coaching minors.
“All information is taken into account,” said St Rose. “At the end of the day, our job is to protect the children—we cannot have information before us and not consider it.”
Over the past year and a half, the TTFA has licensed over 100 youth clubs across Trinidad and Tobago—a process that obliged officials and coaches from each team to fulfil several safeguarding criteria.
Santa Cruz United is one of over 100 licensed academies that are available to young players.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868
“The benefits [of the TTFA’s Fifa-mandated safeguarding drive] are that children do not develop properly when they are in crisis or struggling, and that is based on the behaviour of people around them,” said St Rose. “What most people don’t realise is in order for people to flourish, they need an environment that puts their needs at the centre.
“The safeguarding programme is about creating the environment where the children’s needs and rights are respected and are linked to their development.
“It benefits the children first and foremost. It also benefits football because unless they have an environment that is conducive to their support they will not develop properly.”
Photo: Arima Araucans Academy
The Safeguarding Policy deals with not only suspected cases of grooming and sexual exploitation, but also abusive behaviour and unsafe and unsporting practices—which cover a wide spectrum from forging birth certificates to verbal abuse and putting the health of players at risk.
“Some adults mean well but the way they try to develop players really damages them,” he said. “It is not about win at all costs.”
He said the TTFA’s stance on Marcelle and Toda-World is unambiguous.
Photo: Toda-World FA
“He is not a licensed person and it is not a licensed academy,” said St Rose. “Everyone is prohibited from having any contact with them… We have advised everybody with the TTFA ecosystem that they should not have any contact or engagement with him and his academy.
“And we are advising parents that they should not have their children participate with any unlicensed academy or engage with any unlicensed coach. That is our strong advice.”
Marcelle did not respond to Wired868s’s request for comment on the TTFA notice and censure up until the time of publication.
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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.
Where can people access the list of licensed academies?
This was published in December 2023:
https://thettfa.com/news/ttfas-list-of-licensed-leagues-clubs-and-academies/