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Trinidad and Tobago Boys’ National Under-15 Team manager Adrian Romain has been cleared to continue his duties with the national youth team, despite being subject to two safeguarding complaints related to his duties during the August 2026 CFU Challenge Series.
Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) Safeguarding, Player Care and Wellbeing manager Gary St Rose confirmed that Romain is at the wrong end of two unresolved cases.
Photo: Annalicia Caruth/ Wired868.
Wired868 understands that both complaints were lodged by a parent from the Boys’ National Under-15 team and relate to separate incidents.
The first involves Fatima College defender Ryan Aquing, who was told at check-in that he could not fly with the team to the Dominican Republic—due to the expiry date on his passport.
Aquing’s parents eventually got their son to the Dominican Republic in time for the first game, but were deeply unimpressed with Romain’s management along with the perceived lack of support for what would have been an unaccompanied minor.
The second matter involves a Tobago player, who returned with the team and was allegedly left unattended at the Piarco International Airport—somewhere between 3am and 5am—to buy his own ticket and cross the seabridge.
Photo: CFU.
Apart from allegedly being left alone at the airport, Caribbean Airlines does not permit minors to purchase tickets. So, it took a call from the boy’s mother and a sympathetic CAL supervisor to get him home.
Yesterday, Romain left Piarco in charge of a delegation of 15 boys, en route to Baku, Azerbaijan for the inaugural Fifa U-15 World Cup & Festival.
Wired868 asked St Rose if he was comfortable with Romain remaining in his position with such a complaint still unresolved.
“The short answer with that is yes,” said St Rose. “Because if we were not comfortable with that, he would not be allowed. We have looked at the whole scenario… and we have done a lot of work to correct a lot of [the issues that led to the Tobago flight incident].”
(via TTFA.)
St Rose referenced the recently drafted National Youth Teams & High Performance Programme Operations Manual, which is meant to avoid a repeat of such incidents.
Articles 2.1.8 and 2.1.9 of the manual address “neglect” and “negligence and negligent training practices”.
“Neglect refers to the failure of a person or organisation with responsibility for an athlete’s care, protection or supervision to meet reasonable physical, emotional, developmental or safety needs.
“Neglect may include failure to provide adequate food, water, rest, accommodation, medical attention, supervision, safe transportation or protection from foreseeable risks.
“Within TTFA programmes, neglect may arise where staff fail to respond appropriately to injuries, leave children without suitable supervision, disregard essential medical needs or expose athletes to unsafe environments.
“Negligence refers to an act or omission involving a failure to exercise the reasonable care expected of a person responsible for an athlete’s safety or wellbeing… Negligence may occur without an intention to cause harm.”
Wired868 asked if it is normal for someone to remain in charge of minors while being investigated for a complaint of this nature.
“Anybody can make a complaint tomorrow—we get complaints all the time,” said St Rose. “But from where we sit, we have to investigate if that complaint has merit. How much merit it has, is it a case of abuse? What is the actual issue?
“How do we address it?”
Wired868 reiterated the details, as alleged, of the incident in which the 14-year-old national was left alone at the airport to buy his own plane ticket for Tobago.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
If the complaint points squarely to Romain’s competence as manager and the potential impact to the minors under his care, should he not step aside until Safeguarding completes its investigation and makes a determination?
St Rose had a different view.
“A complaint was made involving an issue at the airport—the manager was part of that issue,” he said. “However, we have been establishing the facts, and what it points to more than anything else is a breakdown in communication, and we need to tighten a lot of our systems. There is no denying that.
Manager Adrian Romain is in in the back row behind the players (standing right of centre).
Photo: TTFA Media.
“To say that the issue revolves totally around the manager of the team is not fair at all… If we have systems issues that place an undue burden on staff, we have to also correct those things.
“So based on the information we have—unless new information comes to light—it is not only an issue with the manager. We viewed it very comprehensively. We want to make sure that wherever anyone falls short, it won’t happen again.”
St Rose pointed again to the National Youth Teams & High Performance Programme Operations Manual, which he shared with Wired868. He described it as a “50-page guideline given to [TTFA] staff to ensure these things don’t happen again”.
They will be joined in Panama by their overseas-based colleagues for a six-day training camp.
Photo: TTFA Media.
“Where people are individually culpable, we are not afraid to hold people to account—but we have to be fair,” he said. “Someone tried to paint a picture as if the manager alone is culpable. Sometimes I have assistant coaches painting pictures to get head coaches fired. I have parents twice a week asking me to fire coaches, as if I hire them. We don’t operate like that in general.
“People literally tell me: that man say so and so, fire him! We have had cases where assistant coaches bring allegations against head coaches at clubs, academies, and schools even, just to fire them. That is what I have to deal with on a weekly basis.”
St Rose insisted that Safeguarding is not a big stick.
“We call you, we talk to you, we hear your side, and we pick sense from nonsense—we look to see where it can be reconciled,” he said. “This is not about getting people out of football, this is about developing their capacity so they can learn and grow. But they have to accept it (our guidance).
“[…] What I will say [on the Romain complaints] is there may be some things that we have to approach from an individual perspective and some from a system perspective; and we are doing both.
“But we will always do what is in the best interest of the children.”
Romain, the National U-14 team manager, was accused of leaving a 14-year-old national player alone at the Piarco Airport, after the 2026 CFU Boys Challenge Series.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
Wired868: “So if you are confident that Romain could and should be allowed to continue work, despite the complaints, why not just clear him?”
“Based on what was brought to our attention, we are not finished,” said St Rose. “We [had] a board meeting for the document (the National Youth Teams & High Performance Programme Operations Manual) to be approved. It was. We are going through the motions to ensure that everything is done.
“Once there is a valid claim, I still have to treat with it… And we are still rolling it out. And that is how we are operating. We are trying our best to fix all the issues.
“So, nothing is final.”
Wired868 asked why former National Under-17 team coach Shawn Cooper remains suspended from coaching minors, for going on two years, while Romain is allowed to continue in his role, despite not being cleared of the allegations against him.
“The Shawn Cooper matter is before the court,” said St Rose. “[…] It is not a question of what he did; it is a matter of process. It is not a matter of ‘A’ or ‘B’ (in comparing Cooper to Romain)… that is the forum that he chose.”
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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.
