It’s not cricket that is my editor’s forte; it’s football. So it’s mainly the beautiful game we’d discuss if, instead of walking by himself on evenings, he decided to walk on mornings with Bobby and me. But today he called about the game of glorious uncertainties. “I just sent you …
Read More »‘I chase bad men!’ How the late Andrew Jennings changed investigative sport journalism
One of my most vivid memories of Andrew Jennings came on our second meeting, after a media conference at the Trinidad Hilton in the build-up to the 2001 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago. It was an elegant event, attended by then Fifa president Sepp Blatter, with every …
Read More »Flashback: When Trinidad and Tobago challenged Canada for the 2000 Gold Cup title
The dawn of the new millennium produced a shocking Concacaf Gold Cup tournament in 2000 as, for the first and only time in 30 years, neither Mexico nor the United States appeared in the final. In the quarterfinal round, Canada shocked Mexico 2-1, South American guests Colombia edged USA on …
Read More »‘Parents keep bringing their children, so it’s hard to stop!’ Day in the life of a youth coach
“[…] It was easier [to coach in the 1980s and 90s] compared to now… Back then, children had a love for the game. Children nowadays, as a result of modern technology and social media, are more interested in being on an electronic device playing games than running around playing football. …
Read More »Haitian robbery; David, ‘Gally’ and ‘Archie’ erupt in controversial ‘74 campaign
The following is the third instalment of a series on Trinidad and Tobago’s World Cup football adventures, adapted from articles published first in the Trinidad Express in 2006, and looks back at the controversial 1974 World Cup campaign: Port-au-Prince was as silent as a grave on 4 December 1973. On …
Read More »Flashback: Tribute to Angus Eve; why Trinidad and Tobago owes more respect to sporting heroes
The following column was written by then Trinidad Express journalist Lasana Liburd on 6 June 2005: If Angus Eve stacked stationery or cut out newspaper clippings at CCN for a living, he would be afforded a proper send-off on the day that he, or the company, decided his talents belonged …
Read More »Noble: Can Fifa be tamed? Collaborations—not the courts—offer the best shot
In the furore about local football and the appointment of a normalisation committee by Fifa, a proper appreciation of Fifa and its workings is missing. To accuse Fifa and its inner core of corruption is like accusing a tiger of having stripes: it is there, so what? Fifa can best …
Read More »Warner: The treatment is great… not so much the food; ex-Fifa VP breaks silence in Couva
Former Fifa vice-president and ex-Minister of National Security Jack Warner said he is on the mend and hopeful of a quick discharge, after being diagnosed with Covid-19 earlier this week. Warner, who is 77, said he is hospitalised at the Couva Hospital and offered a brief statement on his current …
Read More »Dr Rowley prevails 22-19 in ‘pandemic election’, Persad-Bissessar demands recount
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley became only the fourth political leader to win successive elections last night; and, barring the internal catastrophes that faced Basdeo Panday and Patrick Manning in their short-lived second terms, will be the first since Dr Eric Williams to see out successive five year spells on …
Read More »US DoJ: Warner ‘defrauded’ Caribbean, South Africa and T&T while serving in Cabinet
At roughly the same time that Jack Warner was offering crime-fighting tips in Trinidad and Tobago as acting prime minister and minister of works and infrastructure, he was, according to the United States Department of Justice, engaged in wire fraud, money laundering and bribery in his more illustrious portfolio as …
Read More »TedXPoS: Liburd on sport as entertainment, tool for excellence and catalyst for social change
“[Shaka] Hislop understood his social responsibility and grasped that it was insufficient to be revered as a footballer yet despised as a human being. “[…] Sport is, first, entertainment. It is a live play totally ad-libbed by actors, who have no idea what ending awaits. It is one part ballet, …
Read More »‘Concerned’ Wallace writes Fifa on Warner links, Inside World Football denies paid hatchet job
Newly elected Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace has dismissed links between himself and disgraced former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner as a work of fantasy. This afternoon, Wallace, whose ‘United TTFA’ slate won a clean sweep at the TTFA elections on Sunday 24 November, wrote Fifa general …
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