National forward Kenwyne Jones is challenging former club Stoke City over an �80,000 fine after attending a disciplinary hearing at his former club last Wednesday.
Jones has contested his punishment from January, when he was fined two week's wages for failing to report for the Premier League game against Liverpool.
The 29-year-old left Stoke for Cardiff in January in a swap deal involving Peter Odemwingie but is still unhappy with the fine and has appealed through the Professional Footballers Association.
Jones has claimed there were personal reasons behind his decision to make himself unavailable for the home game against Liverpool, a move which infuriated manager Mark Hughes after he was notified by text message the night before the match.
The hearing was led by chairman Peter Coates and included Jones, his agent, and PFA representative Simon Barker.
Tendulkar buysIndian football club
Former Indian cricket captains Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly headlined the list of Indian celebrities from the world of sports, business and Bollywood to have purchased stakes in eight Indian Super League football clubs on Sunday.
The League which gets going later this year has attracted several past prominent players as Dwight Yorke and Hernan Crespo who are likely to come out of retirement for the two-month competition.
Tendulkar purchased the Kochi franchise with entrepreneur Prasad V Potluri's PVP Ventures. Ganguly has teamed up with businessmen Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Utsav Parekh to buy Kolkata in partnership with Spanish football giants Atletico Madrid.
Elsewhere, Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has tied up with businessman Bimal Parekh to purchase Mumbai, while fellow actor John Abraham has bought stakes in Guwahati with current I-League club Shilling Lajong.
Sun Group, owners of Indian Premier League cricket team Sunrisers Hyderabad, have bought Bengaluru. Salman Khan, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan of the Wadhawan Group have purchased Pune. Industrialist Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon, Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V. Dempo have acquired Goa, while Sameer Manchanda's Den Network has bought Delhi.
The Indian Super League intends to be football's answer to cricket's Indian Premier League. Legendary Liverpool and Scotland striker Kenny Dalglish and Chelsea and France defender Marcel Desailly have also confirmed their participation as coaches. T&T forwards Cornell Glen and Anthony Wolfe, both enjoying fine runs in the current Indian Premier League, are also said to be in the running to be selected by clubs for the Super League.
Club rosters will compose of 22 players, ten of whom will be overseas imports with eight domestic Indian players and four local Indian players.
The All-Indian Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel said the Indian Super League would prepare the country for possible bids to host the 2015 or 2016 Fifa World Club Cup before the confirmed staging of the 2017 Fifa Under-17 World Cup.
Andrews thanks Nafzigerfor ticket to UK
Marvin Andrews is still grabbing headlines in the UK Press and was last week hailed as a cult hero for his exploits with Glasgow Rangers and Raith Rovers. He is also being hailed as the miracle player who at the age of 38, has defied the odds to still be playing professionally.
In an article with the Daily Mail earlier this month, Andrews said he would have been angry with himself if he did not take up the offer from former representative, deceased Tim Nafziger, to jump on a plane and head to the United Kingdom for trials. It was the start of a long and successful career for the big man in Scotland.
"I think I would be living in regret," said Andrews. "The amount of places I have been, the amount of lives I have touched and been a blessing to... I think I would be living a life of regret in T&T at this time.
"I might not even be alive today. Because I wouldn't be fulfilling what God has put me on Earth to do.
"One day he (Nafziger) pulled me into his office (at Carib Brewery) and said: 'Marv, I don't want you working here anymore. I want you to go and show the world your talent.'"
He said he was going to buy me a ticket and send me on trial to the UK.
"I was only 21 and didn't have that kind of money. At that time, you were talking 7,000 or 8,000 Trinidad Dollars–about 800 quid.
"My job in the plant was to put boxes on to a machine that would take the bottles to be washed. I used to clean the offices and the toilets as well.
"But Tim wanted to give me that ticket and saw something in my life. He passed away four or five years ago and I will never forget what he did.'
"I came here as a black person in a white country but I was made to feel at home. That was one part of the battle finished straight away."
Andrews, who has influenced the lives of many with his religious beliefs, went on to sign with Raith Rovers in 1997 before moving to Livingston in 2000 and Glasgow Rangers in 2004 to 2006 where he tasted success in the Scottish Premier League. Andrews played in the final 1-0 victory over Bahrain in the 2006 World Cup qualifier, but though being a member of the final squad, was forced to miss the World Cup due to injury. But his story continues to be a marvelous one in Scotland.
Football therapist sayseducation vital for local staff
National senior men's football team therapist Dave Isaac believes that the TTFA "Football Emergencies" workshop for therapists attached to local clubs will bring benefits and increase the possibilities of saving careers of local players once they continue to educate themselves on injury treatment and prevention.
Isaac, one of the facilitators at the TTFA offices on Tuesday, delivered a presentation alongside FIFA medical committee member Dr Terence Babwah as they also carried out practical sessions on CPR and Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) use as well as evacuation of an injured player from the field of play among other types of methods to treat various injuries.
"I think this workshop brought some much-needed benefit to the local football clubs as in some cases while there may have been those who knew about some of the things already, there was still a real interest in obtaining the knowledge and the training," said Isaac.
"We think from the TTFA standpoint that it is absolutely necessary and the we can only improve from here as we try to raise the level of training and ensure our therapists are ready to treat our players in the best way possible and possibly save players at the end of day either from life or career threatening injuries."
Shaun Fuentes is the director of communications for the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com