An important first step was taken toward a positive new era for the sport of football in this country when the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) settled its long-outstanding debt to 13 members of the 2006 World Cup squad.
Yesterday's payout of the nearly $12 million ends a dispute between the football body and players that had raged for more than seven years and the way is now clear for the entire fraternity to move forward, leaving behind the ill feelings that had been hanging over the local game for too long.It is encouraging that this development has come early in the term of the new TTFF executive headed by insurance executive Raymond Tim Kee. When he was elected to the position last November, Mr Tim Kee, in his acceptance speech, said he would work to "bring about healing to those who have been wounded, reconciliation for those who have been ostracised and redemption for the many who have been left behind."
There have been very few high points for T&T football since those glory days starting in late 2005, when the Soca Warriors qualified for the 2006 World Cup via a playoff in Manama, Bahrain.
However, less than a year later, the dark clouds began to gather and those moments of glory were all but forgotten. On October 6, 2006, 13 members of that historic World Cup squad announced plans to retire from the international game and accused the TTFF, then led by Oliver Camps with Austin Jack Warner as special adviser, of reneging on various contractual commitments to the team.
In the years that followed, the United Kingdom-based Sports Dispute Resolution Panel (SDRP) and then the High Court ruled in favour of the players but even in the face of these developments, efforts to end the legal impasse were futile. The players were exploring other legal options, including asking the High Court to liquidate the TTFF's assets so that the money owed to them could be paid.Mr Tim Kee, his new general secretary, Sheldon Phillips, and the rest of the new TTFF executive must be commended for their role in resolving the dispute.Also worthy of note are recent expressions of support from Concacaf, whose director of development, Hugo Salcedo, has expressed confidence that the TTFF has entered a new pathway of positive change and good governance for the benefit of the local game.
The way is now clear for all players, administrators and members, with the support of the thousands of fans in this country, to finally achieve that common vision of football success for T&T on the world stage.Where the performance of the new executive has been less promising, however, is in failing to make known the amounts of the settlements eventually paid out and, given that the federation had previously pleaded poverty, the source from which these funds were finally drawn. Openness and transparency are essential in the operations of the federation going forward if the recovery process is to continue.