In a new twist regarding the National Basketball Federation of T&T's (NBFTT) failure to register its men's and women's teams for the 2015 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships, more questions are being raised now that a letter addressed to the NBFTT president Garvin Warrick from the CBC appears to show contradictions in several of Warwick's claims.
In the media release issued earlier this month, in which he blamed a lack of government subventions and debts for T&T's inability to register, Warwick wrote that the deadline for payment for the CBC Championships was on November 21, when in fact, the extended deadline for registration was on December 5.
Warrick also wrote, "The NBFTT wishes to inform its stakeholders that the intention to participate in CBC was filed on Wednesday 29th October, 2014 through the CBC General Secretary."
However, this is contradicted by virtue of an invitation sent from CBC president Glyde Clarke to the NBFTT for T&T to participate, dated nearly a month later.
On November 26, Clarke wrote to Warwick: "Dear Garvin, The Executive Committee of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) is pleased to invite you to participate in the above-mentioned (2015 CBC Championship) event. As per our mandate regarding Phase 2 of the registration process stated in our memo dated October 31, the Federation of T&T is next in line should a Federation default in its obligations to make the required deposit. Please confirm by Monday, December 1, 2014 if your Federation will accept this invitation. Should you accept, the required deposit of US $1010 should be deposited as follows by Friday, December 5, 2014." That was the second opportunity for the NBFTT to accept CBC's invitation.
The letter from the CBC president to the NBFTT president also raises questions of another statement made by Warrick in the same media release.
This letter to Griffith was a day after the date of confirmation and three days before the deadline for payment.
Recently, several stakeholders in basketball have spoken out and called for Warwick to resign for his alleged failure to register the national team and for failing to notify the NBFTT Board of Directors about the championships. Some board members have said that the decisions made for national teams were not discussed at the board level as is mandated by the constitution. Thus, many remained with the impression that T&T would be participating in the Championships.