WALTER ALIBEY
walter.alibey@guardian.co.tt
The T&T Football Association is being asked to act with urgency to deal with the appointment of a coach for the country's Women's team, ahead of the CONCACAF Women's Championship in the United States, October 4-17.
Keith Look, Loy, the T&T Super League's representative on the TTFA Board of Directors revealed that Technical Committee Chairman Richard Quan Chan is not in a position to act as such, because his appointment at an Annual General Meeting on June 30 this year was illegal, saying the meeting did not have a quorum. It's unsure how and why Quan Chan was still able to earn the position.
Only recently Quan Chan recommended Shawn Cooper, among a shortlist of about three coaches, for the women's coaching job, but Look Loy rejected the appointment in writing, saying "I do not know what authority you rely on to recommend anyone to be a coach of any TTFA national team. The so-called meeting (30 June 2018) that appointed you to the post of Chairman of the Technical Committee was illegal as it failed to achieve a quorum. I will challenge your so-called appointment among the membership and in the media and expose you as part of the dictatorial charade being conducted by the TTFA President and his clique, of which you are decidedly a member."
Five other Board members supported Look Loy, by chastising Quan Chan for exercising powers he did not have, namely Colin Partap of the Central Football Association (CFA), Julia Baptiste (T&T Pro League), Joseph Taylor of the T&T Football Referees Association, Sharon Warrick of the Women's Football League, and Jabari Williams of the Northern Football Association (NFA).
With less than a month to go before the T&T Women face Panama in their opening match on October 4, Look Loy is calling on the embattled football association to move expeditiously in calling an AGM now, saying "I understand the urgency to appoint a coach, but at the same time it must be done legally and according to the Constitution of the TTFA."
He told Guardian Media Sports that, "They are deliberately undermining the authority of the constitution." Look Loy who only recently submitted a proposal for a motion to dismiss David John-Williams as T&TFA president at the next AGM, said he believes if the football association moves swiftly, the appointment of a coach can be done in a quick time-frame.
He made it clear his stance has absolutely nothing to do with Cooper being chosen as the coach, but rather the manner in which it was done, without respect for the members of the Board.
Quan Chan last week, made a call on Board members to support his recommendation of Cooper for the coaching job, but it seems he will first have to be chosen as the committee chairman first before he is given the power to make such a request.
Efforts to contact Quan Chan yesterday were unsuccessful.