The Minister of Sport and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe, in a surprise move, is set to hold discussions with both the FIFA-imposed Normalisation Committee, which has temporary responsibility for the affairs of the T&T Football Association (TTFA), and by extension the T&T Pro League and Super League to assist football to move forward.
When I say it is a surprising move, the policy of the government or should I say there is no policy that allows the Ministry of Sports and Community and any government to pay a debt of any national sporting body. It will be interesting to witness exactly how the Minister plans to address this situation. The Normalisation Committee was mandated, among other things, to liquidate the enormous long-standing football debt which incredibly was $98.5M earlier this year. Thankfully, it has now been drastically reduced as TTFA is to pay creditors anywhere from 63 cents in the dollar to 100 percent of the monies owed to them.
It is truly astounding just how this debt reached the monumental figure of $98.5M as somewhere around 2011 to 2015, the unconfirmed figure bandied about was $18M then during the period from 2015 to 2019, it climbed to an unconfirmed $48M. The Normalisation Committee has finally come forward with a confirmed figure of $98.5M. Just how will the Minister treat this debt at this point in time is anyone's guess because as mentioned previously, it is unprecedented for a Ministry to pay off the entire debt of a sporting body.
Through the Sports Company of T&T (SporTT), national sporting bodies submit their budgets for the year and the various bodies meet with officials from the company and make their presentations. SporTT themselves have a budget to work with and based on what is requested by the national bodies, they disburse the money as they see fit.
Many of these bodies want funds for competitions but I much rather see the emphasis placed on the development of youngsters while ensuring that elite athletes have the funds to compete at the highest level. It is important to continue to invest in youths as they would be the next generation to replace those very elite athletes that now enjoy funding from the Ministry.
Another interesting discussion to take place is the combined efforts of the Pro and Super Leagues to introduce one league - a unified league that will cater for the country’s first and second-tier tournaments. This has been going on longer than the global pandemic; a committee headed up by Lindsay Gillette was commissioned to investigate and present a template for this unified league to get going. This committee had, in fact, made tremendous headway and had decided on the structure of the league - the number of teams, relegation and promotion criteria, how it should be run etc. the only problem, like most ventures in this country, was the funding. The committee naturally ran into a stumbling block when it came to financing this unified league.
Apparently, a part of the annual subvention for football was to be used and a top-ranking official at the time indicated he was going to approach FIFA to fund part of this new league. Naturally, this never came to pass and all the work that the committee had done came to zero because of the normal politics and some of those self-serving officials seeking their own interests which we have grown remarkably accustomed to.
The work has been done for this unified league and it is just a matter of getting the document and dusting it off. There is no reinventing the wheel by the Normalisation Committee and putting new plans in place. For the sake of football in this country, a unified league that will feature the country’s best players showcasing their talents, not only to the national coach but to the world is desperately needed. The Soca Warriors have slipped down FIFA’s Men’s rankings (currently ranked No 103) but worse than that, the team has slipped badly in the Concacaf region.
Based on what I am witnessing in the Ascension Tournament and the Tiger Tanks men’s Under-20 tournament, the standard of football can and will improve with regular game time and a higher level of competition. More importantly, the crowds in particular are coming out to support the community-based teams. In La Horquetta, where their team plays on a Friday night there is hardly room for a pin as there are close to 2,000 spectators on average attending matches. In contrast, when their team La Horquetta Rangers are not playing, the crowd dwindles to possibly 200 patrons.
It is imperative that teams start to identify with communities and SporTT takes a close look at these communities and assists with the refurbishing of the grounds. The likes of Cunupia, Point Fortin, Moruga, Petit Valley/Diego Martin United, Club Sando and San Juan Jabloteh, to name a few, are teams that have to do the work in their communities to build up support. However, they need assistance not only with their uniforms, equipment etc. but also in attracting good players who, in turn, will attract crowds.
It is time to put football in this country back on a solid footing and if it takes the intervention from the Minister, so be it. The mismanagement in football has to end. If these individuals, who claim to profess their love for football and have the power of a vote, can stop the self-serving and the usual, “ah voting for meh padna!” and put the correct pegs in the correct holes, football in this country will improve as the talent is there.
I have seen first-hand where football can develop communities, give the youngsters opportunities, generate income etc but at the end of the day, football has to be self-sufficient and that is the first message the Minister needs to pass on. One of her questions in the meeting must be on revenue generation and sustainable plans financially. Hopefully, at the end of it all, we can witness the rebirth of quality football in T&T. Indeed, it is long overdue.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and do not reflect the views of any organisation of which he is a stakeholder.