September 24 – The Trinidad and Tobago FA has begun a roadshow via its National Football Committee to canvas opinion and recommendations for a restructuring of the game within the country.
The first stop was at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, last weekend where TTFA board member and football committee chairman Selby Browne said: “We have brought this panel together to see about the various issues, governance and structure for Trinidad and Tobago football.”
Browne said that the whole of the TTFA board was behind the restructuring initiative which begins with information gathering that will be compiled into a report with recommendations for the structure of the game.
“I take this mandate very seriously. Our ambition is to move Trinidad and Tobago football to the number one spot in CONCACAF, a spot we held in the 1974 World Cup Qualifiers,” said Browne.
“We cannot expect to be doing the same things and expect different results. What we have now is a population that is hurting for that passion and love for football and how the business of football has been conducted.”
The TTFA under president David John Williams has come under local criticism, not least for the failures of its men’s national team to make a significant impact in Concacaf competition. When Williams took charge he immediately faced a TT$40 million debt that has weighed down the development opportunity for the game in the country, and investment in the national teams.
That has prompted the loose formation of an opposition group to Williams under the banner ‘United TTFA’. Keith Look Loy, former technical director of the TTFA, said that their “collective body will create a United slate of candidates for the next elections of the TTFA”.
In the meantime the TTFA has announced plans for a second division of its top tier T&T Pro League and invited clubs to register. Next season the 10 top tier clubs will receive $108,000 each for their participation, while clubs in the second level will receive $8,000.
Look Loy is president of the current second tier Trinidad and Tobago Super League and has said that none of his clubs will register. Browne has said that he has received interest from Super League clubs but that he expected the Super League to play its competition,
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