In 10 years new football club Real West Fort United will be one of the top clubs in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) as well as in the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean, former national striker and coach Ron La Forest has said.
La Forest who is known popularly as 'the Professor' by the clubs he has coached locally, unveiled his club 'Real West Fort' to the public at a press launch on Tuesday at the Diego Martin Sports Complex, a club made up only of players from west Trinidad, such as Maraval, Diego Martin, Petit Valley, Point Cumana, Carenage, L'Anse Mitan and Cocorite, among other areas.
The club will contest the second tier of the Ascension Invitational Football League which is scheduled to kick-off at the end of the month (July). La Forest said his interest also is to tackle the top flight T&T Pro League or whatever the country's top league will be called, with a special focus on developing and marketing local talent.
Despite the launch, the club is still in the process of tying up loose ends such as being legally registered, opening its bank account, drafting of its constitution.
According to La Forest, they have already identified two potential sponsors for his team who they are currently in talks with, and he wants more corporate citizens to support their gesture of development of the youth and having a competitive team from west Trinidad in the country's top-flight leagues.
With little or no big-name players in their camp, La Forest said he will continue what he has been doping for many years, which is to develop a team to prevail in any tournament he enters. The team began preparation soon after Tuesday's launch with more than 20 players under La Forest's watch.
La Forest said he is aware of the environment his team will be competing in, one that requires funding and experience on the field. But while these areas are being worked on. According to La Forest: "The club's major strength is the experience, passion and focus of the Board of Directors to set up a football club that is sustainable, community-driven and based that creates lasting social change to use football as the vehicle."
"The region the team represents is a strong PNM area, our representative is the former Minister of Sports, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister. The stadium earmarked to be our home ground - the Diego Martin Sporting Complex is the largest single investment in sport made by this PNM government so we expect a buying in on the vision of our club by the political powers that be. The regions we represent are hotbeds of gang activities and crime, but the team is viewed as a vehicle to create change and break borderlines."
"Many of the regions represented are low-income areas but are mix with areas of great wealth. The club will truly be unstoppable if the affluent ones support it. In our region, although a lot of people generally have access to technology, a high number still depend on traditional means to get information and access services," La Forest said.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian