Within the next 24-hours, the focus will be placed upon the presidency of the TTFA. Unfortunately, the taste of politics has become the main meal in almost every aspect of our everyday lives, when the ambitious ones aspire to fight for the top position.
Having seen the various holders of leadership over the years, it is relatively easy for me to recognize the difference in the general motives of the enthusiastic contenders in today's game. The rush for being the leader comes from people, whose determination to create an identity for themselves, has led them towards seeking to be nominated for the post.
Clearly, they could not possibly believe that there is a large salary involved, except for the chance to travel extensively on football business.
Few give too much importance to the prestige attached to the position, much more than they spend some time to understand the responsibilities which will confront them, take a serious view as to the ways and means to reorganize the management of the Association in order to develop competent sports management skills for the benefit of progress.
The issue is even more complex, because of the disarray in which the affairs of the ruling body has been left, since the removal of the tainted leadership, those who had left the finances, the mysterious operations in areas of executive decisions, annual planning of matches and professional marketing methods. All in total disarray.
We all will remember that the association was literally led by one person, while the others were just like robots taking orders and awaiting their next assignment which brings a daily stipend. Funding was hardly ever well-known through the practice of an accounting system which could past through the auditors like a well-oiled machine.
Having mentioned that, it is necessary to look ahead in search of some well qualified personnel who will repair the damage which has been done to the administration of the sport for far too long. The incumbent president Raymond Tim Kee accepted the challenge knowing fully well that the task was difficult, complicated and needed to spend much time analyzing the current situation.
It may be well worth making an assessment of the period of his presidency, in order to recognize the true picture. His first obstacle was the enormous debt with which the TTFA were left to face, coming from all areas of the sport. The drive for promised money for some former world cup players by the former TTFA special Advisor Jack Warner was a major factor, seeing that the matter was already in court and a number of players, who were members of the World cup Germany squad, were prepared to do anything, including close down football in the country. They obtained a court order to confiscate any worthwhile items from the office of the TTFA as part of their payments.
The meeting with Tim Kee and FIFA president Sepp Blatter brought some results which allowed the TTFA to make some tangible payments towards the outstanding funds. It was a victory for Raymond Tim Kee and he continued to push for any opportunities to conduct the business of actual football with the limited funding available.
The players were happy, temporarily, but were awaiting any other opportunity to squeeze any funds that appeared available.
It was also noted that many coaches, administrators in the Office of the association were not paid for sometime and in some cases they were thinking of withholding their services.
The TTFA was still paying close attention to the competitive side of the national teams with World Cup tournaments, Gold Cup, and youth and women national teams preparing for tournaments of its own. Through divine intervention and added influence coming from the president, the battle between the government and subventions to finance travel and hotel accommodation to different countries, plotted a tough course which took the national teams through some embarrassing moments.
Let it be known that the president did not shun his responsibility and sought help in many legitimate ways to expose our footballers, men and women, to wear their national colours.
The political obstacle was obvious and obnoxious at times, but the administrators in the TTFA office were diligent in their efforts to get the job done, except maybe members of the executive committee whose appreciation and improved leadership of Tim Kee as president in the first place, was taking the duties of the TTFA in a direction that appeared much more efficient and within the rules of the beaten and battered amendments of the constitution over the years.
The performances on the field by the teams were amazing and brought results in the Gold Cup tournaments in 2013 and 2015 reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. Our women's youth squad produced an improved quality of play and were on the verge of qualifying for the u17 finals of the world Cup. The same was the case with the senior women team, whose journey to the final was stopped by Ecuador within moments of the final whistle.
The country was proud that our national teams could match the likes of Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and took the leading position on the FIFA ranking ahead of all the Caribbean Countries. Tim Kee literally blazed a new trail for the introduction of competitive Futsal and beach football for the lovers of that type of soccer. He was able to employ a national coach in Stephen Hart, whose career on the field was in Canada, but his love for his country brought him back at the right time.
His success so far has been recognized by dedication, absolute commitment to his job, despite roller coasting which could easily have thrown a weaker person off course. So, apart from these challenges, the task of working with many administrative old-stagers of the past regime, whose concept of the management of football was to endorse the decisions of the special advisor without having understood the intricacies of sports management.
An unclear constitution which had been amended numerous times within the past thirty-five years, disrupted the process of democracy in the association, divided the voting process in a manner which led to a path painted with unilateral behavior among the leader(s), until the roof fell in and opened a door for a new dawn.
Raymond Tim Kee was responsible for this transformation, despite his Job as mayor of Port of Spain and a most successful agency manager in one of the country's leading life Insurance companies. Honestly, if we were the type of people who approached the duties of our workers before assessing their worth, the re-election of Tim Kee as president would have been a given.
How many times have we been exposed to square pegs in round holes, leaving a vacuum which invites unqualified persons to dream of holding high positions, especially when they appear to be easy to influence. If there were any failures in his stewardship, it would have been his failure to bring a work ethic to the executive committee, all of whom were accustomed to obeying instructions to the letter to someone who did not even have an official position in the regulations of the TTFA.
He also may appear to have been tardy when attending to some dodgy financial activity that took place within the secretariat, but eventually reported the matter to the Police.
Tim Kee needed to recognize the horrible administration of some of the zones where all sorts of irregularities had taken place, regarding player transfers, payment of prize monies to winners of the various divisions for two years and in the case of the EFA the appalling and embarrassing situation of the absence of referees not turning up for matches, although the clubs were required to pay in advance for the referees.
RELATED NEWS
Tim Kee confident despite AGM cancellation rumour
By STEPHON NICHOLAS (NEWSDAY).
Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TT FA) president Raymond Tim Kee says there is no truth to the rumour that Sunday’s presidential election might be cancelled. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Tim Kee said he heard of the rumour but says he has no knowledge whether it could be true.
“I don’t know anything about that. The FIFA representative is here, he came in today, and the CONCACAF representative supposed to come in this evening around 10 o’clock and they are coming as observers. We in this country have a propensity for spreading rumours and saying all sorts of things.
“I heard that same talk yesterday and I am not aware where it came from and who is spreading it but as far as I know, there is no talk from the powers that be about the cancellation or deferring of the election.” Tim Kee, who was part of Thursday’s historic debate of presidential candidates, described the event as a landmark initiative and one which he hopes is adopted by other sporting bodies.
“I hope this will be seen as precedent for the way we should go whenever there are things of this nature.
As you would know I tried to revolutionise things by introducing that constitution which focuses on democracy. The whole concept of the debate was well founded and to solidify the minds of people about what true democracy is all about and the way we should move forward.
This is not confined to sport, everybody should showcase their goods so to speak and let the public see what is, and let them make decisions on what they say.
Tim Kee revealed that he visited the region’s associations and other stakeholders and discussed the state of the TT FA prior to his tenure as well as some of his achievements.
“That was quite satisfying.
The body language coming out of those conversations were quite satisfying. I thought we should sit and chat about what it was and not the classical type of power point presentation. I sat among the members and we chatted, sharing, giving advice and of course answering questions,” he said.
Here are some recent TTFA Presidential Candidadtes video interviews
Field of Dreams Ep 19 - TTFA President Raymond Tim Kee
Field of Dreams Ep 17 - TTFA Presidential Candidate Clint Taylor
Field of Dreams Ep 18 - TTFA Presidential Candidate Selby Brown
Scoreboard 24th November 2015 TTFA General Elections with David John Williams