One of the most accurate comments which have been made about the country's football was the decision to implement an advisory committee to manage the affairs of the highest levels of our football. This move will also ensure the fraternity that the number of ills which have deteriorated the quality of the great game because of the deficiency in dealing with the administrative aspect of it.
I was pleasantly surprised that the comment would have been made by current executive members who were party to the present state of the game.
The fact that a review of the current display of unsolved problems was recognised by those in charge. So I asked, why would they wish to utilize the same personnel to form the advisory committee?
What else could they have done which they would like to change?
The absolute confusing state of leadership across the board appeared to replace intelligent discussions in exchange for personalization, farless than constructive to modern day sports management. FIFA had sent their experts to lecture to the clubs in the various leagues in T&T, to ensure that they will return to their villages and turn the tide around for a better football administration.
Yes, there is a need for qualified personnel who can take careful scrutiny at the constitution of the TTFA and make the assessment which existed within the rules and regulations.
This is not the first time that there was a need for the authorities to rewrite the constitutions of all the major sports in the years 1972-74.
What they would observe in the current document (constitution) it that it varies appreciably, not so much in the orthodox structures which were defined, but the number of changes which have brought the present condition to its demise.
It would take little or no time to recognise that the structures which were written into the books by some of the most intelligent men in administration in that era to detect, had either been misunderstood or brought changes which did not work.
The successful sports personalities of the past have left competence in football management, much of which is no longer with us to follow before it was destroyed by rule-breaking which is the present rule of the day. It is replaced by the use of unnecessary arguments amount the current executive which have caused numerous arguments in what is supposed to be executive meetings addressing concerns that would instead improve the quality of the game and sports in general.
The sports fans are still very patriotic and expecting to witness the entertaining displays which came out at the venues of all the major sports, every afternoon in the past.
I wonder how many have been informed of the wonderful display of both cricket and football when the popular teams competed against each other on the weekend for cricket and afternoons for football.
Where were the super foreign athletes like Harrison Dillard, Ben Johnson, and others who graced our venues to match strides with the likes of Ed Roberts, Kent Bernard, Charlie Joseph, Hasely Crawford, Wendell Mottley, Ed Skinner, Ainsley Armstrong and others? They were superstars in our midst.
There was no time for maladministration and word bashing among the competent leaders of the sports association at that time of life.
The days have gone and unfortunately, instead of our people trying to follow a previous path of success in administration, they prefer to take the course of wanting to fight to become leaders in these fields, when, as we now know, how incapable they have turned out to be. If you doubt me, just look at the numbers of national sports who are lining up before the courts for one reason or another.
Finally, if the advisory is needed, please allow our ministry of sports to select qualified personnel to reorganise the structures if necessary and follow their path by way of honesty, good management, and create the most comfort and dedication which our sportsmen and women could ever have wished.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian