TTFA League of Champions back on

Yes­ter­day Randy Ha­gley, the Guaya Unit­ed boss said his cheque was can­celled by some­one from the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion af­ter he re­fused to re­turn it up­on a re­quest by the TTFA.

The League was ini­tial­ly giv­en the go-ahead by the then David John-Williams-led foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion to run for two years, be­fore the William Wal­lace-led ad­min­is­tra­tion stopped it up­on their suc­cess­ful elec­tion as the sports new ad­min­is­tra­tors, cit­ing a lack of funds.

But the TTFA Board re­verse its de­ci­sion up­on con­sul­ta­tion with the world gov­ern­ing body for foot­ball - FI­FA.

Ha­gley said monies from the FI­FA For­ward Project was ap­proved for it.

How­ev­er, on Wednes­day, a vice pres­i­dent from the TTFA, who spoke on con­di­tion of anonymi­ty, said the TTFA sought ad­vice from the world gov­ern­ing body for foot­ball (FI­FA) re­gard­ing the al­leged wrong­ful use of the FI­FA For­ward funds for a pur­pose it was not orig­i­nal­ly giv­en.

He told Guardian Me­dia Sports the FI­FA For­ward funds were giv­en for the FI­FA/UE­FA-rec­om­mend­ed T-League, which was set to be the pre­mier foot­ball com­pe­ti­tion in T&T. It was al­so ex­pect­ed to be on par with some of the top Eu­ro­pean Leagues, such as in Eng­land, Spain, Italy and France etc.

Ac­cord­ing to the TTFA ex­ec­u­tive, "David John-Williams used it for the wrong pur­pose, and there­fore we were told that no more mon­ey would have been forth­com­ing for the League of Cham­pi­ons. It is up to the TTFA to sanc­tion the LOC or not, but if it is not sanc­tioned, then the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion will have to take back the monies giv­en to the clubs," the source said.

He added, "Now if the League is sanc­tioned, then the TTFA will have to source its funds to pay the clubs. How­ev­er, we at the TTFA have de­cid­ed that the tour­na­ment will go on­ly for one round."

Al­though the T&TFA of­fi­cial said the clubs would run its own com­pe­ti­tion, a fix­ture of the fi­nal round showed it was made up by the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion.

Up­on be­ing giv­en the first tranche of $25,600, the clubs are to re­ceive an­oth­er pay­ment of $12,250 and the re­main­ing amount of an over­all to­tal of $51,000, at the end of the sec­ond round.

Ha­gley said a meet­ing of the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion, the T&T Pro League clubs and the T&T Su­per League was sched­uled to be held yes­ter­day to de­ter­mine if the LOC will have a sec­ond round.

The fi­nal round of match­es in the first round be­gan yes­ter­day with Youth Stars of To­ba­go hold­ing De­fence Force to a 1-1 tie at Bethel Grounds in the lone fix­ture.

The oth­er match­es will be held on Sun­day. They in­clude Guaya Unit­ed com­ing up against Po­lice at New Lands Ground, Guayagua­yare: Mis­cel­la­neous Laven­tille ver­sus Cen­tral Soc­cer World at St Mary's Ground, St Mary's: Moru­ga FC com­ing up against 1976 Phoenix at Caanan Recre­ation Ground: and Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed up against Harlem Strik­ers at St Mary's Ground, St Mary's.

Yesterday's Results

Youth Stars 1 v De­fence Force 1, Bethel Grounds.

Upcoming Fixtures (Sunday-Feb-02)

Guaya Unit­ed v Po­lice FC, New Lands Ground, Guayagua­yare;

Mis­cel­la­neous Laven­tille v Cen­tral Soc­cer World, St Mary's Ground, St Mary's;

Moru­ga FC v 1976 Phoenix FC, Caanan Recre­ation Ground;

Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed v Harlem Strik­ers, St Mary's Ground, St Mary's.