FIFA, the global governing body for football, has scrapped the TT Football Association (TTFA) board and decided to appoint a normalisation committee, in accordance with article 8.2 of the FIFA Statutes.
This decision, by the Bureau of the FIFA Council, was announced on the FIFA website, on Tuesday. It means the tenure of president William Wallace, and his deputies Clynt Taylor, Sharon Joseph-Warrick and Sam Phillip, which began on November 24, 2019 has come to an end.
Wallace and his United TTFA team defeated Team Impactors, led by David John-Williams, 26-20 at the elections, which took place at the Home of Football, Balmain, Couva.
However, Wallace has questioned the move made by FIFA, since his administration has been seeking to erase some of the $50 million debt inherited from the 2015-2019 John-Williams’ regime.
“It’s unfortunate in that we had four years of members of the TT Football Association complaining and many people outside the football fraternity asking what’s happening,” said Wallace. “Having come into office and identified some of the stuff that occurred under the last regime, and no action was taken then.
“It’s little strange that an administration that has come into office in November and this decision has been taken,” Wallace added.
Keith Look Loy, a member of the TTFA board and an influential member of United TTFA during their election campaign, was vocal in his condemnation of FIFA’s act.
“This is, in my view, an attempted coup d’etat by FIFA to remove a democratically elected administration, an administration elected by the will of the football community,” Look Loy said. “They are seeking to overturn that will and acting like a colonial absentee landlord that feels he could do whatever he wants, regardless of what the local people think because their views don’t matter. It is highly disrespectful.”
According to an article on the FIFA website, “The decision follows the recent FIFA/Concacaf fact-finding mission to TT to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of TTFA.
“The mission found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organisation and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently.”
However, Look Loy stressed that FIFA never took such drastic action during the previous TTFA leadership.
“FIFA presided over the mess created by John-Williams and his administration,” said Look Loy. “The debt that we inherited, the $4 million in monies deducted (from office staff) and never paid to the authorities, spending FIFA money on the Home of Football and the (Fire Service) refuse to allow us to open it.
“(FIFA) came and celebrated with him. The TTFA electorate rejected John-Williams. They want to hold a new administration, that has done nothing wrong, responsible for the sins of John-Williams’ administration. It is objectionable, unreasonable and unacceptable, and we’re not going to be taking it lying down.”
Wallace admitted that he was yet to be officially informed by FIFA about their decision.
“I got the same news that you got, via the same way that you got it,” he alluded. “I have not gotten anything official from FIFA as yet, neither my secretary (Ramesh Ramdhan).”
Look Loy added, “I understand, up to now, when I spoke to them about 15 minutes (before the interview) that FIFA has informed neither the president nor the general secretary of this move officially. That summarises the disrespect, that they feel they could sit afar and just dictate to us. People, including myself, repeatedly pointed out to FIFA officials that there was mismanagement. Their attitude was hands off and it was TTFA’s business, but suddenly it is their business.”
Wallace recently said the fact-finding mission was a positive one. However, he did not want to be drawn into speculation that this move was indirectly linked to John-Williams’ close ties with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
“I wouldn’t want to aggravate anything at this point, I would want to hold (back) on those statements. I don’t want to go down this road at this point.”
Look Loy opined, “(Team Impactors) have been trying to find every little opening to attack, and they’re being encouraged by high football authorities (as well as) the international and local media.”
The mandate of the normalisation committee includes – running the TTFA’s daily affairs; establishing a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA; reviewing and amending the TTFA statutes; organising and conducting elections of a new TTFA executive committee for a four-year mandate.
The normalisation committee will comprise an adequate number of members to be identified by the FIFA administration, in consultation with Concacaf. In line with the FIFA Governance Regulations, all members of the normalisation committee will be subject to an eligibility check.
The normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee, and none of its members will be eligible for any of the open positions in the TTFA elections under any circumstances.
The specified period of time during which the normalisation committee will perform its functions will expire as soon as it has fulfilled all of its assigned tasks, but no later than 24 months after its members have been officially appointed by FIFA.
Asked if he will be looking to appeal FIFA’s decision to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), Wallace replied, “It is new territory for me, we need to get some information on that.”
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FIFA Normalisation committee takes over T&TFA.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).
A Normalisation Committee is set to take over the administration of football in T&T for a period of maximum two years. This new development which was widely expected, took place yesterday, mere weeks after a visit by a FIFA/CONCACAF team, on a fact-finding mission to the T&T Football Association, found an extremely low overall financial situation that placed the William Wallace-led TTFA on the periphery of insolvency.
On Tuesday, a release from the world governing body for football- FIFA on its website stated that: “The Bureau of the FIFA Council has today (Tuesday) decided to appoint a normalisation committee for the T&T Football Association in accordance with articles 8, par 2 of the FIFA Statutes.
Article 8.2 of the FIFA Statutes reads: "Executive bodies of member associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the Council in consultation with the relevant confederation and replaced by a normalisation committee for a specific period."
The decision follows the recent FIFA/CONCACAF fact-finding mission to T&T to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of the TTFA. The mission found that extremely low financial management methods, combined with massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity.”
It added: “Such a situation is putting at risk the organization and the development of football in the country, and corrective measures need to be applied urgently.” Ironically, the committee comes at a time when the Wallace-led football executive had won over the public's trust from the David John-Williams led administration based on transparency and accountability, and the ability to raise funding to treat with the association's burdening debt, which it is understood, to be in the region of $50 million, Wallace said recently at a press conference at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain on March 4. The TTFA’s debts stood at TT$16 million at the end of the late Raymond Tim Kee’s term in office and were upwards of TT$50 million when David John-Williams was replaced at the helm last November.
Only last week Ramesh Ramdhan, the T&T football association's general secretary told Guardian Media Sports that the FIFA/CONCACAF team had expressed satisfaction with the plans and structures his association had put in place, as well as their plans to treat with the financial affairs, and they (FIFA) was willing to pump money to assist the embattled football association.
The normalisation committee is expected to: Run the TTFA's daily affairs: To establish a debt repayment plan that is implemented by the TTFA: To review and amend the TTFA Statutes and other regulations where necessary and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress: To organize and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.
This is the first time the FIFA normalisation committee has had to take over the governance of T&T football which is 112 years old, and a FIFA member for the last 76 years, and it comes amidst rising concerns of questionable contracts, promises of many local and international sponsors that are still to materialize, and promises of transparency and accountability being compromised by members of the Board of Directors complaining of being left out of the decision-making process since the new executive took over just over three months ago.
According to the release: “The normalisation committee will be composed of an adequate number of members to be identified by the FIFA administration, in consultation with CONCACAF. In line with the FIFA Governance Regulations, all members of the normalisation committee will be subject to an eligibility check. The normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee, and none of its members will be eligible for any of the open positions in the TTFA elections under any circumstances. The specified period during which the normalisation committee will perform its function will expire as soon it has fulfilled all its assigned tasks, but no later than 24 months after its members have been officially appointed by FIFA.”
Contacted by Guardian Media Sports on Tuesday Wallace, who was elected to the local organisation top post on November 24 last year, said he was surprised with the position taken by the FIFA and particularly for the reasons given. The local football boss said they have been working on some stuff and will contact the FIFA for official confirmation since he only saw it on the FIFA website, noting that he or his general secretary had not been contacted or informed about it.
“After the FIFA team visited and said it was satisfied. We gave the FIFA a total breakdown of the TTFA financial debt with all the court matters and rulings etc. We also gave them a structural plan of how we were moving forward. And at the end of the audit, a statement was made that they were satisfied, and we were told to get the freeze on the account removed before the FIFA can start sending money again, so I am shocked now at the steps taken,” Wallace explained.
Former president John-Williams told Guardian Media Sports that he had no comment on the matter on Tuesday.