After several months of legal wrangling between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and FIFA, the local body has now decided to withdraw its court matter against the world body following an informal virtual meeting on Tuesday night convened by ousted TTFA president William Wallace and his executives.
Sources who were part of the two-hour online Zoom meeting attended by 32 of the 47 TTFA delegates, said a vote on the issue saw 21 delegates voting to drop the case, eight wanted it to continue while three abstained from voting.
This means that Wallace and his team will now withdraw the matter from the High Court.
"There was a popular consensus not to go down a particular road. It would have been morally wrong for anyone to ignore that matter," one source who attended the meeting, which started at 7 pm, told Guardian Media.
Another source said the vote by many delegates was made out of fear of a possible FIFA sanction and hinged on the upcoming of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup in which T&T was listed as one of the six pre-seeded teams along with Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, Bermuda and Guadeloupe.
As the vote suggests, not all were happy with the decision.
"We came so far and now this. Why did we fold to FIFA?" said one disappointed delegate who voted to continue the court action.
The meeting reportedly started with some controversy as some delegates claimed they were not invited, believing the United TTFA team had initially invited mostly their supporters.
Brent Sancho, the acting chairman of T&T Pro League, told the meeting the TTFA had reached out to some members who did not have the voting power and named some of them.
Wallace and his vice presidents - Clynt Taylor, Sam Phillip and Susan Joseph-Warrick – had challenged FIFA's decision to implement a Normalisation Committee to replace their executive just four months after they had been elected into office over then-president David John-Williams’ team.
On September 11, Wallace’s team filed an injunction to block the membership from the Extraordinary General Meeting where the same issue was to be discussed and were successful in getting the injunction.
Guardian Media Sports recently reported that there had been support from more than 51 per cent of the TTFA membership for an EGM to vote for Wallace and his team to drop litigation in local courts against FIFA and move the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which like FIFA is based in Switzerland, and also recognise the Normalisation Committee headed by businessman Robert Hadad.
At the same time, High Court Judge Carol Gobin had also ruled that its case against FIFA could be held in the T&T courts and not at the Court of Arbitration (CAS), as according to FIFA regulations.
The TTFA was initially given an initial deadline of September 16 to withdraw the local court matter by FIFA General Secretary Fatma Samoura.
Last Friday, however, after the matter of a possible ban on the TTFA was not raised at the FIFA Congress, Samoura issued another warning with a revised September 23 date to drop the court case or the matter would have been sent to the relevant FIFA bodies to decide on suspension of the TTFA.
Afterward, Sancho said he will now wait to see how genuine the United TTFA is about finding a solution to the problems within the organisation. He said at the end of the day, a decision has to be made.
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United TTFA prepared to back down.
By Stephon Nicholas & Joel Bailey (Newsday).
OUSTED TT Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace has softened his stance and will consider acquiescing to FIFA's demand to drop its case from the High Court, if TTFA members so desire. Earlier today, Wallace called an informal TTFA meeting for 7pm tonight, a day before FIFA's "final deadline" to withdraw its legal challenge.
Wallace told Newsday on Tuesday, the change in approach was not influenced by the pleas of the local football community but rather a seemingly strong-arm tactic by the world governing body.
FIFA remove Wallace's executive, on March 17, after just four months in office owing to TTFA’s mounting debt and "very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity."
A normalisation committee, led by businessman Robert Hadad, was put to run the TTFA affairs, a decision Wallace's executive had previously refused to accept.
Wallace's United TTFA had remained defiant amid an earlier September 16 deadline given by FIFA to withdraw the matter from the local court. FIFA insists the Court of Arbitration for Sport is the sole authority to hear disputes between FIFA and its Member Associations.
At last Friday's FIFA Congress, TTFA's battle with FIFA was not discussed but FIFA later extended the deadline to Wednesday. FIFA reiterated that TTFA faces suspension if the case is not dropped from the local court.
United TTFA member Keith Look Loy previously told Newsday suspension was inevitable.
He said, “We believe that the suspension is inevitable, but it comes in the time of covid and there is no football to be played until the second quarter of next year, be it domestic or international football. If ever there is a time for us to be suspended it is now and we are holding firm in our position.”
FIFA has seemingly countered that position with the draw for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup on September 28. If the United TTFA does not comply, FIFA could ban T&T through FIFA's seven-member Bureau of the Council and T&T's Gold Cup dreams could be shattered.
Wallace said, "We are at a serious crossroads and the dynamics have changed. Where we would not have had any activity for 2020 and now they have this draw, this has changed the dynamics. This has changed how we see things. Whatever decision we make will benefit Trinidad and Tobago football."
He said TTFA members have the chance later today to air their views.
"Whatever comes out of the meeting today, we would take into consideration in terms of making a decision. I'm not saying if the membership say drop the case we will drop the case, I'm saying whatever is discussed with the membership today would affect how we move forward."
Majority of TTFA members vote to end FIFA battle.
By Jelani Beckles (Newsday).
THE majority of the TT Football Association (TTFA) members voted on Tuesday to end United TTFA’s court action against FIFA.
A virtual meeting ended at 9.30 pm. Earlier on Tuesday, ousted TTFA president William Wallace told Newsday he was willing to hear the views of the TTFA membership and called the informal meeting, a day before FIFA’s September 23 deadline given to TTFA to withdraw the matter from the High Court.
After the meeting, TT Pro League acting chairman and TTFA board member Brent Sancho told Newsday, “The majority (voted) against the court matter.”
Sancho is hopeful that Wallace and the United TTFA listen to the TTFA members.
“At the end of the day, I suspect good sense will prevail tomorrow (Wednesday) and the matter should be taken out of court and more importantly, I think this group was looking for a reason to step aside and they knew the writing was on the wall.”
Sancho said the number of people who wanted to withdraw the court matter was approximately three times more than those who were in favour of continuing the court battle against FIFA.
FIFA removed Wallace's executive, on March 17, after just four months in office owing to TTFA’s mounting debt and "very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity."
A normalisation committee, led by businessman Robert Hadad, was put to run the TTFA affairs, a decision Wallace's executive had previously refused to accept.
The United TTFA, led by Wallace, did not seem willing to have a change of heart before the previous deadline by FIFA of September 16 to withdraw the matter.
FIFA insists the Court of Arbitration for Sport is the sole authority to hear disputes between FIFA and its member associations.
At last Friday's FIFA Congress, TTFA's battle with FIFA was not discussed but FIFA later extended the deadline to Wednesday. FIFA reiterated that TTFA faces suspension if the case is not dropped.
Before the meeting on Tuesday night, Wallace said he was willing to listen to the opinions of the TTFA members.
"Whatever comes out of the meeting today, we would take into consideration in terms of making a decision. I'm not saying if the membership say drop the case we will drop the case, I'm saying whatever is discussed with the membership today would affect how we move forward."
With the draw for the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup on September 28 FIFA could ban T&T through FIFA's seven-member Bureau of the Council and T&T's Gold Cup dreams could be dashed if the United TTFA does not comply.