A NEW Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) president will be elected on Sunday. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections will be held virtually from 9 am.
Outgoing president Clayton Morris will not seek re-election having served at the helm since December 2020.
The race for TTSL presidency will be contested by Eastern Football Association (EFA) president Kieron Edwards, Prisons Football Club vice-president Lee Davis and T&T Defence Force team manager Ryan Ottley.
As Morris winds down his eight-month stint as president, he called on the pending new executive to place emphasis on quelling the ongoing infighting among clubs and their members.
He believes there are many petty issues and personal grudges among club members which are spilling over and hampering the league’s development, and by extension, football on a national scale.
Morris is not seeking a second term since his administrative duties as president, according to him, are keeping him “too far away from the football field and away from helping another human being develop” as a coach. Morris also serves as coach as the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) Super League team.
The former Strike Squad captain wants the infighting to stop and said the league will continue to suffer if love, for the sport and fellow human beings, does not find its way back into hearts of its administrators.
“We need to get that love back. Once we get that back all this infighting, pulling and tugging and who wants power, that would be behind us. Only then our football will go forward.
“It has to start from the top and we have to lead by example. Administratively, we have to put things in place so when coaches are going to talk to their players they use administrators as examples to motivate their players. This is what we need to get back,” he said.
Morris drew reference to T&T’s failed 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. He said the reason T&T football and, by extension, its leagues are in a state of disarray is owing to its own administrative failures.
He added that several Concacaf nations have shown good progress over the past two years, amidst the pandemic, because they have sat down and worked out their administrative issues.
Once these internal problems are ironed out, Morris believes T&T can retake its place as one of the more consistently competing Caribbean nations.
“During my tenure, I tried as much as possible to keep the peace and reach out to everyone. We have to have forgiveness, let go of the animosity and whatever personal issues you have with people.
“We need to move past these things and look at the bigger picture. When people trust and vote for you, you have to take care of their business. That’s what you were put there for, not to fight this one and that one.
“T&T football will definitely suffer. Look at the other countries we have to battle in order to get to a World Cup. The Concacaf teams are out there doing well because administratively they have their house in order, so it will show on the field,” he said.
After spending eight months competing in the USISL (United States Inter-regional Soccer League) in 1994, this competition paved the way for the extremely lucrative Major League Soccer (MLS) in the US.
Just like his involvement in the USISL helped create great avenues for footballers and boosted the value of the American pro league, he remains hopeful that his actions over the past eight months as TTSL president, derives similar benefits to the league in both the short and long-term.
“I would like to feel, in the future of the TTSL, to know whatever contributions I made within this time, that I could feel proud about that situation. As administrators we must be exemplars.
“Once we get love we would have understanding, integrity, transparency, accountability and honesty. It was always a challenge for me and I’m happy to make way for younger people,” he closed.
SOURCE: T&T Newsday
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