It was bound to happen!
Never mind the super tactics of Leo Beenhakker; the dedication and commitment of icons Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy, or the composure of the squad of players who have brought joy to T&T by qualifying for Germany 2006.
Never mind the corporate groups who are now digging deep to associate themselves with the Warriors.
Never mind the $6 million that Government forked out after the team had shown that it had enough character to beat Bahrain.
The reality is that this country owes its arrival on the biggest sporting stage, to the nation’s latest hero, Austin Jack Warner, whose belief and faith in what football can do for the psyche of a people never wavered — not even in the face of the extreme persecution he experienced in 1989, after the Strike Squad failed to qualify for Italy.
Ironically, Warner has felt all the pains of T&T’s almost making it to the big stage from 1973 in Haiti (he was then secretary of the TTFA), to Italy 1990 and now, 32 years later, the faith that he had in his people has finally borne fruit.
Praises have been showered on the Warriors, deservingly, I might add, but apart from a Clico full page and some tongue-in-cheek comments from the Prime Minister, not enough has been made of Warner’s performance.
“The only limits to our getting to the World Cup finals are the limits we place on ourselves,” Warner stated in his biography ‘Upwards Through the Night.’
He was adamant that his role as an international football administrator was to remove those obstacles.
“If Jack Warner could be a force on the international football stage, why is it the country that Jack Warner represents cannot do the same?” he questioned.
In the past two years, I nominated Warner for a national award. It was rejected.
It must be somewhat of an irony that I also nominated Francis Rivas for his role in organising schoolgirl cricket and minor league football in the savannah and he was, in fact, honoured.
It is unfortunate, in my view, that national awards remain the prerogative of the Prime Minister. They are, I have been forced to conclude, meaningless until such time as an independent body is set up to give credibility to what they represent.
In the meantime, I would like to urge the Prime Minister and his Government that in recognising the achievements of Dwight Yorke and the Warriors, to put some thought into how Austin Jack Warner can be honoured.
National development demands that politics be kept out when we recognise excellence.
Austin Jack Warner, the little black boy from Rio Claro, with the speech impediment, has defied the odds, withstood the persecution and now stands tall. It is his time now.
From Zero 1989 to Hero 2005.
T&T must recognise and salute him as such!