Thirteen members of the 2006 World Cup "Soca Warriors" squad have finally received some of the court-approved money owing to them. But Everald "Gally" Cummings is still calling for a fair chance in local football.
Just over a year since he wrote to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) alleging over 20 years of discrimination and victimisation by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) and its special adviser Jack Warner, the former national coach of the 1989 Strike Squad has not got a response from the EOC.
Specifically, Cummings claims he has been denied job opportunities to work for the St Vincent Football Federation in 1994, the Grenada Football Association in 1997 and the national Under-17 team for the 2001 FIFA Under-17 World Cup which was staged in Trinidad and Tobago.
So now he is making a public appeal to Attorney General Anand Ramlogan.
That is victimisation of the highest, so what I am doing is calling on the AG to look into this matter, he told the Express on Friday.
I was very optimistic about the stated policy of the People's Partnership that persons with high levels of competence will be given the opportunity to contribute to national development with their stated commitment to youth development... And I find that people who are in leadership positions should not deny any national the opportunity of making that commitment.
Cummings, who currently runs the football programme at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), claims the matter involving him has wider implications.
We as coaches and as administrators, we need to understand the important role we play in this country. Think about it; every time you victimise one coach, you stopping about 50 people from developing. And it is not only me.
He claims there may be about six coaches in my position...I'm the only who they have really interfered with. They have come after me with the big sledge hammer.
He added: I have an opportunity at UTT where I can still pass it on (his knowledge) to young people and, at the same time, have them pass it on to others. But...the best level to make that commitment is at national level.
However, Cummings said he was not interested in coaching a national team once more.
What he is interested in most of all, however, is bringing an end to what he claims is his ostracism by the TTFF and the special adviser.
I want closure to my situation with the Football Association (Federation) and I'm appealing to the Attorney General publicly to do something about it. I want to reiterate, April 12 was a year (since he wrote to the Equal Opportunities Commission) and up to now I have not heard anything and I'm a bit concerned. I thought by now they would have brought closure to it.
A number of national coaches have been appointed by the TTFF since Cummings ended as technical director in 1997, with German Otto Pfister recently given charge of the senior team.
Asked about the decision to appoint Pfister as national coach, who replaced former T&T midfielder Russell Latapy, Cummings said: Anybody can do a job with the team, but it's what kind of job you're talking about.
We continue to do the same thing all the time, bring a foreigner, give him a set of money and when he leaves, he leaves a hole in the football and also what he does, he takes a chunk of your money that you can use to help develop the communities...
I'm not blaming any foreign coach, but whether it does good for the development of Trinidad football? No, it's not doing anything for the development of Trinidad football.