Fed up with attempts to have its own representative to the board of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) approved, the Central Football Association (CFA) is requesting an urgent Extraordinary General Meeting of the TTFA to have Attorney Samuel Saunders removed as their representative on the TTFA Board.
The CFA has been trying to have Saunders replaced by another lawyer, James Toussaint, as the representative for the CFA but encountered a stumbling block as the TTFA, led by president David John-Williams, seem reluctant to appoint the CFA choice, said Clynt Taylor, the CFA’s general secretary, when contacted yesterday.
Last month, the CFA submitted documentation to the TTFA to show it had received a two-thirds majority vote to oust Saunders as the representative. Taylor noted that his association, acting on the advice of constitutional expert Osmund Downer, also supplied the TTFA with proof that the board of the CFA voted overwhelmingly for Saunders to be removed.
According to Taylor, “Mr Downer has made it quite clear that no special majority vote was needed to remove Saunders as he was not a member of the CFA. In fact, because he is a representative, he can be removed the same way he was appointed which is through a vote of the board. That vote was taken since last year.”
Contacted by Guardian Media Sports yesterday John-Williams said he had no comment but he questioned the inconsistency in the special majority needed to remove Saunders. The embattled CFA rep had said last month that he was still the representative as the CFA had not complied fully with the constitution of the T&TFA.
Guardian Media Sports understands the CFA plans to take drastic measures to have him removed, which include writing to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), and another measure which he did not want to mention.
Meanwhile, Downer explained that the CFA had followed the constitution and did all it needed to have Saunders removed, saying he was optimistic the TTFA will act accordingly, as it only needed to ensure that the constitution of the CFA was followed.
“The board of the CFA can even provisionally remove Saunders until a general meeting is held. But what is clear is that they do not need two-thirds majority to have him removed,” Downer said.
The CFA’s request has received overwhelming support from the membership of the Trinidad and Tobago Super League, but GM Sports has learned that two CFA executives are against it. GM Sports was reliably informed that the two CFA executives have asked for an investigation into the voting process that removed Saunders, as they are not satisfied the CFA membership had reached the two-thirds majority it needed.