EDWIN Jones and Northern Football Association (NFA) general secretary Akel Baig will go head-to-head on June 8 when the NFA elects its new president at their annual general meeting (AGM).
The NFA’s outgoing president Ross Russell was appointed in December 2020. However, the former T&T goalkeeper told Newsday he will not be vying for re-election – paving the way for Baig and Jones to vie for the post.
With Russell deciding to step aside, the NFA’s 16 members will have the opportunity to appoint the next person to steer their organisation forward. Baig is currently serving in a dual role as assistant coach and trainer at TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) club Caledonia, while Jones is a member of Trendsetter Hawks – a club that is renowned for its strides in grassroots football.
Baig coined the campaign slogan “Building a brighter future for the Northern Football Association,” and his primary objectives are to align the organisation’s structure with Fifa and TT Football Association’s (TTFA) standards, invest in grassroots development, expand women’s football and to enhance the competitiveness and professionalism of the NFA’s senior division.
A total of seven positions will be up for grabs at the elections, although two of those posts – first vice-president and assistant secretary of operations – will only have one candidate. Dennis Bristol is running unopposed for the first vice-president post, with Sheldon Moore Jr also going up uncontested for assistant secretary of operations position.
Cedric Hazelwood, a long-serving coach at Miscellaneous Laventille United, will go up against Derick Edwards for the second vice-president post. Reginal Crichlow and Marvin Smalls will vie for the assistant secretary of administration post. Kareem Paul and University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer Roger Watts will vie for one of two ordinary member positions, with Nevick Denoon and Roger Vialva vying for the other ordinary member position.
The election proceedings will be overseen by a TT Football Association (TTFA) electoral committee which comprises Azaad Khan, Boni Bishop and former Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees Association president Osmond Downer.