After six months of constant in-the-court battle with football's world governing body - FIFA, over the legitimacy of the appointment of a Normalisation Committee to run T&T football, the United T&T Football Association (TTFA) executive has finally given up.
The group of former president William Wallace, vice presidents Clynt Taylor, Joseph Sam Phillip and Susan Joseph-Warrick, and foundation members Keith Look Loy and Anthony Harford, took the advice of local football's general membership to drop the court matter to prevent the country from facing the wrath of FIFA's sanctions, which will be equivalent to no action in any of FIFA-sanctioned tournaments such as World Cup qualifiers at youth and senior levels, no CONCACAF Gold Cup action, no Caribbean Club Championship action, no international friendly matches, and no CONCACAF or FIFA appointments for local officials to any international competitions.
With a FIFA deadline set for 3 pm (TT Time) on Wednesday, Wallace and his team called a Zoom meeting among the membership on Tuesday night and conducted a vote to decide who were in favour of ending the court matter as requested by FIFA, and who wanted to continue the fight, a process that resulted in 21 members voting to drop the case and eight against while three abstained.
Guardian Media Sports was reliably informed that during a meeting of the United TTFA members late Tuesday night, four out of the six members- Joseph-Warrick, Look Loy, Harford and Sam- Phillip voted to discontinue the fight against FIFA, while Taylor and Wallace held firm to fight against FIFA injustice.
Wallace could not be contacted for a comment on Wednesday, but a release from the United TTFA, bearing the names of the four members who agreed to drop the case, confirmed the decision of the group, with Look Loy saying their legal team was in the process of handling the documentation in the court.
The group in its release said: "It is fair to say that the overwhelming majority of representatives were motivated by fear of FIFA's threat to suspend TTFA. Indeed, several who voted to have the legal case withdrawn did so while openly stating their support for the principles on which United TTFA stood against FIFA.
"This fear was exacerbated by the imminent draw for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, to be held on September 28, from which T&T would be excluded if we were to be suspended by FIFA. A 'convenient' development for FIFA."
Wallace, who resigned as the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) president on July 6, due to the increased workload of having to manage two organisations, led a battle that saw them pull out of the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland in May due to what he described as bias, and file a legal challenge against FIFA in the T&T High Court where Judge Carol Gobin ruled that the matter can be heard in the T&T courts on August 13.
The parties were set to re-enter court on October 21, for an appeal of Judge Gobin's decision.
But mounting pressure caused the group to fold. Following on the heels of an attempt to call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) by the membership on September 15, a day before FIFA first deadline, Wallace file an injunction on September 11 and Judge Gobin granted it four days later, stopping the meeting from taking place. The TTFA was spare the early wrath of the FIFA when the Bureau of the FIFA Council opted to hand the TTFA a revised deadline of September 23 to drop the court battle by 3 pm TT Time or face suspension.
Here's the full text of the TTFA released yesterday, giving the reasons from dropping the case:
UNITED TTFA ENDS ACTION AGAINST FIFA
<Good leaders sometimes follow>
On Tuesday 22 United TTFA met TTFA members to discuss FIFA's second deadline for ending our challenge to its Normalization Committee (Wednesday 23). Of the participating member representatives, twenty one (21) called on United TTFA to end its legal challenge to FIFA, while eight (8) were in favour of it being continued and three (3) abstained. We, the signatories, accept this call.
It is fair to say that the overwhelming majority of representatives were motivated by fear of FIFA's threat to suspend TTFA. Indeed, several who voted to have the legal case withdrawn did so while openly stating their support for the principles on which United TTFA stood against FIFA. This fear was exacerbated by the imminent draw for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, to be held on 28 September, from which Trinidad and Tobago would be excluded if we were to be suspended by FIFA. A "convenient" development for FIFA.
The signatories to this statement have decided to follow the clear wish of the membership. President William Wallace and first Vice President Clynt Taylor have advised us that they have instructed our legal representatives to withdraw the High Court claim against FIFA.
<Promised platform>
On taking office the Wallace administration's immediate priorities were, 1) debt service, 2) internal restructuring and reform, 3) activation of all national teams, 4) introduction of youth, coach and administrator development programmes, 5) holding the former administration to account. Our four months in office saw significant strides in most of these areas.
<FIFA invasion>
The imposition of FIFA's Normalisation Committee aborted the progress so quickly achieved. We reiterate our view that this was a move intended to suppress the revelation of financial mismanagement and malfeasance by the former TTFA president, to which FIFA turned a blind eye. The unexpected Mark Bassant documentary, "TTFA's Secret Panama Trail" has stymied FIFA's self-interested plan and placed the matter squarely before the public and the police.
<United resistance>
United TTFA surprised FIFA and everyone else by resisting FIFA in the local court. Twice now the High Court has ruled in favour of United TTFA and the rule of Law in T&T, which has immensely frustrated bullying FIFA. Importantly, Justice Gobin ruled that the High Court of T&T has proper jurisdiction over the dispute between the parties. FIFA's frustration with our Court, which it said it would never accept, peaked in it's failure, by the deadline of Friday 18 September, to file a defence in the High Court against United TTFA's claim that FIFA has no authority to remove the Wallace administration. FIFA has no defence so it took its ball and went home.
The High Court would hear that case on 9 October and would award a default judgement that would confirm the Wallace administration in office. Now FIFA, in a remarkable display of double standard, demands United TTFA drop our already won case in the High Court while it has filed a case against us in the Appeal Court.
<Fear of FIFA>
In its struggle for justice, United TTFA made seven unsuccessful attempts to hold talks with FIFA between March and September. When we began this journey we had majority support from a broad cross section of football - regional associations, the women's and schools leagues. We thank all who donated finance to support our legal fees.
The second FIFA deadline and the desire to participate in the draw for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup have changed the balance of power. People see CONCACAF's move but fear FIFA's big stick and missing the tournament.
<We stood our ground>
We end our just action in order to avoid further victimization of Trinidad and Tobago football. We have stood for Democracy, National Sovereignty and the rule of Law against FIFA's bullying tactics, blatant intimidation and extortion. We leave without fear of FIFA knowing that:
1) T&T Law rules supreme in our sovereign state and the jurisdiction of our courts is established
2) the legitimacy of the Wallace administration was upheld as FIFA was forced to flee the local court
3) the last administration is now being held to account
4) change will inevitably come to the monopoly of power granted to FIFA by its member associations
That said, we caution T&T that the owners of football have voluntarily agreed to cede the right to govern ourselves to FIFA. We caution that FIFA is now and hereafter the final arbiter of who will be the government of local football. This makes a sham of our sovereignty. It may not matter to some, but our football has been colonised.
We call on our supporters to be vigilant and we wish TTFA the best of success.
Susan Joseph-Warrick, Second VP
Joseph Sam Phillip, Third VP
Anthony Harford
Keith Look Loy