Dear Ed­i­tor,

The TTFA elec­tion ap­proach­es and in­di­vid­u­als have de­clared their in­ten­tion to chal­lenge for the pres­i­den­cy, in­clud­ing Col­in Wharfe (CEO of the FI­FA-fi­nanced TT Pre­mier League) among them. No slates have been of­fi­cial­ly nom­i­nat­ed un­der the as­so­ci­a­tion’s new­ly mint­ed con­sti­tu­tion at this point, but an is­sue has arisen around a per­ceived need (in some quar­ters) for Wharfe to re­sign his TTPL post be­fore the elec­tion.

Of course, there is no le­gal re­quire­ment for Wharfe to re­sign. The TTFA con­sti­tu­tion does not man­date any such thing. The ques­tion does arise, how­ev­er, whether Wharfe’s pub­licly de­clared in­ten­tion to chal­lenge for the pres­i­den­cy of the FI­FA-fi­nanced TTFA and his oc­cu­pa­tion of the top po­si­tion in the FI­FA-fi­nanced Pre­mier League, don’t present an eth­i­cal co­nun­drum. Why so?

Be­cause the new TTFA con­sti­tu­tion, which rad­i­cal­ly al­ters the tra­di­tion­al elec­toral di­vi­sion of pow­er with­in the foot­ball body, has been re-en­gi­neered by FI­FA to en­sure the dom­i­na­tion and con­trol of the FI­FA-fi­nanced Pre­mier League and its mem­ber clubs. To be spe­cif­ic, where be­fore the com­bined vot­ing pow­er of 30-odd Pro League and Su­per League clubs amount­ed to 18 votes out of 49—much less than half of all votes—the new TTFA con­sti­tu­tion grants 28 votes out of a to­tal of 57 votes to 17 TTPL clubs—a com­fort­able ma­jor­i­ty.

TTFA is to­day FI­FA-oc­cu­pied ter­ri­to­ry. FI­FA fi­nances and con­trols every­thing. And the new con­sti­tu­tion is part of the le­gal in­fra­struc­ture that en­sures FI­FA’s con­trol over lo­cal foot­ball. Thus, Wharfe, who has re­port­ed­ly stat­ed his in­ten­tion to car­ry on the work of FI­FA’s Nor­mal­i­sa­tion Com­mit­tee, is a sol­id bet to win the elec­tion. Wharfe is FI­FA’s man. And beg­gars can’t be choosers.

The Pre­mier League clubs will fall in line and do the need­ful to main­tain the flow of FI­FA fi­nance in­to the Pre­mier League and their clubs. Or will they? Will the oth­er se­ri­ous can­di­date Kieron Ed­wards and com­pa­ny fail? We shall see.

There is no le­gal is­sue with Wharfe’s ac­tions to date. Ethics is an­oth­er mat­ter. But ethics don’t en­ter in­to any dis­cus­sion of lo­cal pol­i­tics, in any sphere. Wharfe can­not be re­quired to re­sign un­til he is de­clared TTFA pres­i­dent by the elec­tion com­mit­tee hasti­ly as­sem­bled by FI­FA’s Nor­mal­i­sa­tion Com­mit­tee. But, the ethics of cam­paign­ing while con­trol­ling the fi­nan­cial lifeblood of the league and the clubs that hold the vast ma­jor­i­ty of votes are ap­palling. As we see in to­day’s glob­al geopol­i­tics, oc­cu­piers do as they please, and this is the FI­FA “rules-based or­der”.

Kei­th Look Loy

Ari­ma