Russell Latapy (L) being greeted by Barbados Football Association president Randy Harris at the time of appointment
of head coach. Photo by George Alleyne
Latapy’s claim on T&T football
By George Alleyne
As though the Trinidad and Tobago
Football Association does not have
enough troubles on its hands, a former
star player for the twin-island republic
and coach, Russell Latapy, recently
reminded the TTFA that it owes him
money and he wants it now.
Amidst TTFA’s worries of dealing
with an overall debt surpassing some
$7 million, Latapy has said that $1
million of that amount is owed to him
alone for a stint as senior team head
coach reaching back 11 years, then
another period in leading coach position
for the men’s under-17 squad in
2016.
“I am still being owed that money
since 2009. It is not rocket science. The
football association, based on reports
from the newspapers, I would like to
think that some of the money they
Caribbean L 24 ife, April 17-23, 2020
owe me is also included in the TT$50
million (US7.4 million),” Latapy, who
was recently appointed Barbados’ head
coach, told the island’s Nation newspaper.
“It is money that I worked for and,
like anything else, if I work for that
money I am not asking any favours .
. . So I want the money I worked for. I
am no different from anybody,” he told
the newspaper.
The reminder to TTFA this month
of money owed to Trinidad’s former
Trinidad and Tobago attacking midfielder
comes against the backdrop of
a takeover of the twin-island republic’s
governing body for football by the
world organisation, FIFA because of
what appears to be financial mismanagement.
FIFA, which holds authority over
every form of organised football the
world over, last month stepped in and
took over running of TTFA’s affairs with
a ‘normalizing committee’, because
the local organisation was faced with
an unmanageable circumstances of a
$7.4 million debt, with creditors and
even players taking it to court.
Latapy, whose professional career
saw him playing for several clubs in
Europe, supported FIFA’s takeover of
TTFA’s affairs.
“If FIFA is going to come in with a
normalisation committee and straighten
up football and give the young people
in Trinidad the opportunity to
make something of themselves and to
dream big, that is how I see it. We do
not have time; we know that Trinidad
is in debt of $7.4 million.
“If FIFA is going to come in on the
right pathway for us, then I welcome
that.”
proposed a six-year term limit on
the presidency as part of their
recommendations for governance
reform.
He expected that the issue will
be dealt with shortly, when Jamaican
businessman Don Wheby completed
his report.
The CWI president said there
have been many governance
reports in the past years but this
one being led by Don Wehby and
four colleagues of his, should be
coming forward to CWI, at least
in its first part, within the next
month.
“By the time that makes its
rounds and gets accepted either
in whole or in part, we will have
an element in there that speaks to
term limits,” he told a TV station
in Trinidad.
Wheby was last April named
to head a Task Force on Corporate
Governance Reform, charged
with the responsibility of examining
the CWI structure in order “to
achieve greater transparency and
accountability to shareholders” in
the regional governing body.
Skerritt and Shallow have contended
that term limits to the
presidency removed “uncertainty
and anxiety caused by the cricket
politics and excesses that too often
surround the office of the president.”
The area of governance is the
latest to be tackled by the new
administration following a year
which saw an overhaul of the
selection process and a change of
the men’s white-ball captain and
the management.
Skerritt, a former St. Kitts and
Nevis minister said his administration
was focused on squarely on
continuing to implement its agenda
over the next several months.
staging both tournaments later this
year.
“They are very important tournaments,
not in terms of the preparation
but in terms of the preparation for the
selection of those respective squads as
we look to compete in the World Cup
of those events due to take place in the
early part of 2021,” Grave said.
The ICC Women’s 50-overs World
Cup is carded for New Zealand starting
in February next year along with
the inaugural Under-19 Women’s World
Cup scheduled for Bangladesh.
West Indies currently lie seventh in
the eight-nation ICC Women’s Championship
standard, with the top four
gaining automatic qualification to the
senior World Cup.
Grave said that these two women’s
tournaments, along with West Indies
High Performance and International
preparation training camps, would
now not be held before May 31. The
COVID-19 virus has also put in peril the
men’s international home series against
South Africa and England scheduled
for July and August, along with June’s
three-Test tour of England.
Continued from Page 23
strike rate of 182, while also taking
46 wickets.
Russell competed across five
domestic Twenty20 competitions,
from the Kolkata Knight Riders
in the India Premier League (IPL)
to the Dhaka Dynamites in the
Bangladesh Premier League (BPL),
making the most of every opportunity
to stamp his authority as one
of the best players in the world in
the format.
Russell credited his dominance
to the health regime that he
resorted to when he was banned
from Jan. 31, 2017 to Jan. 30, 2018
after being found guilty of a doping
whereabouts violation in his
country.
CWI Chief Executive Offi cer, Johnny
Grave. Linkedin
Continued from Page 23
Continued from Page 23
T20 cricketer
Women’s Domestic Championship
CWI report