Home of Football shut down, transactions halted

 - Marvin Hamilton
- Marvin Hamilton

ONE week after the opening of the Home of Football in Balmain, Couva, newly-elected TT Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace says the facility is being shut down until further notice.

Wallace dethroned David John-Williams as president at the association’s elections on Sunday. Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Sam Phillip were voted first, second and third vice-presidents, respectively.

Speaking with Newsday on Tuesday morning, the TTFA boss said the decision was made on Monday during approximately eight hours of meetings with his vice-presidents. He said there are pending approvals and no property insurance for the million-dollar facility.

“We found out some of the approvals are not in place. For example, fire approvals. You can’t have people in a building without fire approval.”

According to the official website of the Ministry of Rural Development, applications for over ten lots of land must receive approval from the chief designs engineer of the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), the TT Electricity Commission (TTEC) and the chief fire officer.

While this is the main issue with the facility his administration has found thus far, Wallace said, “That was enough for us to say people can’t occupy the building. Information is still coming in on the Home and other things.”

In a press release issued by TTFA’s communications department, decisions made on Monday included the creation of an advisory committee and assigning roles to the vice-presidents. Taylor will focus on membership affairs, Joseph-Warrick will tackle women’s football and Phillip will handle security.

Other decisions included: Stopping transactions on all TTFA bank accounts (including online transactions), initiating a financial audit, issuing a public invitation to TTFA creditors to present their claim, and introducing new security measures for the protection of TTFA property.

He said his team will meet again on Wednesday for further discussions.

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"Home of Football shut down, transactions halted"

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