Immediate EGM if ousted TTFA wins legal battle

IF the TT High Court rules in favour of the ousted TT Football Association (TTFA) executive and deems the installation of the FIFA-appointed normalisation committee illegal, thus confirming the William Wallace administration as legitimate leaders of the sport’s local governing body, an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) will be held to deliberate the fraternity’s leadership moving forward.

This was revealed in a document issued by removed TTFA president Wallace, on Wednesday.

“If, however, the court rules in favour of the TTFA and confirms legitimacy of the Wallace administration, the first order of business will be to call an EGM to discuss TTFA’s leadership, the future and all contract matters that have arisen since March 2020,” the letter stated.

The United TTFA team of Wallace, his vice-presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip, Northern Football Association (NFA) president Anthony Harford and Super League president Keith Look Loy are challenging FIFA’s decision, on March 17, to remove Wallace and his executive from office and install a normalisation committee, led by businessman Robert Hadad, due to the TTFA’s mounting debt of $50 million.

On Monday, Justice Carol Gobin, in the Port of Spain High Court, granted an injunction to the United TTFA to stop Tuesday’s proposed EGM, which was called by the normalisation committee to deal with United TTFA’s legal battle against FIFA.

However, on August 26, FIFA gave United TTFA a deadline of September 16 to withdraw their case from the High Court and have it heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), or face disciplinary action (either a ban or suspension) at the FIFA Congress, which will take place virtually on Friday.

After several warnings from FIFA, veteran national administrators and players on the repercussions of a legal battle with the sport’s governing body, United TTFA remains persistent in their fight to deem the Robert Hadad-led normalisation committee “illegal”.

They remain confident of a legal victory but also stated, “Should United TTFA not withdraw its High Court case against FIFA, we expect the matter to be settled in October. If the High Court decides against TTFA, we here pledge that we shall drop the matter and not pursue any appeal.”