Red card for Downer: Referees knock leadership, upset over unpaid salaries

LOCAL referees say they are ready to give Osmond Downer, chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) referees’ committee, the red card, over a lingering dispute over unpaid salaries.

Referees say Downer, the TT Football Association (TTFA) second vice-president, is showing more allegiance to the local football body and is not properly addressing their concerns.

A number of referees are still owed for the previous TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) season, as well as competitions such as the Republic Cup National Youth Football League, the Secondary Schools Football League, the TTFA G League and zonal competitions held by the Central and Eastern Football Associations.

On January 2, the TTFA made payments to referees for the first month of the ongoing 2024/25 TTPFL season (December), with match officials also being paid for their services in last month’s First Citizens Jewels of the Caribbean tournament.

Downer told Newsday, Concacaf help was sought to cover payments for the Jewels of the Caribbean tournament, with the TTFA “scraping some money together” to cover the salaries of referees for last month’s TTPFL. Downer said the latter sum was in the region of $60,000 and wasn’t sourced from the Sport Company of TT (SporTT). He didn’t disclose where the funds came from.

Three active referees and one former referee all spoke to Newsday anonymously, over fear of victimisation, with one claiming some referees are owed upwards of $20,000 by the TTFA.

The former referee said he quit as an official in TTFA-sanctioned competitions because of the repeated hassle over pay. He said he prefers minor leagues because referees are paid in a more timely manner.

Referee A said, "The (TTFA) president and the board should have a sit-down to come up with a viable option to pay refs what’s owed to them.

“The TTFA is asking for more commitment from us, but in order to get that you need to have that confidence in what the administrators are doing.”

Referees 'numb to the abuse'

The referee said their kindness is being taken for weakness and believes the TTPFL payments which were made on January 2, for December, were done to temporarily quell the growing frustration. Referee B described the payment as “hush money.”

Referee A said, “I have a decent work otherwise, but I don’t like advantage, because some referees are using this as a secondary source of income to support their families or do whatever else.”

He also questioned the leadership of Downer, claiming he may not have the referees’ best interest at heart, while also functioning in the capacity as the TTFA’s second vice-president.

“This is a democratic country, but we’re being silenced,” the veteran referee continued.

“I expressed that sentiment because (Downer) is the TTFA’s second vice-president, head of the referees’ committee and he micro-manages everything…plenty of people don’t like his type of governance – because who are we to report (our problems) to?

The former referee said this current situation was all too familiar, and prior circumstances had led them to hanging up his whistle roughly two years ago. The former official said he was owed around $2,000, but decided it was best to “call the money dead and walk away from the game.”

Referee B said since the Kieron Edwards-led TTFA administration came into office, they have made promises they can’t keep.

This official claimed to be owed around $1,500 and said CFA’s payments to referees for 2023 and 2024 are still outstanding.

Referee B said tier-one and tier-two referees – barring Fifa international referees – are more likely to strike, as the “TTPFL money doesn’t hurt the referees on the Fifa international list.”

Referee B said the TTFA has had enough time to put its house in order.

“The TTFA keep faulting the past administration, but they have been in office for six-seven months…they had promised 2023 CFA payment since August. Usually, CFA is paid before the end of the year.”

Referee C is calling for a change in how administrators run the affairs of the TTFA and improved communication.

Referee C claims some match officials have “got numb to the abuse” they receive because of their love for the game.

“You can’t create change by standing up outside and calling for it. You have to be inside to effect change.

“A lot of things are happening, and we aren’t putting things in place to prevent them from happening again.”

Downer: It's not TTFA's fault

Responding to the payment concerns, Downer said the TTFA is doing its best to clear the arrears in a timely manner.

However, Downer says the money owed to referees is no fault of the current TTFA, claiming the new executive met a debt to referees in the region of $300,000 when they assumed office last April.

He said referees will be paid on a timely basis for this current TTPFL season, but he couldn’t be held down to a timeline for the outstanding sums owed to referees.

“Jump high or jump low, they have performed for their due fees,” Downer said. “They’re justified to be upset, but they shouldn’t make noise to us…strenuous efforts are being made to clear the arrears. We’re trying to pay as soon as possible because the referees deserve it.”

Downer said he communicated to the referees on January 3, explaining why the debts haven’t been cleared just yet.

Downer said after Edwards and the executive assumed office in April, they became fully functional at the end of June as key personnel under the normalisation committee were still under contract at the time. He said one of the first key steps was to establish the referees’ committee, which he said was disbanded under the normalisation committee.

“We are following Fifa’s statutes,” Downer said, when referring to the Fifa statute which says member associations are obligated to “create a referees’ committee that is directly subordinate to the member association.”

Downer said this was a big misstep by the normalisation committee as it dug the TTFA into a big hole.

“It was a special committee and it was totally disregarded by the normalisation committee,” Downer said. He called the non-payment of referees for the 2023/24 TTPFL season, which concluded last June, an arrears fiasco.

When the normalisation committee was in office, Downer said he wrote on two occasions on the referees’ behalf.

“We came on board and we inherited that massive debt. We have already put in the referees’ cost for the 2023/24 season in the budget to SporTT,” he said.

“What happened to the money that was budgeted for the referees?” Downer asked. “If there was a referees’ committee in place, this would have never happened.”