TTFA president: No conflict of interest in picking host of football tournaments

PRESIDENT of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) Kieron Edwards has squashed claims by organisers of the Next Level Consulting Limited (NLCL) Community Cup that the association's safeguarding officer Gary St Rose, determines who is chosen to host tournaments sanctioned by the TTFA.

The Republic Bank Cup is one of the most popular youth football tournaments in the country.

Sporting groups will bid to host the TTFA-sanctioned event.

The Republic Youth Cup has been hosted by Gateway Athletics International for a few years, a company with ties to St Rose. St Rose and Gateway director Shem Alexander are close affiliates as they are the co-founders of the International Institute of Sport and Management Studies.

"Gary St Rose has zero say on what tournaments are played in TT," Edwards said. "He forms no part of decisions of sanctions for tournaments in TT."

Organisers of the NLCL Community Cup, Brian and Germaine Jordan, have raised questions about a suspension being handed to them by the TTFA over a safeguarding policy.

The NLCL Cup has been handed a 90-day suspension by the safeguarding department of the TTFA, which will prevent the NLCL organisers from bidding to host the Republic Bank Youth Cup.

The NLCL has been suspended as it was discovered that allegations of abuse was discovered by one of the competing teams in a past NLCL Cup.

"It is important to note that the person who is in charge of safeguarding is a business partner of Shem Alexander...clearly there is an egregious conflict of interest when someone who is suspending a bidding party (works with the TTFA)."

Alexander was arrested at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica and taken into custody on November 15 after an extradition request by the US. He was held for allegedly trafficking guns and ammunition from the US to TT.

Edwards said Gateway has been hosting the Republic Bank Cup for years and the NLCL suspension is not connected.

"I don't know where the conflict of interest comes in, because if Gateway had the rights for Republic Bank (for years) and he (NLCL) get suspended last year, where the issue is? Why he want to tie Gateway into this matter...they have been doing it for some years. Where this conflict of interest coming in?

"When Shem Alexander and Gateway got that contract, NLCL was running (their tournaments). The safeguarding breach came way after that and if that breach comes it has to be dealt with."

Edwards said the 90-day suspension of NLCL has nothing to do with a team being investigated for misconduct.

"That is not the breach. The breach is with the NLCL. The coach will be dealt with in accordance with the safeguarding policy as well, but the breach is not based on the coach, it is based on the NLCL's handling of the matter. That is all I would say on it because I don't want to go into details on it. The NLCL has questions to answer on their handling of that investigation on the player."

Edwards is optimistic that the situation will be resolved soon. "I feel in the near future this situation will come to an end...the process will be followed and the matter will be brought to an end shortly."

Brian said they have cooperated all along with the TTFA in terms of protecting children. "We have attempted to work with the TTFA in all its iterations from beginning to now and as you know, safeguarding is a relatively new and recent entity.

"What we would have said initially is we want in principle to support safeguarding...we have heard of some of the stories about kids being molested etcetera and we want to ensure that we underwrite and co-sign whatever the TTFA is doing there and to that extent we would have taken 18 people into an NLCL class."

Brian said in December 2023, a class was conducted to have NLCL officials complete a safeguarding course.

"We would have changed our rules and regulations for the tournament to ensure everyone that is in the tournament is safeguarding certified. However, we have learned that there was an investigation into one of our teams, one of the coaches in our teams (in the tournament).

Brian said NLCL did not run from the issue. "We had a meeting and we said we are going to give you this information and we did it. Every single thing they asked for was provided."

The NLCL organisers are claiming unfair treatment.

"After we did the (safeguarding) class it took us months to get the safeguarding certificate from the TTFA safeguarding unit. The timing of this suspension is extremely important to note," said Brian.

The 90-day suspension, which began on November 25, would prevent the NLCL from bidding to host the Republic Bank Cup in 2025.

"They are saying we did not cooperate in the investigation, which is entirely untrue. You could ask them what is going on with that investigation?"

Germaine said in handing over the information to the TTFA, they had to ensure no confidentiality was breached.

"When you look at the whole big picture, the team that was being investigated, where has that (reached)? We are not hearing anything about the investigation. However, this has turned into a NLCL violation of some sort, which is totally false and untrue. I wanted to clear that up...this whole thing is about the NLCL, which is quite strange."

Germaine said no stone was left unturned in following protocols. "If you ask our team about us when it comes to safeguarding, when it comes to the safety of youth footballers, when it comes to following the rules and regulations, you would not find another tournament that is as strict and keeps within the lines. Sometimes our teams complain – you guys are so rigid, but at the end they thank us."

Brian said most of their efforts to get an update from the TTFA has fallen on deaf ears.

"The only time we got a response was December 10 when we copied FIFA, Concacaf and others. We had to do that to get a response from the (TTFA) president and the president said they are putting together an ethics committee and they want to have a fair process."

Brian said the TTFA jumped the gun by suspending the NLCL as the steps were not followed.

"If you look at the safeguarding regulations, the only entity that is supposed to put into place a suspension is the chairman of the ethics committee and that ethics committee was not even formulated when Gary put out the suspension notice."

Germaine said the suspension of the NLCL will prevent youngsters from having a platform to compete in positive activity.