TTFA could lose sponsor after Fifa takeover

ONE of the latest sponsors of the TT Football Association (TTFA), Caribbean Chemicals and Agencies Ltd, said it is not willing to continue its sponsorship of local football if Fifa reverts to the “same old.”

On Tuesday, news spread that Fifa decided to disband the TTFA, led by William Wallace.

On Wednesday at 2.40 am, the TTFA received an email from Fifa saying former TTFA employee Tyril Patrick will lead the local football body, before a normalisation committee is selected to run TT football.

Patrick served as finance manager under David John-Williams, who was ousted as TTFA president in November 2019 after serving at the helm for four years.

According to an article on the Fifa website, “The decision (to disband Fifa) follows the recent Fifa/Concacaf fact-finding mission to TT to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of TTFA.

“The mission found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organisation and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently.” Caribbean Chemicals was one of the many sponsors to jump on board since the TTFA held its elections in November. William Wallace was elected as president, replacing John-Williams.

Since being elected Wallace has gathered a number of local and international sponsors including local-based company Caribbean Chemicals, which signed a four-year partnership worth $1.5 million just two weeks ago. The agreement was supposed to support the development and improvement of playing pitches at senior, junior and school levels. Among the other sponsors that the Wallace-led TTFA attained was a four-year $25 million deal with Avec UK, the largest partnership the TTFA has been involved in since the Fifa 2006 World Cup in Germany. Sports and Games also signed a four-year deal with TTFA recently.

Speaking with Newsday, shortly before the news broke that Fifa decided to hire Patrick, chairman of Caribbean Chemicals Joe Pires said, “I really have no comment until I see what Fifa wants to do and what they are doing. Logically my concern would be if they go back with the old same old I would be not interested, but if Fifa is interested in carrying football forward as the rest of TT is we would be interested in continuing the discussion of us staying on as a possible sponsor. If it’s back to the same old, same old we not interested.”

Asked what he meant by same old, Pires said, “Well it depends on who they appoint to the board. We will be extremely concerned if they revert to the past. We are thinking future, we are thinking forward which is what we were sold on (when we decided to sponsor)...I don’t know what they are going to do, what their thinking is, I don’t. When I start to see who they appoint to the committee and who the people are going to be that’s when we will make a decision.”