A clumsy, chaotic Caribbean coup
Gianni Infantino goes head-to-head with Trinidadian courts
In one corner, you have Gianni Infantino: president of the billion dollar world governing football body, FIFA. In the other, a recently retired school teacher, William Wallace, whose organisation, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA), is functionally bankrupt.
If this were boxing, it would be difficult to get this supposed mismatch sanctioned. And yet, six months after FIFA threw the first blow by declaring that Wallace had been removed as president – via the Infantino-headed Bureau of the FIFA Council – the TTFA president is still standing, to no small embarrassment of FIFA’s.
Suspicious of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), FIFA’s preferred referee, Wallace invited the governing body to see them in a Trinidad courtroom instead. Their legal claim is that FIFA has no authority to “normalise” the Trinidad and Tobago association and eject its elected officers, just four months after taking office. Surprisingly, Infantino followed them to the Port of Spain High Court. The result was seismic. It was the mouse that roared.
“FIFA may yet have to justify its purported assumption of extraordinary power to control the day-to-day affairs of TTFA,” stated Madame Justice Carol Gobin, in her ruling on August 13.
“Moreover it is outwith the jurisdiction of an entity incorporated under our legislation to agree to submit to foreign law as FIFA Statutes prescribe…FIFA could not presume to be above the law.”
FIFA has already lodged an appeal. Outside the
courtroom, though, they are resorting to less sophisticated measures. Secretary general Fatma Samoura vowed to open internal proceedings for sanction against the TTFA, if Wallace does not withdraw his court case by mid-September. Trinidad and Tobago must submit, according to FIFA, or be broken.
But how did it come to this?
Well, on November 18, 2019, Infantino flew to Trinidad to speak on a red-letter day for then TTFA president David John-Williams. It was the opening of his controversial Home of Football project.
In truth, during John-Williams’ five-year tenure, the TTFA’s debt soared from $2.6 million to $7m and counting, while the Soca Warriors’ FIFA ranking slid from 49th to 104th; their only win in the last 18 months came against the world’s lowest-ranked side, Anguilla.
The facility that Infantino “opened” remains unfinished. When the FIFA president cut the ribbon, the “hotel” did not have its own power source,
insurance for commercial
Trinidad and Tobago must submit, according to FIFA, or be broken. But how did it come to this?
purposes or even a proper kitchen. At present, it is being used to house COVID-19 patients and, even for that purpose, it required significant sprucing up by the government.
Meanwhile, John-Williams is yet to produce receipts for over $2m spent during its construction.
Six days after Infantino’s speech, Trinidad and Tobago’s football delegates voted Wallace into office by a margin of 26 to 20.
Four months later, the Bureau of the FIFA Council ejected Wallace, citing: “Extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt.”
Wallace had not even had time to do his first balance sheet, nor had he received a cent in due FIFA Forward funding.
This, of course, is the “what” rather than the “why”. Infantino and John-Williams have history. When the Swiss-Italian campaigned to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, John-Williams broke ranks with the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) to endorse him.
A year later, John-Williams showed letters of support from UEFA and CONCACAF when he ran for CFU president. He failed to dislodge Antiguan incumbent Gordon Derrick. But, within months, FIFA moved Derrick anyway – through an ethics committee charge based on a supposed conflict of interest committed between two-and-a-half to six years prior.
Caribbean officials who appear to stand in Infantino’s way tend not to last long.
Former FIFA presidents trusted Caribbean men like Jack Warner and Jeffrey Webb to run the region for them, arguably as little more than vote farms.
These days, CONCACAF is in the hands of Canadian Victor Montagliani, which makes the balance of power even more susceptible to ripples.
If FIFA had doubts about whether they could work with the new men in charge of the TTFA, they were unlikely to have been assuaged on January 22, 2020, when general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan vowed to probe the Home of Football project and publicise the findings.
“I knew you were a central figure during the construction phase of this project,” Ramdhan wrote to FIFA chief member association official Veron Mosengo-Omba. “I am of the view that FIFA has indeed been compromised in this scenario…The manner in which the project was being managed should have raised red flags.
“Given the revelations, it is curious and even suspicious that the project continued uninterrupted.”
If Ramdhan did have incriminating documents, then, by seizing control of the TTFA’s offices, FIFA now has it under its thumb.
Trinidad and Tobago has been burnt already by “dodgy” FIFA presidents and their bullying local consigliere. They do not want “another Jack Warner,” and have shown more appetite for a fight than anticipated, although the fear of a suspension is turning the heat up considerably in the tropical twin island republic.
Is Infantino bluffing? Or will the Soca Warriors sleep with the fishes?
Either way, Infantino will not be remembered well for his clumsy, chaotic Caribbean coup.