Govt must do its part for Warriors

Given the importance of success in sports to the psyche of a nation, it is necessary for us to call, once again, for Minister Hart and Jack Warner to end the partisan politics and the verbal and written aggression.

In the midst of all the excitement and euphoria surrounding T&T’s two Olympic silver medals at the Beijing Games, the country’s footballers began their World Cup semi-final campaign in convincing style with a 3-1 whipping of Cuba.

When one considers that the game was played away from home, there is all the more reason for fans to be optimistic of the Soca Warriors’ chances of reaching South Africa in 2010.

They still have 15 matches to go before they arrive at that destination. These include five in this round—two against both the US and Guatemala and the return game against Cuba—while another ten await, providing the team is among the top two in its group at the end of this semi-final round.

The Warriors will then be involved in a home and away series involving six teams from which there are three guaranteed spots in South Africa, while the fourth-placed team will meet the fifth-placed team from South America in a play-off for the chance to put a fourth regional team in the finals.

Given all the negativity that has surrounded the campaign so far, it must be to the credit of all the team members that they were able to rise to the challenge and overcome Cuba in such an emphatic manner in the opening game.

Controversy and negativity appear to be the order of the day as Government and the Football Federation lock horns over the use of the Hasely Crawford Stadium for the home matches while the State’s reluctance to inject financial assistance for the team’s preparation remains a mystery.

These distractions, however, have not deterred the players. In true professional style, the negativity appears to have led the players to bond and they seem more determined than ever to show their detractors that they are going to South Africa in spite of all the obstacles.

They still have in their corner, Jack Warner, the Fifa vice president and local football’s benefactor. While there is no doubt that Warner has earned a great deal of money from his association with local and regional football, it is also true that he continues to dig deep into his pocket to maintain the integrity of the game here.

It may be that Warner’s political affiliation to the opposition United National Congress-Alliance has blinded Government as to its responsibility to the sport.

On the other hand, it may be that Warner has allowed his desire to score political points against the minister to get the better of him in some of his public statements, including one Warner issued last week in which he stated that Minister Hunt “deserves a gold medal for political indecency.”

Given the importance of success in sports to the psyche of a nation, it is necessary for us to call, once again, for Minister Hart and Warner to end the partisan politics and the verbal and written aggression for the good of T&T’s footballers, athletes, swimmers, cricketers and other sportsmen, sportswomen and especially sportschildren.

While it is clear that Minister Hart and Jack Warner need to end their feud in the interest of football, the two men need to go further. They must sit down with their technocrats and advisers and come up with the modalities by which the Government will fund the Road to South Africa.

As Warner hinted in the aforementioned statement, this funding must be sufficient to cover all the expenses of the effort. The minister must ensure, however, that there is full transparency on the issue of financial accountability—including the money that is disbursed by television and radio stations throughout the hemisphere for broadcast rights to the 2010 World Cup.