Kevin Harrison, International Development Manager of FPATT, after recent comments by FIFA Vice President, CONCACAF President and TTFF Special Advisor Jack Warner, has dispatched a letter to IFPro, FIFA ethics committee and CONCACAF via email. Mr. Harrison has not received a reply from any of the above as yet. The full letter continues.
FIFA has always described football as a global family.Well it appears that a member of that family is fast becoming an embarrassment. Mr Austin Jack Warner, FIFA vice president, has made some outrageous statements over the weekend which affects every professional footballer on the planet. The question is, are these statements just his biased opinions, or are they an indication of policy from FIFA?
The current impasse between some of Trinidad & Tobago's World Cup stars from Germany 06 and the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation is well documented. The players feel they were promised a lot more than the £485 they have been offered as their share of sponsorship and TV rights. Because they decided to take legal advise, they were blacklisted by their Federation, even though they continually announced their availability and loyalty to their nation.
This led to a second string team competing in the Gold Cup and being sent home after the first round, with their most notable performance being a 1-1 draw vs Guatemala.
This blacklisting in itself raises questions as to why FIFA have not stepped in to ask why the Federation have victimised footballers because they have taken legal advice. After all, every organisation consults its lawyers before making important decisions , FIFA included. Is this FIFA's way of saying that any kind of legal advice is deemed threatening, and therefore may be punished?
Mr Warner made this amazing announcement on friday in a statement to Oliver Camps and Richard Groden of TTFF: "As President of CONCACAF.....I want to publicly commend you both, and, by extension, your entire Executive Committee and Federation, for the principled stand you guys have taken in resisting being blackmailed into doing what could never have been right for your country and/or your Federation by bending to the will of a mercenary few".
This has shocking repurcussions. Read it again. As CONCACAF president. This is a statement representing CONCACAF and their confederations opinions. Warner has by association stated that CONCACAF are accusing International footballers of blackmail, an illegal act. He is also praising the TTFF for not bending to the will of a mercenary few. This is potentially slanderous in its content. Especially when you consider that all the players have asked for is what they were promised by the TTFF special adviser, who funnily enough, is Mr Jack Warner.
If this wasn't enough, Mr Warner also made a statement to CMC Sports in New York, in which, on the subject of the dispute, he stated "Don't of course go to lawyer and court and so on. The minute you do that, then you have put a bar on all discussion " It is not clear from this statement in which capacity he is speaking, but CMC described Warner as FIFA vice president. It is therefore reasonable to assume that he is putting forward FIFA policy. If this is Mr Warner speaking as FIFA vice president, his comments are far reaching. He is effectively denying players their human rights in consulting with their legal advisers and if they do, the football authorities will stop any negotiations and can prevent these players from International duty.
Warner continues in his statement to say "It's unfortunate, but that's what happens when players are consumed by greed." and "What Trinidad is suffering from is from a situation whereby 16 or 18 players are holding a country and a federation to ransom because of greed" and continues "It is nothing less than greed".
The greed, Mr Warner alludes to, is the players attempts to obtain what they were contractually promised. A 50% share of the World Cup revenue should amount to more than £11,000. Adidas alone, according to TTFF, paid at least £1million. TTFF sold at least 3 exclusive marketing deals at £40,000 each. Then there was TV money and deals with other sponsors such as ebay and KFC. One deal with Carib beer was worth nearly £100,000 alone.
But perhaps the most shocking aspect of Mr Warners actions is that recently
he has positioned himself as the defender of the Caribbean and Africa
against recent accusations of corruption in football in those areas.
Particularly when you consider that there have been investigations into Mr
Warners financial affairs concerning the £1million sale of black market
World Cup tickets, and that this current impasse is concerning money, and
the players distrust of TTFFs accounting process, surely Mr Warner, not only
as President of CONCACAF, but also as head of the Caribbean Football Union,
should be insisting to TTFF that they show complete transparency in their
finances, in an effort, not only to get their best players back on the
field, but also to prove to the world that corruption does not in fact exist
in the Caribbean.
Currently, the only comments made on the subject of this impasse from FIFA have come from Mr Warner. Surely its time for the Worlds football governing body to launch an official enquiry? Mr Warner is clearly too closely involved to make unbiased statements, and is abusing his position to achieve his personal aims. His comments have brought the game into disrepute as well as bordering on being libelous, and are in defiance of the FIFA code of ethics.
As International Development Manager for FPATT, I am hereby calling on the FIFA Ethics Committee, the members of CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union, and members of FIFPro to issue statements condeming Mr Warners statements and formerly recognising FPATT as representatives of professional footballers from Trinidad & Tobago.
It is FPATTs aim to work with all football administrations and their representatives, Mr Warner included, however it is our view that we cannot stand by and let these statements go unchallenged and see the "beautiful game" tarnished in this manner.
Kevin Harrison
International Development Manager,
FPATT
Football Players Association Trindad & Tobago
