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THE DECISION taken by the TT Football Association (TTFA) normalisation committee to deny the national Under-14 team a chance to compete in the Caribbean Football Union’s (CFU) Under-14 tournament will put a further stranglehold on the nation’s youth development.
So says Jefferson George, interim president of the Unified Coaches of TT, who believes the normalisation committee’s “pandemic excuse”, has prevented the youngsters from capitalising on a rare opportunity to return to competition.
A statement issued by George on Friday rued this missed opportunity and took to task the committee’s decision-making process.
“The Association observed with concern a recent newspaper report, which announced that the TTFA declined an invitation to participate in a CFU Under-14 football competition.
“The report further quoted the TTFA’s general secretary Amiel Mohammed as saying that the covid19 pandemic and uncertainty surrounding the re-opening of TT’s border was to blame for the decision,” the statement read.
The tournament is scheduled to kick off in Dominican Republic on Sunday and runs for the next eight days.
George expressed “deep disappointment” with the normalisation committee’s decision and questioned their plan for the future of TT football, particularly at the youth level.
“The first obvious question therefore is how long will the pandemic be an excuse for postponing our youth development?
“The challenges of today are not unique to TT but are being experienced in varying degrees by all nations whose players will be participating in this tournament, and any youth tournament worldwide,” George wrote.
He said since the pandemic hit in mid-March last year, TT continues to miss out on these opportunities to better our standard of play because of a lack of planning and preparation by those tasked to do so.
What further adds to this travesty, he said, is that these youths are already starved of local and community competition.
“This current crop of players (Under-14) has played none, and through the negligence of the normalisation committee has missed out on an excellent opportunity to do so,” he added.
George said that some countries’ pandemic experience had and continue to be much worse than TT’s.
“But proper planning and the awareness of the importance of such tournaments to a player's development have seen them prioritise their participation. Why couldn't we do the same?” he questioned.
For the past 18 months, no youth football teams have been allowed to travel to competition owing to the pandemic and TT’s previously closed borders, which reopened on July 17.
He also queried the normalisation committee’s plans to restart football in general and more specifically youth football, which he says is a necessary tool in the development cycle of our young players.
George however, commended the CFU on an “excellent initiative” of hosting the tournament. He believes tournaments such as these are necessary to improve football regionally.
“One just has look as far as Russell Latapy, Dwight Yorke, Shaka Hislop and a few our footballing legends who succeeded at international level to see the number of regional and international games they would have played by age 15.
“The UFCTT is therefore encouraging the TTFA led by the normalisation committee to prioritise youth development and take advantage of every opportunity to expose our players to international matches,” he concluded.
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