Sports Minister Brent Sancho says he was unaware that a concert booking accepted by the facilities management unit at the Hasely Crawford Stadium (HCS) in Woodbrook forced officials of the National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAA) to reschedule its calendar of championship events originally scheduled to start last weekend.

Redemption II was the name of the concert held at the popular sporting facility which reportedly scuppered pre-planned activities by the national sporting body.

The NGC/NAAA Junior Championships was advertised to take place on May 30.

Sancho told the T&T Guardian he was unaware of any such development and expressed surprise, citing that the NAAA executive didn’t not contact him, at least, in an effort to intervene.

The NAAA issued a media release on May 18, which stated the HCS Grounds was no longer available for its planned meet last Saturday.

A social media firestorm consequently erupted with opponents for and against the staging of the concert. Many wanted to know if the HCS was a dedicated sporting facility or a concert hall.

This, citing that national track and field meets were taking place in preparation for international event such as the Pan Am Games, World Championships scheduled to take place over the next two months.

Track and field events affected owing to the concert booking included the NGC/NAAA Junior Championships; NGC/NAAA Juvenile Championships and the NGC/NAAA Combined Events Championships, together with the Falcons Invitational. All were reportedly pushed back by one week.

These events will take place this June along with the Sagicor/NGC Open Championships on the weekend of 26-28.

Contacted, Ephraim Serrette, president of the NAAA said this was not the first time the NAAA calendar of events was overlooked by the Stadium management for a non-sport related activity.

“Last year, we used the football tunnel as the call room and warm up centre for the athletes. Track and field is an event that takes place inside and outside. Somehow, someone of the Stadium management team does not recognise that. It’s a little difficult for the athletes because of that. We appreciate that we do not have to pay for use of the Stadium and these events (concerts) are the events that people pay for use of the Stadium,” he said.

Serrette added, “We plan very early. We always do. We want to work with everyone, but they have to understand that track and field is inside and outside the Stadium. We book it (the Stadium) at the end of September early October every year. Track and field doesn’t win administration of the year by guess. Track and field didn’t get $12 million from a sponsor (NGC) for three years, by guess.”

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TTOC president Brian Lewis has called into question the willingness and commitment of the Ministry of Sports and the Sports Company of T&T (SporTT) to validate legitimate efforts by the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) and its corporate partners to promote the growth and sustainability of track and field in T&T.

Speaking at Wednesday’s launch of the NAAAs Championship Month held at the Radisson Hotel on Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain, Lewis underscored the power of track and field to continue making positive differences in T&T and wondered why the ministry and SporTT officials were usually absent when listed on the programme to speak. “Given the importance of track and field to sport in T&T, I always find it a bit disquieting that on a number of occasions when I come to speak at this all important launch, I always end up speaking last when on the programme, I see SporTT and the Ministry of Sports is supposed to speak after the president of the TTOC. But that invariably doesn’t happen. And I think it would be remiss of me not to make the observation, in a very constructive way. Given the importance of track and field and the national senior championships and the events that track and field and the NAAA and their sponsors and partners would put on during the month of June, I think that it would have been most apt to have a representative here from SporTT and the Ministry of Sport,” Lewis said.

He added, “I know that we are all exceedingly busy, but if we are involved in sport, we must give the respect and the acknowledgement that is due, not only to NAAA, not only to the athletes of track and field, but also and most importantly to the sponsors and partners who have given a commitment to support sport through track and field. I think it is important that we all work together in sport, to develop sport and to put a positive image on sport and we need to encourage the sponsors. This is a very important event and it needs the support of key stakeholders such as the TTOC, the Ministry and SporTT.” State owned National Gas Company (NGC), its subsidiary Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited, insurer Sagicor and Blue Waters have partnered with the NAAA for the NGC/NAAA Junior Championships (June 6-7); NGC/NAAA Juvenile Championships (13-14); NGC/NAAA Combined Events Championships (20-21) NGC/ Sagicor Open Championships (26-28). The Hasely Crawford Stadium in Woodbrook is the venue for all the events listed.

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First Citizens ‘Sportsman of the Year’, George Bovell will resume his build-up to next month’s Pan American Games in Canada and the FINA World Aquatic Championship in Kazan a month later, when he competes at the Tropheo Citta in Rome Italy, over the next two days.

The three-time reigning Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games 50 metres freestyle champion and multiple Pan American Games medallists, Bovell will compete in both the men’s 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle events.

Speaking ahead of the meet, Bovell said his main aim in the 50m freestyle, his pet, event will be to lower his time down to 22.2, an improvement on his 22.46 clocking at the Belgian Open Swimming Championship last month which was only good enough for fifth spot.

After skipping the 100m freestyle in Belgian, the Italian-based T&T Olympic bronze medal winner says he will return to swimming the event as he wants to work on his easy speed and stamina for the last few metres of the 50m event.

Last month at the Belgian Open Swimming Championship, Bovell picked up two silver medals at the Olympic Swimming Pool, Wezenberg, Antwerp.

The 31-year-old Bovell got his first silver of the meet when he set a national record in the 50m breaststroke in 27.65 to trail Greek swimmer Loannis Karpouzlis (27.61) with Belgium’s Jonas Coreelman took third in 28.75.

The top T&T swimmer returned to the pool a day later and picked up silver in the 50m backstroke in 25.70 seconds behind his AND clubmate, Francois Heersbrandt who won in 25.50 seconds while Greec’ Michail Kondizas took bronze in 25.81.

Following the meet he is expected to head to Y40 pool Padova where he has been invited for his first free diving meeting.

At that event, Bovell says he intends to swim down to 40m and back up while holding his breath, and with no fins.

He added, “This will be something that will no doubt help me push the limits of my swimming racing as well”.

He will also compete at the Sette Colli also in Rome (June 12-14) followed by Trofeo Rossini (June 19-21), Treviso Swim Cup (June 26-27) and French Open Championship in Vichy (July 4-5).

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Radical changes to the management of local football are underway says Raymond Tim Kee, president of the T&T Football Association (TTFA).

Even as his term of office comes to an end in June after four years in office, he has offered himself for re-election to the post, Tim Kee was talking tough on the issue of strategic reform.

He said gone were the days when practitioners were installed in key positions because they simply knew the sport. The TTFA head did not say if this was among the suite of constitutional reforms a special committee of the TTFA was presently reviewing.

In order for football in T&T to become a major revenue earner and as a consequence ensure the TTFA achieved self-sufficiency, he said, business professionals needed to be enlisted by the football body.

This said the TTFA head, was one sure way to win the confidence of the private sector about the tremendous returns to be had from this type of investment.

Speaking at the TTFA 2014 Awards held at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Woodbrook, Tim Kee said, “The TTFA is undergoing change management exercises which seems go against the thread of what has become habit or natural, as you would say, because our focus is a new one and a different one. Our focus is on good governance with emphasis on transparency and accountability. And as time progresses, we are going to see emerging some new faces, some different faces, many of whom may not have ever played football; probably never bounced a ball.”

He added, “I came out of the business sector and I recognised by looking and observing that football is a product. But the people who market and sell products are the business people, not practitioners in the craft that produce the product. So Mr Hart (Stephen) and his team and other members of the technical staff, it is their business to produce the product on the field and they are accountable to those who sit, not in their ivory towers, but those fairly comfortable rooms–air conditioned rooms–who at times would complain of heat because of challenges. So, we expect a different product. We expect a different behaviour. We expect different norms. Football as anything else depends on economics.”

Turning his attention to the development of the sport, Tim Kee cited the level of capital that went local governing bodies for the sport in Concacaf.

While the Mexican Football Association had an annual budget of US$100 million, he said, the United States Football Association got an allocation of US$75 million.

“You know what our own is? Five million and we struggle to make it. And yet, we go out and produce a quality of that product that is comparable to some of those other countries who are better endowed financially and who enjoy the financial support from so many different corporate citizens,” he said.

Tim Kee added, “So when people say that ‘God is a Trini’, I am inclined to believe that sometimes, because against all odds, we still prevail and not only prevail, prevail with distinction. Our commitment is that qualifying for World Cup would not be a flash-in-the-pan anymore. We intend to pursue qualification for World cup from 2018 onwards.”

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Brian Lewis, president of the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC), Ephraim Serrette, president of the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) and Robert Farrier, president of the T&T Cycling Federation expressed similar views during separate T&T Guardian interviews.

Citing the presumption of innocence and due process, Lewis said, the allegation would have to be addressed in the appropriate forum and believed it was crucial for FIFA president Sepp Blatter to both take responsibility and show leadership as the world governing body for football could not operate as if it was business as usual.

FIFA, as one of the leading sport bodies, said Lewis, would have to take very decisive and proactive action to address the issue and work to rebuild its credibility and positive reputation, citing at the end of the day, it was more than just the FIFA executive–it was about the sport.

“It highlights the importance of sport in the Caribbean, notwithstanding around the world, adhering and adopting to the universal principles of good governance as it relates to transparency, accountability and ethical conduct and behaviour in the discharge of our duties as sport administrators and sport leaders, with regard to the sports which we are charged with the responsibilities to be stewards of. We represent the bigger picture of sports, most particularly the athletes and the youth. I think that we have to be exceedingly mindful in the context of how we administrate sport,” said Lewis.

“None of us are perfect! None of us are saints or angels. We have our weaknesses, shortcomings and we make mistakes, but in the context of how we administrate sports and lead sports, we must strive to have zero tolerance for corruption, bribery and all the different manifestations. Even though the allegations are still to be proven, it is a dark day for FIFA in the context of the spectacle of senior high ranking officials being arrested by a body and an entity such as the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) and the Swiss authorities. It can’t do well for the positive image and reputation of FIFA.

Farrier, the TTCF head, said, “It sends a message that governance in sport is very important and we need to do things like constitution reform. We need to follow all the procedures that we put in place. Sport is big business and there must be proper governance.”

Serrette, meanwhile, said, when he decided to get involved in the administration of sport, it was always to be done in a transparent manner.

“After taking over the presidency of the NAAA, it was the first time that we were able to deliver audited statements and we always informed our stakeholders about what was happening. It is about the work we are doing that we don’t get paid for, but we are enjoying the fruits of the hard work that we do when the athletes do well,” Serrette said.

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