Constitution expert Osmond Downer has assured that all proposed amendments to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) constitution will be accepted and voted on when a thorough explanation is given to the membership during a virtual Statutes Consultation Meeting on Saturday (November 7).
Following that, the football association’s Annual General Meeting will be held on November 28, at which the 57-member TTFA body will exercise its voting powers to decide how the sport is managed. Downer said the amendments, which he drafted, will also align the TTFA constitution with those of other governing bodies across the Caribbean and around the world.
Among the many proposed changes are a revised allocation of voting rights for Premier Football League clubs, new term limits for executive committee members, and adjustments to electoral procedures.
Additionally, the appointment of the FA’s general secretary is set to be made solely by the president, moving away from the previous requirement under Article 39(f) which states that the executive committee may appoint a general secretary only if the candidate is proposed by the president.
Concerns have been raised that the proposed changes empower certain stakeholders while stripping others of their voting powers. Specifically, voting power would shift away from professional clubs toward the Regional Associations and the TT Women’s League Football (WoLF).
According to a media report, “Under the new proposal, the overall number of votes would fall from 57 to 43, with the Regional Associations gaining a larger share of the voting pool. Tier 1 clubs would see their combined votes fall from 24 to 10, while Tier 2 clubs would drop from 12 to five, a combined loss of 21 votes.”
Meanwhile, the six Regional Associations-the Eastern Football Association (EFA), the Northern Football Association (NFA), the Southern Football Association (SFA), the Central Association of Football (CAF), the Tobago Football Association (TFA), and the Eastern Counties Football Union (ECFU)-which, like NFA, have not hosted zone competitions in years.
Under the proposed structure, votes for the Regional Associations would rise from 12 to 18, while WoLF’s representation would increase from two to three votes, resulting in a net gain of seven votes for those groups combined. The remaining seven member bodies would retain one vote each.
Without delving deeply into the specifics, Downer said, “I am waiting until Saturday. When the meeting takes place, everything will be explained, every single thing, to the members. I am sure there’ll be a big turnout on Saturday; I’m sure about that, because I’m getting a lot of calls from members. I tell them to wait until Saturday. The members will hear all the reasons for the changes, and they are good reasons.”
According to Downer, who is a TTFA vice-president and a former FIFA referee, the constitutional revisions were propsed by the Executive Committee rather than any single individual.
“So it’s a product of the executive committee, so I am confident that once the changes are explained, the members will support them, because they are reasonable people. And they will see it, and you see it is in comparison. This is only one small point, but I’m telling you the main point: a comparison with other member associations even in the Caribbean.
“They will see that it’s in line with others. That’s the whole thing, even England, the country that we take all the examples from, and all countries will eventually follow England’s procedures,” Downer said.
