 Yeah, I'm kicking off this Wednesday edition of the Sports Bank Zone with football. On April 13, lovers of the beautiful game in Trinidad and Tobago will be fixed on the battle for the next president of the country's football association. Last week, two heavyweights, Selber Braun and Dennis Latif, both pulled their candidacy, leaving the pathway clearer for the remaining two candidates, the Eastern Football Association president, Kyren Edwards and current Trinidad and Tobago Premier Football League CEO, Colin Worf. This will be the first election of the TTFA since football's world governing body FIFA appointed a normalization committee in March 2020 to run the daily affairs of the organization. Back then, FIFA said the normalization committee was also responsible for establishing a debt repayment plan that was implementable by the TTFA to review and amend the TTFA statutes and to organize and conduct elections of a new executive body for a four-year mandate. Note that the normalization committee was initially intended to be in place for two years, but there have been two one-year extensions which have brought us to this point. As you mentioned earlier, one of the men vying for the top spot is Colin Worf and he joins us via Zoom. Mr Worf, good afternoon and welcome. It's great to have you on the Sports Mag Zone. How are you doing? I am very well and thanks for having me. Yeah, let me start by asking you, for how long have you been contemplating to run for TTFA president? Not very. I was on a program over Christmas and they called in and asked that very question. My response at the time, which migrated subsequently, was one, the statutes that were in place were not, to me, the best of the statutes in terms of the governance of Trinidad's football. As if it was the second thing, I did not know the job specs, which essentially are contained within those statutes, which were to be revised and I knew they were going to be revised. I didn't know what the requirements were going to be relative to the incumbent or a person vying for that post. So my response was that until that happens, then I wouldn't even be contemplating it. I will tell you the migration and I can't tell you the exact time, but I can tell you it was relatively recently, I would say maybe a month or so. And I'll tell you how it transpired as the date got closer and as the league got better and as football started to progress across the island, a number of people had approached me and we started having conversations to really cut to the chase after there was a critical mass of interest. I basically said, you need to decide one way or the other. And that decision was made, I would say a week or two, maybe a little longer before I made the announcement and I can't recall on which date, but that was circulated when I actually formally jumped into the ring. So it was not something that was on my bucket list. It just happened organically and I can't tell you the exact date when that I can't pinpoint a date when that was to happen. I made that decision other than the formal computation. I think what you have said is enough for us to get an understanding of how you got to this stage. Having said that though, and I listened to a lot of individuals on the ground and one of the things I think that has been said about your candidacy is that there is a feeling in some quarters, and clearly because with situations like these it will not be everywhere, but in some quarters that there is conflict of interest, a sense of it at least associated with your candidacy. And I wanted to put that question to you as CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Professional Football League and as a candidate, is there any conflict of interest associated with those two roles in your opinion? No, no, it is not and I would explain why. What you would have seen in the communications by people who I believe should know better is that I'm not an employee of the FA. I'm a contractor, just like any contractor, your mechanic. That's the first thing. Yes. The second thing, I have absolutely no decision rights when it comes to elections. The folks that are speaking about it, or sorry, the folks that are candidates on the other side, own clubs, run clubs and make the decision with respect to the next president of the TTFA. I do not have that ability, never had it. The other thing is that so I own no club, I own no zone within the club, so I have no decision rights. My singular responsibility is to ensure that the regulations that have been agreed to, that have been formulated and agreed to by all, are executed upon. That's the start and the end of my responsibility. I will say a couple of other things, Ricardo, is that the contract that I signed, and I'll just say two things. I won't drag it on the contract that I signed, requires me to comply with all ethics, standards, et cetera, et cetera. Yes. When I finished the 2023 season, a student report, a 75-page report, I don't know if you've had the benefit of it, which laid out the governance architecture, and that basically said that there are two or three things. There's an oversight committee for which member clubs are represented or have a representation on that oversight committee. We've put in place an integrity officer, and they are the other disciplinary and other committees. If someone really believes that there was a conflict, they can make a formal complaint or put that formally to those powers that be. The other thing, and this is the final bit I would say on that one, is that in running for this election, I have to complete an integrity document. Yes. That is going to be vetted by an independent source, where I have specifically indicated I am the CEO of the TTPFL. If they believe that there is a conflict, then they would tell me what I need to do or what I don't need to do. So I have been fully disclosed with respect to it, and I will just make the last comment, and this is just at a practical level. Let's assume there were three employees, not contractors. Let's assume there were three employees, vice presidents of an organization, vying for the presidency of that organization, normal course of corporate life. If you can mention to me, if you can identify to me in any circumstance where those three vice presidents vying for that top spot resigned in order to pursue that post, it is almost laughable to contemplate. But rest assured, I am comfortable and confident that the position that I'm in does not create a conflict as far as I'm concerned, and no one has raised it with me other than it being in the press without being specific as to where does the conflict arise. They make some narrow comments, but no specificity with respect to the conflict, the specific conflict being identified. Let's quickly talk about, if we may look at some specifics of the conflict of interest, and you can respond to those, in your capacity of CEO, of the professional league, there, and let me be very careful how I put this, because I want to ensure that I get it right. But in your capacity, you lead a unit that disperses funds to the professional clubs, well, to the clubs, the tier one and the tier two clubs. As it is now, 63% of the votes will go to those tier one and tier two clubs. There is a thought process that given your position of CEO, that you could use that position in the campaigning process, and especially not saying that you have or will, but the possibility exists that it could happen that based on how funds are dispersed, then it could impact the overall election process or how people vote or how clubs vote essentially. Right, and that's a wonderful hypothetical, but there's no correlation to the facts. Those allocations will meet at the start of the season. They cannot be adjusted without going through a process, and those funds are reported both in terms of, and let me just clarify something for you. So the short answer is the determinations of those disbursements occurred long before this even came into my contemplation. So for me to create that conflict, I've got to take it from someone and give it to someone else. That cannot happen without going through a process. So that hypothetical does not bear itself out in fact. We're, and I completely, I completely understand that. And so you are saying that in reality, the process as it is now is so solid that there is no way that in your position as a CEO, you could impact how individuals vote or how clubs vote. No more than the guys that actually have votes and that own clubs, they can dictate how people vote. Yeah. My, the only way that I can influence people is by my performance. And if they don't like, and let me be clear, when the funds we're talking about is $3 million from the government. Yes. Last year, because there was a, the decision started fairly abruptly, we made a determination to split those funds evenly across all clubs. Having done that, we realized, or before we did that, we realized that some clubs needed it more than others. During this year, we basically said, let's means test each club and that means test criteria was ratified by the ministry of sport and sport company. And they gave us a formal clearance that those principles applied and they were fine. Those principles were socialized with each club individually and collectively. They were told to go and speak to their representative to challenge, discuss, et cetera, get back to us with any adjustments. When that was done, we basically went through each club and said, you got this last year, you're getting this year and this is why. The final bit I'm going to say is that the funds that are allocated to compensation have been totally utilized, so there's no more to give. So for me to give another club anything, I've got to take it from someone else and have fun trying to do that. That's all I can say. Yeah. And, you know, Colin, my question to you, I'm going to move away from that issue and just ask you to tell us a bit about your slate because for me, you know, a lot of new names coming to the forefront and our viewers are all around the world. Some of these names, it would be the first time they're hearing about them and I'd like to know also why you think these names are good enough to, of course, be an asset to your slate. Right. And that's a very good question. The slate construct moved in the initial draft of the document from seven to nine. If I can go through each of those and we are going to be issuing information on the individuals on that slate so people can get a better appreciation of them and that walks through a few of them. Colonel Castan Charles is the head of the army, the commander of the army, and I hope I get the terminology right. The defense force has been a force in the football since I've been a child. They are the only club outside of a Mexican club that has won the Caribbean Cup stuff. This is the Conca Cap Caribbean competition. They have a history of excellence in football. They also provide sport in Trinidad and Tobago with a lot of resources, whether they be folks that deal with Conca Cap stuff. So like, for example, when Jamaica came to bleed in Trinidad for the two friendly matches, it was someone seconded from the defense force that did all of the logistics with respect to that trip. They provide PTI instructors, equipment instructors, et cetera, et cetera. They also, as military people, have a way of getting stuff done. So if you look at their trajectory season after season, they start slowly, but then their killer instinct kicks in. There are two things that make this gentleman critical to my slate. One, he has a history of leadership and excellence. Two, they've got a resource base that is already embedded in the TTFA. What I've asked and then I said, again, long before this candidacy stuff came up, is why don't we formalize that relationship? So that's one. I'll pick another one. I would leave Rene out because I think we pretty well established on that. Let's choose Huey Cadet. Huey Cadet is an assistant manager at Phoenix in Tobago, 1976, Phoenix. He is also a member of the TTFA executive. His day job used to be as a member of the Tobago House of Assembly, dealing with youth development and education. So youth development, to me, is absolutely critical. And just to give you a sense, there are a myriad of youth competitions in Trinidad and Tobago, just to name a few. Youth stuff going on. There's the Republic Cup, there's the NLCL. I had it under 20 tournaments. There are a lot of bespoke tournaments going around. Clubs travel to the US, et cetera, and to do competition. But I don't think there is a program and a calendar to make them logically and seamlessly as they migrate. And I forgot the one that's sort of covered the SSFL. So his specialty is education and youth engagement. I will add one other person to that list. Colin Defritas has been running the Queen's Park Academy for 10 years and again, the Youth Academy. So that's one element there. I will add one last person because he is totally out of left field. You see a gentleman by the name of Riaz Ali. Riaz is the managing partner of an accounting firm, BDO, which is a smaller version of the Big Four, but but still a $10 billion entity. He is not a footballer. He went to QRC, tried out for the football team. And when the stars came, they told him, go on to the cricket. He has a love for football. What he brings to the table is governance capability, access to expertise out of the network. We would still get some from FIFA and other places. So just to give you the sense of the configuration. The what I looked for initially was competence, competence on across a number of streams, whether it be accounting, whether it be technical football stuff, whether it be marketing, etc., etc. McCann, his love just to touch on it briefly. He still is an active player in the league. So what I've done is created a relationship between competence, leadership. And the last bit is that there was a statutory requirement to have a female, which happens to be Rene, who's worked in Conker Kaif, is the owner of a club, etc., etc. Yes. And to have a Tobagonian. That's double connection. That's double connection, correct. Yes. And we needed to have a Tobagonian that satisfied two criteria, one of several criteria, either represented one of the tiers in the league or was part of the TFA. Yeah. Colin, we're fast running out of time. Just one quick one before you go in in 45 seconds. Is it true that double connection will not be able to vote because of their absence from the pro league this year? And that was indicated at a recent meeting. And if true, your thoughts on it and your feelings about it. Right. That is factually correct, but it had nothing to do with their non-participation because Diablo T did not participate, but they have a vote. The issue of double connection was a licensing. Licensing, yeah. Yes. And I will close by saying this to you, Krikaru. Five members of that of our slate do not have voting rights. So I did not build a slate based on votes. I built a slate based on competence. And I am absolutely certain when you see, because we're going to send out, if not at the back end of this week, early next week, the full monty with respect to those individuals. And if you're not impressed, then you're difficult to impress. Colin, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. And thank you very much for being quite candid with us this afternoon. And I'm very sure that we'll be chatting with you a lot more. If not in the coming weeks, then who knows, depending on what happens on April the 13th in the coming years, maybe over the next four years. Thanks very much for joining us on the Sports Mag Zone. Great chatting with you. Bye bye. All right. Colin Warf, TTFA, Presidential Candidate. Let's take a break on the Sports Mag Zone. We'll be back with a lot more.