I have noted the response of the Hon. Prime Minister to yesterday's ruling of the High Court in the TTFA v FIFA matter in which the PM said, among other things:
"So now United TTFA has “won” and FIFA has lost. The matter is settled in local court. We are now free of the “colonial” FIFA.
We, boys and girls, men and women, are free to play by ourselves and against ourselves because nobody will be allowed to play with or against us.
Oh. That’s it! I finally understand it. That means we can never lose and will always win because we will only be playing by ourselves.".

I, however, find it difficult to share in the enthusiasm of others who gleefully welcome the obvious sarcasm of the PM's comments.
Let me state 2 points before I am accused of bias or worse.
Firstly, I would have thought that the FIFA Appeal against the jurisdictional ruling of the Court which is imminent would have been sufficient for this ruling to be postponed pending the Appeal Court’s ruling.
Secondly, I hold no brief for William Wallace or the TTFA Executive and my criticism of their handling of this issue (as others have said) is that they failed, as leaders, to fully involve their members in what is the most significant action they were embarking on.
However, I think it is important to note that the TTFA (unlike many other Football Associations elsewhere is a statutory organisation created by our Parliament by an Act.
In yesterday’s judgment (the benefit of the full judgment not available at the moment) the Court noted:
“FIFA has now taken to making repeated demands accompanied by threats to TTFA, most recently through its normalisation committee to amend its rules to ‘bring them in line with FIFA Statutes’,”
“There is no lacuna. The futility of these threats and demands should by now have become obvious. TTFA simply cannot deliver.
“The only amendment that can produce the result that FIFA commands is an amendment to the TTFA Act, and if it insists on blocking access to our courts in favour of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), then it should be put on notice there might be constitutional hurdles.”
This aspect of the ruling should be of concern to any lawmaker in our nation’s Parliament. What it points to is that FIFA is, in effect, seeking to direct our nation’s Parliament on what to do with an Act of Parliament which it passed to give life to the TTFA.
I am sure that the Hon. PM must be concerned about this.
A statutory body as the TTFA decided, when its approach to CAS was treated by that Court with bias toward FIFA, allowing FIFA to refuse to pay its share of the cost of arbitration, for example, to approach the Court of the land.
That is its Right, like that of any citizen, to seek redress in the Courts of this country.
Yesterday’s judgment points out:
“The wisdom of the challenge by the [TTFA officials] of the actions of FIFA is not for the Court [to decide],”…. “But it has to be said that the law expects the TTFA to do what its statutory duty requires even in the face of unlawful pressure.”
“[…] In the circumstances, the TTFA’s actions of seeking redress before the Court was perhaps the only appropriate response which avoided capitulating to the demands of FIFA; and thereby elevating the status of FIFA Statutes above the laws passed by our Parliament.”
Again, any lawmaker who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and the Law and who holds the Rule of Law as a pivotal Constitutional principle of our governance, must be concerned that any person (citizen or corporate) should be facing pressure from anyone, worse the Defendant in a Claim before our Courts to abandon their Claim including threats as FIFA has not only made, but, put into action.
In the judgment, quotes the following from an English case (R v Coventry City Council) on the issue of public authorities and responding to unlawful threats: “Tempting though it may sometimes be for public authorities to yield too readily to threats of disruption, they must expect the courts to review any such decision with particular rigour—this is not an area where they can be permitted a wide measure of discretion.”
The fact that our Parliament at the instance of the Government may eventually have to decide what to do with the TTFA Act, should impress the seriousness of this situation as a matter of the Rule of Law.
This is not merely a matter of  whether “we will only be play by ourselves”, as the Hon.PM ended his comment on the judgment.
This is a matter of whether the Rule of Law in our country will be respected by an international sporting body.
I am not aware of any other international sporting body attempts to deny citizens their Right to approach the Courts of our land (or any other) or even to tell any country what to do with its Laws.
This is a profoundly serious matter for the principles of our nation’s governance, its sovereignty and whether a non-governmental body’s rules can be regarded as superior to the Law of our land.
IT IS THAT SERIOUS.
To successfully defend our governance against external pressure, as our country has done on several occasions in the past and recently, can never be a pyrrhic victory. 

​Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Good Governance
14 October 2020
READ THE TTFA v FIFA High Court Judgment
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​Every year somebody dear
Give us cause to shed a tear
And mourn for they are gone
Now all that's left is a faint memory
Based on the theme of a strange melody
Still we must think of them
And recall their image with pride
Telling people from deep inside
This is dedicated to those who died….
Simple words cannot define
The memories that fills the mind
Of those who are left behind
To some of us it's a kin or a friend
Or a great love that was shared to the end
So it is our duty, I mean each and every one
See that their memories live on
Even though they are dead and gone
From Memories by
the Mighty Sparrow
 
Last night, during the airing of a 1998 recorded Independence Show featuring calypso kings of the then 36 year of Independence, Errol Fabien, broke into the programme, coincidentally while Dennis ‘Sprangalang’ Hall was doing emcee duties.
Errol’s voice unable to conceal his emotions came to tell us that Dennis had departed our company close to 10 pm. Another cultural icon, advocate and knowledge storehouse is gone.
On hearing this news, the words of Sparrow’s Memories immediately came to mind.
Immediately, my encounters with Dennis, who I knew as “Halls” over the years from the time I first encountered him in the first half of the decade of the ‘70’s.
I spent at least a couple weeks of the August school vacation in those years with ‘family’ in San Fernando, staying at the home of the Burgess family at the corner of Rushworth and Blache Fraser Streets.
Those were my teenage years and San Fernando in those days was not only the industrial capital but also headquarters of the arts of our country.
Every evening, the regulars of the neighbourhood gathered for the ritualistic lime on the railings along Blache Fraser Street. It was at those nightly gatherings and a few visits to the Hall’s residence on a street just off that one, that I had the distinct and memorable pleasure of schooling in matters of culture in the presence of Dennis and to a lesser extent Tony.
All manner of subjects were included in the streetlight discourses, mostly after and afternoon cricket match in the hollows next to the By-pass. Often, in the middle of the exchanges, more likely around 8:30 or 9:00, somebody would suddenly dismount the railings and head off. “I comin’ back. I just going an’ collect 2 bag ah shit talk” would be the announcement.
Among the Blache Fraser Street lime, Dennis, Tony, twins Eli and Elias Williams, were the most involved in the cultural life of Sando and they were stage crew for several productions at the Bowl. Thanks to them I attended the first full stage production I ever attended (The Joker of Seville) which was on at the Bowl.
On the railings, Halls, had already developed his comedic oratorial skills and some of the signature phrases that became familiar to many in the course of his presence on stage, radio, tv, screen later. He was already in possession of vast amounts of knowledge of our nation’s cultural history and contributions.
“I’m telling you”, “and so on”, “Is ah dog show”, “speaking picoplatically from a keskidee point of view” and so many other phrases from the railings would also later come from the Draxie, in Cultural Sprangalang on Gayelle, the Show on Banyan TV and so many other places.
Under streetlights almost as spotlights, Halls would also edify us on the various stages of tabanca, from chilinki to fralff and sarafatat.
His experience in the 1970 Revolution also helped to form his political and philosophical views which he never refused to share with anyone willing to listen.
In those days, and for years beyond, Dennis was involved in stage lighting and sound engineering, largely with productions by several communities in the Best Village Competition. Later, he had begun a series of shows at Mas Camp which led to the production of the Raw Kaiso CD recordings with Trinidad Rio, Zandolie and Blakie.  
Dennis went on to be a radio talk show host, emcee at calypso tents and other events,
To describe Dennis ‘Sprangalang’ Hall, aka ‘Halls’, as a veteran comedian and theatre practitioner, historian, actor, producer, talk show host, singer/composer, are not adequate to fully tell the story of the measure of this remarkable human being.
Dennis was a loyal and devoted patriot of this land of his birth and life, no matter how far his career opportunities took him in various parts of the world. He was a mentor, an encourager of young artistes and performers and supported many causes and campaigns to promote the interests of his Sando hometown and T&T overall.
After life and its demands on our time and efforts would have prevented the Blache Fraser Street form assembling in later years, I encountered Dennis when he came to live in my community. One afternoon, walking out of Trincity Mall, I saw this panel van pull up in the car park and the driver was a familiar face. As we chatted and he went to close the van, several tranches of stage lights and other equipment were in there.
The last time we spoke was at a client at the EWMSC a couple years ago.
I have formed the view that when there are people with whom my life journey leads us to cross paths on at least a few occasions whether close or more dispersed in time, then all that those people bring to my life must be fully appreciated and be the basis of celebrating their having been here.
As Sparrow reminded us when we, as a collective, cross paths with the likes of Dennis, ‘. it is our duty, I mean each and every one, See that their memories live on, Even though they are dead and gone.”.
Let us celebrate the opportunity we had to have Dennis in our presence and cherish and pay homage to his contribution by preserving, defending and amplifying our cultural treasury and adding to it for the generations to come.
Our thanks to Natasha and his entire family circle for allowing us the opportunity. Accept our sympathies and love.
 
Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Celebrating
Our National Heroes and Icons
3 October 2020