Spanish sporting apparel company Joma has officially put pen to paper on a five-year partnership with the T&T Football Association (TTFA).
This was officially proclaimed yesterday when the TTFA revealed the new on-field and training kits, as well as the association’s new logo at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain. Joma replaces Adidas as the official kit provider for all national teams which falls under the purview of the TTFA.
The kits, insignia and a new TTFA Web site, which will soon be launched, are among several developments disclosed by TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee who described the upgrades as a rebranding of the association’s image, which has for the past several years (while known as the TTFF) been stigmatised for questionable business and accounting practices as well detachment between players and the TTFF’s hierarchy.
The five-year deal comes with a new design of a home and an away kit, a jacket, a training kit, traveling wear and casual wear, through the local distributor Sportway Ltd. The senior national team will sport the new apparel when they kick off their Concacaf Gold Cup campaign against El Salvador, next Monday.
Tim Kee and recently appointed TTFA technical director Sheldon Phillips, spoke on the vision of a self-sustainable association, which aims at having every team, from the beach soccer outfit to the men’s senior team, qualify for a Fifa competition by 2018.
“This represents our symbol of excellence in a new era of football in our country,” said Tim Kee, to the audience and special guests, which included the Spanish ambassador to T&T Joaquin de Aristegui.
“For just over a half decade, we have struggled to qualify for the (con)federation’s signature competition that is the Gold Cup tournament, and we have not experienced success. This period (last six years) was also one that defined by infighting between administrators and players, coaches and administrators, and even referees and referees’ assistants.”
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“As I say quite often, it is always better to reconstruct than to renovate, and trying to renovate what we had would have been a task that was unsurmountable, tedious and labourious and therefore we thought that we should start from the beginning.”
He added, “We have looked from within and began to change our value systems. We wanted to chart our landscape with qualities that would define us as a good and noble corporate citizen. We want our organization to be remembered as transparent and accountable because we want to show those who invest in the business of football, that when contributions are given to us that they are spent in the same manner in which they were promised.”
“One of the decisions we have taken is that we are going to be self sufficient. We have engaged for the first time in history of (our) football, as far as I know, a marketing team that is dedicated exclusively for looking at income streams and other marketing initiatives.”
Tim Kee also revealed the incorporation of an independent review committee, of which its primary function will be to observe and analyze the structure, governing statutes and the financial state of affairs. No confirmation has been made on who will head the committee, but the membership will include Senior Council Elton Prescott, T&T Olympic Committee president Brian Lewis, former national senior football team manager and Fifa development officer Richard Braithwaite, renowned journalist Dr Sheila Rampersad. Former national goalkeeper and current football analyst Neil Shaka Hislop has also been invited to sit on the commission. According to Tim Kee, director of the T&T chapter of Transparency International, Deryk Murray was invited to head the committee to oversee transparency and had originally agreed, but later asked to be excused, due to his many current obligations.
After making the revelation Tim Kee said, “We really want to change the image. We really want to look, not only at transparency, but indeed accountability and truth and all the nice values we’ve pursued.”
It is understood that Prescott, who is also an independent senator, will review the TTFA constitution and recommend necessary amendments.