Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation President quits in cash-for-votes scandal

By Andrew Warshaw

October 30 – The cash-for-votes scandal involving almost the entire membership of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has taken another twist with the news that Oliver Camps has quit as President of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) after 19 years in charge.

Camps was one of the ten fresh CFU officials being investigated by FIFA for their role in the infamous Trinidad meeting in May that brought down former Asian football chief Mohammed Bin Hammam and led to the resignation of Jack Warner.

The cases are due to be heard in mid-November but Camps decided to jump before he was pushed, just as Warner did when the case first came to light.

In a statement, Camps said the current climate created by FIFA had forced him to rethink his position.

“I have truly enjoyed working with the football fraternity and appreciated the opportunities which have been given to me through football, but when the price one has to pay includes the sullying of one’s name and the denigrating of one’s character without a justifiable reason, then I must confess that this is not the place that I would want to be,” he said.

Camps was manager of Trinidad and Tobago when they narrowly failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup and again in 1989 when the so-called “strike squad” missed out on qualifying for Italy 1990 by a single point.

He believes FIFA has been deliberately targeting Caribbean football, meting out punishments unfairly as part of its effort to regain credibility in the wake of the scandal.

“For an organisation that claims to promote and practice fair play, the current situation has left me aghast because it represents a shift away from the values that the FIFA claims it espouses,” Camps said.

“The changing of the guards was never meant to engender the bitterness that I feel, the pain which has replaced the pleasure of service, nor the disdain that the FIFA’s actions have created for what ought to be a beautiful game.”

Throwing the book at anyone remotely associated with the meeting at which $40,000 were apparently offered to Caribbean officials left him with no choice but to throw in the towel, he said.

“History will not judge me for being a part of that meeting, neither will it condemn me based on association,” said Camps.

“Rather history will applaud all the football leaders of the Caribbean and bring shame upon the powers that be, for the sad days they have occasioned upon the CFU and football in general.”

Despite the disgraced Warner having been charged by FIFA for allegedly facilitating the meeting in May at which the bribes were offered, Camps described the former FIFA vice-president as a “true leader”.

Warner reacted by telling reporters Camps did the right thing – and pointed the finger squarely back in FIFA’s direction.

“He understood where the real conflict in this whole thing is, at the level of FIFA in Zurich,” he said.

“While there are guys who want to play politics with the matter, he was more dignified in his approach.”

Meanwhile, Warner confirmed that his country’s Attorney General Anand Ramlogan had spoken to him in relation to his alleged involvement in assisting Bin Hammam by bringing money into Trinidad to be offered as gifts to members of the CFU.

“He and I have spoken, but I do not think it is prudent for me to say what we discussed,” Warner said before adding that he “had to laugh” at his country for politicising the FIFA issue.

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