Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
Former TTOC president Brian Lewis says a push to amend the immigration laws to widen the player pool is not going to benefit T&T football.

Should it materialise, foreign-based grandchildren of T&T-born persons will also be able to represent this country.

Lewis says it's about time to develop and search for local talent in a proper way so that the twin-island nation can move forward.
Transcript
00:00Any footballer whose mother or father was born in TNT can also represent the
00:05country according to immigration laws. However, there is a push to amend the law
00:09to allow foreign-based players whose grandparents were born in TNT to also
00:14play for the Twin Island country. Former TTOC president Brian Lewis, who is
00:18Canuck's Secretary General, does not see that as the solution to improving TNT's
00:23football. Added to that, he feels many talented youngsters in this country will
00:28be deprived of an opportunity should it materialize.
00:30The immigration law is not a solution and the immigration law is not the
00:36solution. What we need to be very careful about is that we are not fixing the
00:47symptom, which is short-term, with a long-term remedy. Current coach Dwight
00:57York welcomes such a move. There's also talk about the more advanced
01:02footballing nations doing such a thing. And what does Lewis think about it all?
01:06I've heard it said that other more developed countries with more resources
01:12and more programs do it, but those countries may not have the particular
01:21problem that Twin Island and Tobago, we are currently facing. And I've always said
01:27sport cannot exist in a vacuum. Sport mirrors a society and the power of
01:34sport to contribute to national development, that's the bigger picture.
01:39Lewis says a lot must fall on the various governing bodies for sport in
01:44this country to help with player development. Added to that, he believes
01:48talent search must be done in a meticulous way. The national governing
01:53bodies have a responsibility to look at the bigger picture and they must not see
02:00the immigration law as a solution or an easy solution to their failures and
02:08failure to have a proper development program complemented by a talent
02:16identification program that leads to a selection policy and a selection process
02:23that is fair, equitable, transparent. Lewis, who is also a former Canuck president,
02:30stands by the adage, charity begins at home. He feels that's the only way the
02:35country can make progress. You know there is a saying, and people pay lip service to it,
02:41fix home first. And that's what I'm saying, fix home first. And if you want to do, use the
02:50immigration law to widen the player pool, make sure that it is complementary, not either or.
02:58With regards to making an amendment to the immigration law, Sports Minister
03:03Shanfa Kajur Lewis recently stated she could not provide an estimated timeline
03:07for its completion. Vinod Nawani, TV6 Sport.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment