Everton Alfred won the presidency unopposed when the Tobago Football Association (TFA) held its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday virtually. Alfred is a former General Secretary for the zone.
All the officers were elected unopposed for the new board of directors. Alfred is now joined by three vice-presidents Desmond Alfred, Carel Percy and Ronald Duke. Three ordinary members will be named in due course to complete the board along with the appointment of a general secretary.
The longstanding member of the Association, Alfred informed the attendees that the focus will be on the development of the game and its stakeholders while trying to bring about some financial stability to the Association.
Alfred said, “This is about service and not position for me. I’m going to serve football and the people of Tobago and do whatever I can to bring about positive change.
He added, “People would have lost some confidence where the sport is in Tobago and the first thing for me is to rekindle that confidence and belief. We are going to do it through programs that are geared towards the development of the people.”
Alfred who held several positions on the board for almost two decades mentioned that their main objective is to do developmental work with our coaches, players especially women and youth.
Commenting on a major issue faced by local associations, he said, “Hopefully we can get some financial support, we know what is happening now in terms of the Covid-19 Pandemic that is affecting the world economically. There are countries with lesser resources and are doing better than us right now.” Alfred sees this opportunity as perfect to boost the sport tourism industry on the island.
An optimistic Alfred continued, “This new board is not going to do it by themselves, we are going to include a lot of people. We would like to set up some youth centres across the island where we can have structured football programs being delivered to our young people. Therefore, we will need human resources on board especially women to assist with the girls.”
Another item on the agenda highlighted by Alfred is to increase the exposure for the footballers on the island. “We would like to focus on bringing in teams to Tobago or sending out teams. Therefore, create a bridge between a tremendous gap between playing football in Tobago and making a national team.”
