Dookeran: Warriors not a political football

"Taken from our P O L I T I C S section.

UNC POLITICAL Leader Winston Dookeran said he was happy to see the rewards given to the Soca Warriors at the “Thank You” rally for the national team at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. However he warned the Government against using the Warriors’ achievements at the 2006 World Cup to score goals against its opponents in the run-up to the next general elections in Trinidad and Tobago.

At Saturday’s rally, the 24 members of the national football team who participated at the ongoing 2006 World Cup in Germany each received $1 million ($750,000 in units at the Unit Trust Corporation and $250,000 in cash). Each of these players also received TT’s second highest award, the Chaconia Gold medal. Warriors’ captain Dwight Yorke received $1.25 million and was appointed a TT ambassador for sport, in addition to the Chaconia Gold.

Coach Leo Beenhakker was awarded the Chaconia Gold and received $1 million in cash. Beenhakker’s three assistant coaches each received $250,000 and the 16 non-squad players each received $250,000 in cash.

In announcing these awards, Prime Minister Patrick Manning invited Yorke, Beenhakker and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to meet with the Government to discuss how the State could assist the team in its qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Dookeran told Newsday yesterday that he was very happy to see the Warriors receive a “tangible acknowledgment” of their historic achievement in qualifying for and participating in the World Cup.

He said his only concern was that the Warriors’ accomplishment is not seen as “a narrow political matter” and that no one tries to use it to score political goals. Dookeran added that the victory scored by the Warriors was a national one which belonged to the entire population and not to any single political entity.