Football $$ pours in for aid Grenada fund

The FIFA Finance Committee have approved a fund worth US $1 million to assist in the rebuilding of football in Caribbean countries affected by Hurricane Ivan. Through the efforts of CONCACAF President Jack Warner, who met with other FIFA officials in Zurich last week, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Bahamas will benefit from the fund.

This will ensure continuity in football related activities such as travel arrangements for national teams in upcoming international tournaments, replacement of equipment, development courses among other matters related to the sport in the region. In addition to that, FIFA will provide US $400,000 to assist with the affected FIFA Goal projects (offices, training facilities) as well as a further US $400,000 to assist in the second phase for the construction of other facilities. Warner revealed too that the English Football Association has decided to contribute ?10,000 towards the rebuilding of the Grenada National Stadium Complex for the hosting of matches at the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Also the US Soccer Federation have also agreed to give US $15,000. “All this along with another US $12,000 from Jack Warner goes toward the TT $5 million fund. I am also in the process of mobilising other companies from the Caribbean as well as my colleagues in Korea, Japan and South Africa to assist in the rebuilding of the stadium,” said Warner. “All feedback has been positive to this point and I am extremely optimistic that we shall succeed in getting the stadium ready for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The West Indies team gave them the victory to celebrate on the weekend and now we must ensure that these same people can experience something similar come 2007,” Warner said yesterday at his CONCACAF office, Port-of-Spain on Monday.

Warner, who spent last Sunday in Grenada, sent four electrical generators to that island on the weekend and is in the process of arranging for another eight generators to be sent over. “We had been promised 12 generators from a firm right here in Trinidad but you will be surprise to know how some are trying to exploit people based on their own needs and this is wrong. Sometimes we only look to see how we can benefit from the losses of others. As of this point, I have arranged to purchase all the generators from a firm in Miami,” he said.