TWO OF Trinidad and Tobago’s greatest sportsmen, Dwight Yorke and Brian Lara, have been snubbed by football officials in their homeland.
Yorke, the former Manchester United footballer, told the Trinidad Express newspaper that neither Lara nor he has been invited to the prestigious FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup Final, scheduled for the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain tomorrow.
An angry Yorke, a 2006 Chaconia Gold Medal awardee who captained his country at senior and under-21 World Cups, contended that the local organisers have shown greater appreciation for foreign stars.
England’s star David Beckham, a former teammate of Yorke at Manchester, and former Netherlands and AC Milan standout Ruud Gullit are in Trinidad for a coaching clinic and will join 1974 World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer of Germany and FIFA president Sepp Blatter as guests of honour at the Under-17 final between Japan and South Korea.
“I haven’t gotten any invite and neither has Lara, and we are sporting ambassadors for Trinidad and Tobago, so what does that say for our country?” asked Yorke.
“I don’t think this would happen anywhere else. Can you imagine there being a massive football event in England or The Netherlands and their FA invited me to make a presentation and not any of their star players?” he asked rehetorically.
Yorke, who is now employed as a football analyst by British television network SkySport, is one of the Caribbean’s most outstanding footballers.
Yorke added that while he has a special friendship with Beckham, it was a surprise that he wasn’t also invited to be part of the coaching clinics.
