President of the St Ann’s Rangers Football Club Richard Fakoory is calling on corporate T&T to lend support to his club, a long-time haven for the young people of the Port-of-Spain area. Fakoory made the comments after collecting a special award for his services to the community during the Port-of-Spain Corporation’s 98th anniversary of the Restoration of Civic Authority to the City at the Hyatt Regency on Wrightson Road on Wednesday night. The businessman, who took charge of the club in 1981, said that while it felt good to be recognised for his efforts, he expected the struggle to continue. “It is a wonderful feeling to be appreciated by the city. For all the years I’ve been doing this, nobody has really come on board to help me but I just can’t give up on the youths. There have been times when I felt despondent. We’re in hard times now and it’s really tough business-wise but I just keep trucking along.”
While grateful for the support of the Sports Company of T&T, Fakoory said he was in need of another source of funding to cover expenses such as uniforms, transportation and coaches’ salaries. “It’s a huge task. Most of my kids come from single parent homes and are not to well off. We need to get a sponsor but it has been difficult to find one. You have big companies in T&T, but it’s like pulling teeth... If I got that I could do wonders for my kids and Lord alone knows where I could take them.” He added that one important contributor had been former FIFA Vice-president Jack Warner. “I can never say anything bad about him. When I joined the Pro League in 2006 he gave me a gift of $600,000 to put me on strong footing. Other than Jack, nobody gave me anything.” One of the country’s oldest football institutions, the Rangers have produced such local legends as Clayton Ince, Clayton Morris and Errol McFarlan among others. Fakoory said that despite the challenges he faced in running an underfunded club, he had been motivated by its continued success at youth level.
“We’re known for being the best youth club in the country. Considering all the disadvantages we face, look at where we stand compared to the richer clubs. We are in the top three all the time in the youth divisions.” Another source of inspiration has been his interest in the future of T&T football. “I want to see T&T being able to get to the top and young people are where its at. They are the ones to whom we need to teach discipline so that they represent the country the best way possible... It was a wonderful when we made it to the World Cup in 2006. It was something I always dreamed T&T would do and I hope we can repeat it sometime in the future. The situation is not all that good right now but we will hopefully overcome the bad.” Also among the honourees at Wednesday’s ceremony were the late former West Indies allrounder Learie Constantine and veteran sports administrator Ralph Williams.
-Nicholas Clarke
Source: www.guardian.co.tt