THE ARIMA BOROUGH Corporation has written an apology letter following an incident in which police ordered a match stopped and stadium lights turned off with seven minutes to go during a Next Level Consulting Limited (NLCL) Under-19 Community Cup youth football match at the Arima Velodrome on Thursday night.
NLCL U-19 Community Cup teams coordinator Sandra Pompey reported yesterday that there has since been a slew of apologies from Arima officials.
On the night, a police officer allegedly ordered match referee Oswald Samuel to blow off the game, following which the stadium lights were turned off, after it was alleged the organisers had gone over the allotted time they had paid for the stadium lights to be on.
Community Cup chairman Brian Jordan argued that they had paid for the stadium lights to be on until 10 p.m. and not 9 p.m. as the officer claimed.
“The Corporation has written us an apology letter,” Pompey stated. “The MP also called and apologised, the councillor called.”
Tournament chairman Jordan confirmed that the Borough Council had apologised, stating: “Arima has since apologised.”
The NLCL U19 Community Cup tournament committee had planned to reschedule the match so that the teams could play the final seven minutes of the match in which Malabar Young Stars were leading Group A table-toppers Soccer Made Simple 3-1. However Pompey added: “Both teams have since agreed that they will not bother with it and will accept the result as 3-1,”
She further relayed details of what occurred.
“We had paid (for the lights) until 10 p.m.,” Pompey relayed. “The police came and say we went over an hour, which was like after nine 9 p.m.
“He is telling us we have to pay him. But even if we had gone over the time and we had to pay, I don’t think we should have just put our cash money and give it to him,” said Pompey, relaying her point of view.
“There is supposed to have been a letter and then we would submit the payment. We had (initially) paid them with a cheque.”
“(Now) He is saying he (police officer) had not gone onto the field,” added Pompey. “It is a good thing we had footage.”
