'REDS' PERREIRA CHIDES JACK WARNER

Kingston, June 30, 2009 -- Veteran Caribbean sports administrator Joseph 'Reds' Perreira has taken issue with the president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associations of Football (CONCACAF), Austin 'Jack' Warner over the Trinidadian's attitude toward former president of the St Kitts & Nevis Football Association, Peter Jenkins.

Warner scolded Jenkins for his decision to run against Jamaica's Captain Horace Burrell as the Caribbean's representative on the CONCACAF Executive Committee at the 59th FIFA Congress in The Bahamas from June 1-3.

Jenkins, who was nominated by the Antigua & Barbuda and Grenada football associations, withdrew his candidacy at the last minute, allowing Burrell to get the nod unchallenged.

But in a stinging rebuke, Trinidadian Warner, who is also president of the Caribbean Football Union, chided Jenkins for attempting to run against Burrell and warned that there could be sanctions against him, as well as the Antigua and Grenada associations.

"I was very surprised about what came out of the congress regarding the intention of Jenkins to contest the election. I have known Jenkins since 1991 and certainly thought that if he wanted to contest the election in CONCACAF, he had a democratic right to, once he felt he had a chance of being considered, if he had the support.

"Democracy and transparency are part of the world order. He wasn't trying to break up the CONCACAF family by seeking to run. It was through that democratic process that Warner was able to win the leadership of the CFU and CONCACAF by being able to contest elections. It was the same democratic process that saw Burrell losing and then regaining his post," said Guyana-born Perreira, who now lives in St Lucia.

Here for the recently concluded One-Day International matches between the West Indies and India at Sabina Park, the seasoned cricket commentator who has covered more than 100 Test matches and countless One-Day Internationals at the height of his career, said that there was no need for Caribbean sports administrators to tear down each other.

"When the late Sir Frank Worrell talked about the talent that would come out of the Windward Islands and Leeward Islands, he wasn't talking cricket only. We have some excellent administrators in netball, athletics and football in the islands and Jenkins was part of that emerging personality.

"I was surprised to read that Antigua and Grenada who had initially nominated Jenkins before he withdrew, will now have to show cause and reason why they supported the Jenkins nomination.

"Jenkins is an experienced administrator and should still be allowed to make whatever contribution he wants to make at the regional level. He also played a good role in reviving football in the Leeward Islands," Perreira said.

Warner, in a letter to Jenkins, suggested that the latter be banned from all commissions of the CFU and CONCACAF.

In the letter, Warner said that Jenkins contravened the "political conventions" of the CFU and went against tradition by mounting a challenge.

Warner also suggested that the CFU writes to Antigua & Barbuda and Grenada, asking them why the CFU's disciplinary committee should not take action against both nations for what he called "their attempts to destabilise Caribbean football and Caribbean solidarity within the CFU".