A week after an incident involving now former national men’s team goalkeeping coach Kelvin Jack and Gary Griffith III went viral, Police Commissioner, Gary Griffith is now speaking out.
A video clip of the incident was recorded by Griffith III, in which a very angry Jack is telling the player, “I don’t care who you go and tell because your father doesn’t have more influence than me in TT football.”
It was said that the night before the incident, Griffith III stormed out of a team-building exercise and was disrespectful because he was not selected to play in the Bahamas clash.
Speaking at a TTPS media briefing on Monday, the senior Griffith said the entire scene was in a bid to discredit him because of who he (Gary Griffith) is.
Griffith said his son’s selection to the national senior men’s football team had nothing to do with his position at the helm of national security.
However, he blamed two journalists, who he said have been targeting his son to tarnish his character.
“Now we are seeing a desperate point to absorb lies, fake news, especially if it is juicy, to discredit my son because of who I am. Talks about my son being indisciplined and how he stormed out disciplinary meetings. That is a lie!
“That is a blatant lie. He never stormed out. My son was at a dinner table with the national team and after he completed dinner, he was going to the bathroom and he left. That is it! My son said nothing, he did nothing!
Griffith said “The hatred and bitterness that some (people) have over me; they have trained it to my family. Judge people for who they are and not who their parents are.”
He said his son has been negatively affected by the entire incident.
“Here we have an 18-year old national player doing his best for this country and all you have from persons with no degree of coach qualifications in any aspect in football wants to demonise a national footballer without understanding the fact,” he added.
The CoP issued a challenge, saying “People who want to continue to criticise my son, I challenge any of you all, seeing that you figure he can’t play football, let’s have a small goal (tournament), him against you. I’ll give you a four goal head start (to five). If you win, I’ll eat my police cap.”
He called on corporate TT and other entities to stop criticising the team’s shortcomings and help invest and elevate the squad in its development.
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