Oral Tracey | Jack Warner, prince or pariah?

Austin ‘Jack’ Warner was president of the regional governing body of football, Concacaf, for over two decades. He was a vice-president of the world governing body, FIFA, for 14 years and a member of FIFA’s powerful Executive Committee for 28 years, during which time the Trinidadian emerged as one of the most powerful figures traversing the corridors of power in the world’s most popular sport.

Warner’s ascendancy within the then closed control base of the world game mushroomed from one of the most pragmatic power moves in the history of football politics. The former history teacher strategically organised the 25 territories of the Caribbean into a crucial voting bloc within the 41-nation Concacaf membership. Warner used those numbers as a huge bargaining chip to become the quintessential power broker at the highest level of world football governance.

Warner, in his forthright and inimitable style, lobbied relentlessly for the small nations of the Caribbean. His representation of these small nations, which all had the same single vote as the big and powerful football nations such as Brazil, Germany, England, Italy, etc, gave him the leverage to push for equal and increased distribution of FIFA’s substantial resources among all its members. He lobbied and secured more World Cup qualifying spots for Concacaf, opening the doors which were previously slammed shut by regional powerhouses the United States and Mexico. Jamaica in 1998, and then Trinidad and Tobago in 2006, made their first senior World Cup appearances directly because of this move, amid much resistance from the powerful European bloc.

Jamaica hosting the Under-17 World Cup qualifying tournaments in 1999 and 2011, and qualifying for both finals; and Trinidad and Tobago actually hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Finals in 2001, are just a few of the direct and indirect benefits that accrued from the administrative clout of Warner.

Warner’s well-chronicled list of high-profile accusations, including the taking of bribes, money laundering, racketeering and countless charges of personal enrichment schemes could probably fill all the pages of today’s publication. Warner was prominently named again last week in a new indictment case handed down by the US district attorney. This one specific to his allegedly accepting bribes for his vote in the hosting bids for the 2018 World Cup and 2022 finals scheduled for Qatar, all this while the 77-year-old continues to fight his extradition to the USA.

DAMAGED REPUTATION

The substantive question is, are Warner’s compromised integrity and his astuteness and effectiveness as an administrator mutually exclusive? Jack Warner could be left with a damaged reputation in some circles based on how things transpire, but perhaps paradoxically, the very same Warner must also go down in the same historical timeline as the best and most effective football administrator to have emerged from the Caribbean. He must be remembered as the man responsible for opening the eyes of the wider Caribbean football fraternity to the fact that we can be relevant in the wider scheme of the global game. Those realities cannot be summarily erased by any questions surrounding his character.

Suffice to say, there is more than meets the eye with the demise of Jack Warner. Instructively, the two nations that were favoured to win the hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively, were England and the USA, something worth pondering as the public jury deliberates on whether Austin ‘Jack’ Warner was a pariah or a prince, or both.

Oral Tracey is a radio and television broadcaster with over 20 years of experience in providing sports commentary. Send feedback to oraltracey@gmail.com or on Instagram at oraltraceymaverick.