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The Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) executive has decided to shuffle its fixture list to ensure that the Premier Division’s potential title deciding games—involving St Anthony’s College, Naparima College and Presentation College (San Fernando)—are played on the final match day.
St Anthony’s and Naparima are locked on 30 points each, although the former team has a superior goal difference. Presentation are on 23 points at present but also have two games in hand, which could take them to 29.
Looking on (right) is St Anthony’s goalkeeper Oba Augustin.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-Images/Wired868)
The “Westmoorings Tigers” were due to travel to St Mary’s College on Saturday for their final league match of 2017 while “Naps” were hosting second from bottom, Trinity College Moka.
However, a flood of postponements due to inclement weather meant that the Premier Division would have continued next week with rescheduled matches on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
It is unclear whether the SSFL’s final decision was made on its own volition or after needling from television network, SportsMax, which broadcasts the league live across the Caribbean and North America. Either way, the fixture reshuffle will ensure a dramatic final match day thanks to key adjustments of the fixture list. (See below)
The drama off the field shows no sign of slowing down, though, as a new protest was lodged this morning. This time, Shiva Boys Hindu College are the complainers and not the complainees.
Naparima College are in the hot seat now, as they will be asked to prove that midfielder Rushawn Murphy—a former Malick Secondary student and Trinidad and Tobago National Under-20 Team player—is eligible to play school’s football.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
The 19-year-old Murphy, a former Pro League player with St Ann’s Rangers and Club Sando, is a form five student at Naparima. It is unclear what rule Shiva Boys think might have been infringed upon by Naps in using the promising utility player.
Murphy sat the SEA examinations in 2012 and passed for East Mucurapo Secondary before eventually transferring to Malick and then Naparima. Already on his third secondary school, Murphy is yet to sit the CXC exam and is not a form five repeater.
Naparima, who won the season’s first protest by querying Shiva Boys’ registration of Kierron Mason for the opening game of the 2017 term, are confident that they followed proper procedure in recruiting Murphy.
“He is a form five transfer student,” Naparima team manager Percy Samlalsingh told Wired868. “He never wrote CXC.”
If Shiva Boys’ protest is successful, though, Naparima could lose most of their points this season and are likely to be relegated, alongside the suspended Fyzabad Secondary. Ironically, Shiva Boys cannot gain any points themselves since they used an improperly registered player, Mason, in their own clash with Naparima.
At present, the SSFL still has to rule on St Benedict’s College’s protest against Speyside High for alleged insufficient security. Speyside defeated St Benedict’s 1-0 on Wednesday 11 October.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-Images/Wired868)
Fatima College also filed an appeal today against a SSFL Disciplinary Committee decision not to deduct points from Shiva Boys, despite finding them guilty of using Mason in six games when he was improperly registered.
St Anthony’s won their own case against Shiva Boys on Wednesday morning and the two points gained took the Tigers a whisker ahead of Naps on the standings.
Shiva Boys manager Sheldon Maharaj indicated that the school will appeal the Disciplinary Committee’s decision.
In all, four schools—inclusive of Fyzabad—will be relegated from the Premier Division while three teams will be promoted to replace them, which means the competition will have 15 schools next season.
Valencia Secondary, Bishop’s High School (Tobago), East Mucurapo Secondary, Moruga Secondary and Chaguanas North Secondary are battling for the available positions in the ongoing Championship Division Big 5 competition.
(Courtesy Chevaughn Christopher/Wired868)
SSFL Remaining Fixtures
(Saturday 28 October)
Presentation College v St Augustine Secondary, 3.40pm, Guaracara Park;
St Benedict’s College v Trinity College East, 3.40pm, Lewis Street, San Fernando;
Carapichaima East v Shiva Boys HC, 3.40pm, Carapichaima;
Signal Hill v Fatima College, 3.40pm, Signal Hill;
San Juan North v Speyside High, 3.40pm, San Juan.
(Courtesy Annalisa Caruth/Wired868)
(Monday 30 October)
Trinity College East v Fatima College, 3.40pm, Trincity;
St Augustine v Trinity College Moka, 3.40pm, St Augustine;
Shiva Boys HC v St Mary’s College, 3.40pm, Morne Diablo.
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA-Images/Wired868)
(Thursday 2 November)
Signal Hill v Trinity College Moka, 3.40pm, Signal Hill;
Presentation College v Trinity College East, 3.40pm, Mannie Ramjohn Stadium.
(Courtesy Sean Morrison/Wired868)
(Saturday 4 November)
Fatima College v Presentation College, 3.40pm, Fatima;
St Benedict’s College v Shiva Boys HC, 3.40pm, Barrackpore;
St Mary’s College v St Anthony’s College, 3.40pm, St Mary’s;
Naparima College v Trinity College Moka, 3.40pm, Lewis Street.
SSFL Standings
(Played-Won-Drew-Lost-Goals For-Goals Against-Points)
- St Anthony’s 13-9-3-1-42-20-30
- Naparima 13-9-3-1-30-13-30
- Presentation 11-7-2-2-25-14-23
- Shiva Boys HC 11-7-1-3-28-14-22
- San Juan N 13-5-6-2-29-15–21
- Trinity East 11-5-2-4-20-12-17
- St Mary’s 12-4-4-4-27-26-16
- Fatima 11-6-0-5-15-15-18
- Carapichaima E 13-4-3-5-19-20-15
- QRC 14-4-3-7-23-30-15
- St Augustine 12-4-1-7-24-28-13
- St Benedict’s 12-3-3-6-18-26-12
- Signal Hill 12-2-2-8-11-25-8
- Trinity Moka 11-2-2-7-13-30-8
- Speyside High 13-2-1-10-7–43–7
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Lasana Liburd is the managing director and chief editor at Wired868.com and a journalist with over 20 years experience at several Trinidad and Tobago and international publications including Play the Game, World Soccer, UK Guardian and the Trinidad Express.
I would like Lasana Liburd to follow.up on this in Jan and then.in June and see if he’s still in Naps or if he writes CXC
follow up or not he not doing any cxc…these football school clubs will just scout another batch for next year….
Mad thing…eh
so he 19…and eh write CXC yet?…lol
The most impòrtant games were won in court this year!!!!! Smh. This is the bacanal with secondary school football now? Hmmm
Because SSFL is d worst i swear
I don’t understand so why they don’t check out these players prior to the start of the games to make sure all players on each team is legal to be on the team, once their final decision on each player per school is given the stamp of approval, then start off the season with a clear path to proper success and may the best team win but oh gosh look at this mess ? Is there any proper procedure at all??? It seems they leave it to be a mess so once a complained is won by a team they get the points and that is what is really going on, win by complaining ????
No shiva is very real but SSFL give promission to play mason then give naps the point when was suppose to b a home game, u want to open it d friday ,instead of saturday where he would of been in d clear because is money being made when they charge u to to come in d stadium ,it was shiva game better shiva did not go alone with they sick twisted plans ,shame on them
Another reason
Sports max must be wondering what they have gotten themselves into.
I think the football on field is decent and the drama hasn’t affected spectator enjoyment or interest yet.
SSFL just have to be sure to not let it go that way.
well i think there is more interest…this is great PR for the final day games….
I hope you are right Lasana Liburd.
Shouldn’t there have been due diligence by the rule makers Trevor Bridglalsingh. Meaning that a proper staff should have been out in place to ensure things were done properly, especially in light of what transpired last year.
With all these protests, suspensions, reductions of points and relegations etc…..QRC just might win the title!!!
Ha ha ha
Enough blame to go around unfortunately. However, we are here and need to fix it.
The rule makers did not make the fiasco ,the rule breakers did
Not taking away what the rule breakers did but the makers job is not only to set the rules but enforce them which they didnt do so both need to share equal blame. One side will be punished for their actions while the other side sits idly by…no way while they benefitted from it
So to get real goal difference a sister school can field an U 16 team as has happened before
It has become a fiasco..
I realize as a society we neither like “accountability” or “correction” when we are the ones in the wrong. All the schools who have administration problems have knowledge of the rules, and because they were negligent or deliberately tried to pervert the rules and was called to the carpet for it and punish or will be punished according to the “legislation” in place one cannot be upset with the authorities for correcting such actions even if you support said school.
This is exactly why politicians can’t squander and thief because they are never held accountable, no one is locked up (pnm,unc etc) because we support “our” party blindly even when they are wrong. I don’t care who do wrong BIG or SMALL, if any school willfully or not did not adhere to the rules and there is legislation/rules in place to punish/correct said wrong doing then it must be administered.
SSFL ual want to discriminize FYZO but looked wat going on now corruption in these prestige’s sch. wat a Shame ,Shame Shame
Teams who have their games postponed and have available players getting injured should protest that they have been unfairly treated. Teams that have to play three games in seven days should protest that they are not fairly treated and so on and so on.
Keep protests going until someone wins the league through protests, and then have protests about that etc.
Close the league down and fix the NUMEROUS problems, ban for life ALL who contributed and start over from scratch with proper systems and processes and get rid of all those bringing our children into this unhealthy situation.
Lord help. What a mess.
U hit the nail on the head
Ok. I’m really not sure of the details of Shiva Boys’ protest yet. Has to be either that he repeated twice or he didn’t have his two passes.
Couldn’t be that he played after the cut off date as his school coach Angus Eve is also his club coach at Club Sando.
So I only know there is a protest for now and will update after that.
I cannot say whether the protesting school is on strong ground.
You need to 2 passes to repeat..
Anthony you do if you’re changing schools. But not if you’re in same school where you wrote exams.
Good point…
Is he repeating form 5 though?
As far as I know, yes. But plenty about Rushawn still needs to be confirmed.
He ever wrote cxc? Im sure i read that in the article. How can you repeat form five and without writing cxc?
Jamal that was a mistake. He actually isn’t repeating form five. He was transferred into form five. I believe he repeat form four at Malick.
So that’s how come he is yet to take his CXC exams.
Ohh well then all is well…i guess
As much as a 19 year sitting exam for the first time can be described as well at least…
Lasana its clear exams are not really a priority. Which brings me to the conclusion that these “schools” could care less about academics. Mind you these are “prestige” schools we talking about….smh
South Prestige Schools
Hassan, another “south” dig / reference?. Makes you seem pretty petty man.
Well breds your opinion but I am only responsible for what I say and not what you understand….sad …petty but true….sorry if I offended you …..
Good discussion gone petty..no offense taken
Everybody saying finally a north school may win the league but not on the field but in the board room ,which could happen but these things not happening just so they were orchestrated by ones who aimed to .deceive and got caught…but trinis dnt like to be told the truth. I done ….this SSFL thing real embarassing to all from all over…
Hassan. Really? Everybody? Ok then
I done with this . . Brian…..hope many positives come out of this. ..
Amen
better dey postponed all dem sch. games let dey started ah fresh next year too much corruption
Cancel the tournament, too much confusion
wat is dis is really little children playing football for a bag of sweeti everyone protesting now Shame on the ssfl ual need to resigned ual give FYZO SCH a bad name even the GIRLS can’t play and the rest of the teams u know wat u public the girls through but dey will rise next year because dey can’t beat FYZO they will come stronger next year dey trying to bring down Shiva toobbut ual can’t make shame on ual SSFL
I hope Murphy knows that this is not an attempt to “sower” his reputation or even introduce his name into this debacle of a season…Shiva have known about his situation from the very beginning of the season and were never going to file a protest….but!
they did now…this is so sad ..it is like people who drowning pulling others to drown with them…
Tony, so you’re saying it is tit for tat?
Quid pro quo lol
But only if Shiva Boys win the protest eh. Lol. Otherwise it is clutching at straws maybe.
This is a mess on the SSFL’s hands… an utter embarrassment. But this is trini and no one resigns once they hold a post and no one is ever held accountable
wait nah is one more school in blue for a mark to buss on or that is the school that holding mark to buss on one in blue that in trouble already ..
What is all this code talk Hassan? ???
this better than parliament right now
in the SSFL they kicksing
real code breds but it easy to figure out
I knew this was going to happen.. when schools put football before education .. teaching young men ‘anything for the win’ .. opens up the door to a lot more. Yet as an educator I’m all for student athletes maintaining a certain level of academic performance to stay on any team no matter the talent.. otherwise go play in the pro league and forget school ..
Naps wanted to win of the field but now they can’t even win it there as well.. karma issa bitch unno lol…
There is no guarantee Shiva Boys will win the protest.
But if naps lose or draw their last game it’s bye bye SSFL see you next year lol…
Naps is very well managed …shiva just salty they cant win lol
Cant win you say ???… 2016 SSFL champion mate…Naps are yet to beat the champs on the field since last yr… shiv beat all the top dogs naps, pres and st Anthony’s,as a matter of fact they beat almost everyone on their way to the title… Beat naps again this year ON THE FIELD… Shiv ONLY LOST ONE GAME ON THE FIELD this season so wheel and come again Timothy Jairam lol..
An the season ent over yet.. Any of the top 4 can clinch the title still…
When last shiva win a treble?
Salty you say..over Naps??boi please…Naps pose no threat… Even blindfloded Shiva beating Naps
My question still firm…when last shiva win a treble?
Lol ….ahahahah
Naps ha to beg for points off the field lol… hence they on top… as i said they cant beat the champs on the field so beat them off the field naps style lol..
Man real toting…like vex where he ended up after writing SEA..?
Sunil, Shiva Boys drew with St Anthony’s. But they defeated the other big teams.
Sunil what’s hurting them is having someone transfer from their “prestige” school to a rural school.. then play an beat them badddd
Real issue is what these footballers doing after they play intercol …what’s there future ..so all this talk about prestige ….smh get real
Treble cut ass Shiva put on Naps…
In other news ….scholarships are out …hope all these so called high ranking football schools can high rank in academia too …but o well such is life
Its only recently shiva became a force to be reckoned in SSFL so don’t compare who won triple crown..
Timothy Jairam we talking football boss.. Why are disrespecting our school? An are you saying our footballers are uneducated? Are you saying that our footballers don’t have nothing to turn to after school football? What position are you in to know shiva business? Boss you’re being very disrespectful to our school footballers and their school education system… We talking football here mate…
Interesting discussion given most of Naps’ players are transfer students ?
Carol John I wonder if Timothy could tell us which one of naps plays ever made it on the the world stage ?? cuzz I know shiva as more that five players that are on the big stage an one which is even on a much larger stage ? an he is Levi Garcia so he could talk bout treble all day an to considering shiva was only open like 2002 or something so an making a lot of progress ????
A clear case of Jhonny come lately going on here
Shiva boys intercol changer that all i got to say ,doh study that doh doh head
Timothy u r a fool with a Capital F yes boy is Shiva fever in all your tail ??????????? lol that one is for mason take that ?????
The fundamental point is that too many schools are flouting the rules. Rules are rules. And if they are broken the schools should be punished. I don’t care whether it’s on or off the field. That’s the bottom line. If you can’t win fairly don’t play.
I agree with this ^
Timothy Jairam tothing cause mason left their prestigious school to come study at Shiva boy’s…
Shiva , player for player have the best team in the Ssfl. The problem is their management team should read the rule book and know who is eligible to play and who is not. Its a shame these talented young men are made to pay for the ineptitude of others.
And the saga continues
Wow! Trinity Moka have to play three games in the space of six days with a trip to Tobago squeezed in the middle. It’s going to be hard avoiding that drop.
Makes you wonder what kind of school work these student-athletes will be covering this week…
Nothing at all
trust me the moka state boys attend school unlike some other schools…
for the entire term they wasnt covering work
some of these Moka State boys in form 4…the rest in lower and upper 6 and form 5
yeah Roneil it will be hard…real test for their bodies …not much recovery for them
throw them out …we may miss some good football but clean this it up …
Is all this falling ultimately on the SSFL President
SSFL COE
SSFL GATE…..Football Gate. ..Protest Gate
It can’t get better than that….sprangalang voice
Dont worry there is more to come from a team in blue. .hahaha
Sing nah man
not me ah waiting tuh laugh..yuh see my pic how i dressed ….not me they done dont like we already ….
I just waiting fuh
“Dave Smith…who was in remand yard for two years before being admitted to ________ college was referred to the protest committee”
anyway Kyon Esdelle supports this
ah 19yr old in form five?
Smart Eh
SMH
De boy like school Shaun.
Sad
better he in sch than on the st
but who say he in school…he may be on a school register thats all
He gone beyond repeating form 5, oui. Dat fella reach Echo level.
he is not the only one that took time off and returned to school to play this year…
Playing professionally should disqualify one from ever claiming amateur status after that.
punto finale
Nigel how long we saying that? It’s a joke that kids can play in a pro league and come back and play as an amateur. It is also a conflict of interest that a pro coach coaches school football. #smallglory #jokeyadmins
Didn’t Mason take a year off from school as well? Shiva prepared to take Naps down with them then
“The 19-year-old Murphy, a former Pro League player with St Ann’s Rangers and Club Sando, is repeating form five at Naparima. Like Shiva Boys Hindu College midfielder Kierron Mason, Murphy is believed to have taken a year off school.”
lol… this thing is a joke..man stopped school was playing pro league fuh ah year then come back to rpt form five?.. hahahahahaha
Fatima win a protest but DON’T want the points?..hahaha…
and Shiva may win a protest but can’t benefit because they themselves erred….lol…
Naps is a football club! Fatima had to resubmit their appeal apparently, cus they weren’t officially informed of the verdict issued by the credentials committee lol. But if SAC got the points for the same infraction then Fatima and QRC must get too.
Shaun, I adjusted that because Rushawn appears not to have taken a year off at all. Rather he was 14 years in form one.
That’s how he is 19 while still in form five.
He must have repeated somewhere but I’m not sure if he is repeating now at Naps or did that earlier.
^^^^^Noted
Well the MoE will havethe info…I hope
Can’t help but laugh in naps them really good yes
Lasana Liburd what’s really going on with the SSFL brother? Lots of controversy.
Hopefully the schools that are not under scrutiny Travis.
Then again that may be most schools
Timothy i hope you know the schools who name not going to call in that kind of mess
I’m 99 % certain I know
We both know. .hahaha
Maybe the league should go with an upper age limit as opposed to this number of years schooling thing.
Travis the only games that not playing are St Marys vs St Anthonys…Naps vs Trinity Moka
So which games playing tomorrow Dexter Cyrus?
hope the govt taking notes. lol
3 tinted vehicles reported just entered Fyzabad School could this be the beginning of action taken
hope you record some video….lol
Sportsmax laughing at we….
If u running a telivised league….
The penultimate game and the ultimate game…must be played on the same day at the same time across the board….
This has nothing to do with schools and their managers or administrators….this is not a minor league…
Teams playing at the top for the title…teams playing at the bottom not to be demoted….
U cannot leave teams with games in hand on both ends of the table….its like asking fuh corruption…
SSFL got this one right
but the way how trini is you dont have to ask …the corruption there one just waits to find out How much.
Sportsmax must be saying boy even School football in trini in a mess
I like it. If this is what is needed to clean up the mess then so be it. But it would be ironic if Naps are found guilty, these kinds off oversights arent associated with Naps.
I agree all has to come out now and clean up this mess. If the committee lapse too they should move also and for me if it is possible to bring up all 5 in the lower division in place of the cheaters better yet.
I especially agree with the part about the committee . Its a seta lazy people just sitting on their butts and now reacting and playing like its everybody’s fault but their own
Thanks Travis. Hopefully the rulings will be consistent throughout. Free and fair.
Yep
Naps has to swallow their own medicine lol…Karma is a bitch … talk nahh
So the protest backlash begins! Looks like this year the SSFL boardroom is where titles will be decided and not on the field of play!
Long time!
Well well well
and Manage it not finished a certain school holding on to something for the end against a big football school