SSFL announces rescheduled fixtures: St Mary’s, Trinity (Moka) and St Anthony’s fare worst

St Mary’s College, Trinity College (Moka) and St Anthony’s College were the big losers yesterday as the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) executive announced dates for rescheduled Premier Division fixtures.

The three schools must play five matches within 11 days, as the SSFL squeezed games lost due to waterlogged grounds and flooding into an already packed schedule.

St Benedict’s College, East Mucurapo Secondary, Queen’s Royal College (QRC), Carapichaima East Secondary, San Juan North Secondary, Trinity College East, Naparima College, St Augustine Secondary, Valencia Secondary and defending champions Presentation College (San Fernando) have four games rostered for the same time period.

Bishop’s High School (Tobago) and Fatima College play three times in that 11-day period.

At present, East Mucurapo, Fatima, Valencia, St Mary’s and Bishop’s occupy the last five spots in the 15-team table—in descending order—with the bottom three due to be relegated at the end of the season.

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Worse, the North Zone’s fifth and sixth placed Premier Division schools are rostered to open their Coca Cola Intercol campaigns on Tuesday 6 November, which is just 24 hours after their final league outing. At present, Fatima and St Mary’s occupy those positions, which means CIC are likely to play six times in 12 days.

At the Russia 2018 World Cup, the France team—comprising adult professionals with access to the best physical care—had 25 days between their first and sixth outings; and, even then coach Didier Deschamps rotated his entire squad midway through the tournament to ensure fresh legs when it counted.

The SSFL membership have considered reducing the number of games, so as to allow players more training time and less disruption to their respective school schedules. However, the only way to do so and still have the season finish with at least one week to go before the December exams would be to cut the number of teams in the top flight.

Thus far, the SSFL’s stakeholders have not voted for that change.

The rescheduled fixtures does mean that Presentation College and San Juan North, who are first and second respectively, will meet on the final match day of the season—in a clash that is likely to decide the league title.

Bishop’s, St Benedict’s and St Augustine will be inactive on the Premier Division’s final match day.

Upcoming Premier Division fixtures

(Saturday 27 October)

Carapichaima East vs St Anthony’s College, 3:40pm, Carapichaima;

East Mucurapo vs St Augustine Secondary, 3:40pm, Mucurapo Road;

Presentation College (San F’do) vs Fatima College, 3:40pm, Presentation;

San Juan North vs Naparima College, 3:40pm, San Juan;

St Mary’s College vs Bishop’s High School, 3:40pm, Serpentine Road;

Trinity College East vs Trinity College (Moka), 3:40pm, Trincity;

Valencia Secondary vs St Benedict’s College, 3:40pm, Larry Gomes Stadium;

QRC are on a bye

(Monday 29 October)

Trinity College (Moka) vs QRC, 3:40pm, Moka;

St Anthony’s College vs St Benedict’s College, 3:40pm, Westmoorings;

St Augustine Secondary vs St Mary’s College, 3:40pm, St Augustine;

(Wednesday 31 October)

Fatima College vs QRC, 3:40pm, Mucurapo Road;

Naparima College vs Presentation College (San F’do), 3:40pm, Lewis Street;

St Anthony’s College vs San Juan North, 3:40pm, Westmoorings;

St Benedict’s College vs Carapichaima East, 3:40pm, St Benedict’s;

St Mary’s College vs East Mucurapo, 3:40pm, St Mary’s;

Trinity College (Moka) vs St Augustine Secondary, 3:40pm, Moka;

Trinity College East vs Valencia Secondary, 3:40pm, Trincity;

Bishop’s High School are on a bye

(Saturday 3 November)

Bishop’s High School vs East Mucurapo, 3:40pm, Plymouth Recreation Ground;

Carapichaima East vs Trinity East, 3:40pm, Carapichaima;

Naparima College vs QRC, 3:40pm, Lewis Street, San Fernando;

Presentation College (San F’do) vs St Anthony’s College, 3:40pm, Presentation;

San Juan North vs St Benedict’s College, 3:40pm, Bourg Mulatresse;

St Augustine Secondary vs Valencia Secondary, 3:40pm, St Augustine;

Trinity College (Moka) vs St Mary’s College, 3:40pm, Moka;

Fatima College are on a bye

(Monday 5 November)

East Mucurapo vs St Anthony’s College, 3:40pm, Mucurapo Road;

QRC vs Carapichaima East, QRC;

San Juan North vs Presentation College (San F’do), 3:40pm, San Juan;

St Mary’s College vs Trinity College East, 3:40pm, Serpentine Road;

Trinity College (Moka) vs Naparima College, 3:40pm, Moka;

Valencia Secondary vs Fatima College, 3:40pm, Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar.