No Christmas Miracle: Cupid fingers SSFL official, as MMPHS and Moruga stripped of titles

Veteran Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) assistant secretary – administration Gerald Elliot is an employee of the school body’s credentials committee. It is a salaried position with remuneration covering the period from September to November each season.

So why, Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School (MMPHS) head coach Kern Cupid asked, is Elliot not being held responsible for any of the registration issues that rocked the league in the 2023 season?

This morning, MMPHS and Moruga Secondary were officially informed that their appeals against a Disciplinary Committee ruling—which overturned their Championship Division title wins in the Central and South Zones respectively—were unsuccessful.

The only avenue left for either school now is arbitration.

In another piece of farce, the Appeals Committee decision was declared to one newspaper, by SSFL president Merere Gonzales, on Friday 22 December. It took another six days for the correspondence to get to the affected schools.

The SSFL Secretariat, responsible for passing on such information, is run by general secretary Azaad Khan.

For MMPHS and Moruga, who face severe sanctions for their errors during the registering of their teams, it is a bitter irony.

“They are not trying to hold anybody to account,” MMPHS head coach Kern Cupid told Wired868. “[…] There was no professionalism from these administrators from start to finish… Even if things don’t go in our favour, this should be the catalyst for change.

“This is really discouraging and heart wrenching for these boys and them.”

The Miracle Ministries private school’s transgression, according to the Disciplinary Committee, is that “the [registration] documents submitted [for 11 of their players] was not an official document from the web page and copy of registration re: web page attached shows no registration done by Miracle Ministries on 12 and 13 September 2023.”

But what does that mean? And why were their players sanctioned for only their first four games and not the entire season—as was the case with Moruga?

Cupid tried to offer clarity.

Moruga Secondary’s football representative submitted the registration for 26 of their players without a stamp or signature from their principal Michael Sutherland.

However, in MMPHS’ case, Cupid revealed that the Central school submitted their registration as a picture rather than a document.

“We were having connectivity issues at school and I didn’t have any data,” said Cupid. “So we used Ms [Shemel] Charles’ phone to send our registration.”

A screenshot of the MMPHS registration form shows a note at the bottom, which read: “Please advise accordingly if there are any mistakes.” Cupid never got a response from the SSFL—not until the end of the season, when his school was summoned to meet the Disciplinary Committee.

Cupid said that, on 12 September, he also called Central Zone secretary Laurence Seepersad to ensure that their registration went well. (All zonal secretaries are automatically members of the SSFL’s Credentials Committee.)

“I told [Seepersad] I sent the email and asked if I got through, or if I had to postpone our first game,” said Cupid, “and he said: ‘nah you’re good’. He said he would check the email in the morning.”

At MMPHS’ season opener, the school received customised team lists from the Central Zone with their “registered” players included on them and thought all was well.

Cupid also claimed Seepersad told Central Zone members that player IDs were not mandatory for Championship Division teams. So, in the rush to register players, MMPHS did not initially apply for IDs.

However, two weeks into the season, Cupid decided to request IDs anyway.

“We wanted to look professional,” said Cupid. “So, we decided to register for the player IDs.”

That late submission proved decisive. The SSFL Disciplinary Committee, headed by Essiel Seecharan, subsequently declared that the Miracle Ministries players were properly registered only from that stage—using the paperwork submitted for player IDs.

Otherwise, MMPHS would have been deducted points for every single match in the 2023 season.

Moruga Secondary were not so lucky. In another cruel irony, the southern outfit did get player IDs—despite the error in their registration. So, they felt confident that their players were vetted and approved.

Instead, Moruga, who won the South Zone without losing a game on the pitch, are now set for relegation to the Senior Division, which is the lowest rung of the SSFL.

The SSFL Constitution places the penalty for registration breaches solely at the feet of the respective schools.

Moruga and MMPHS were replaced as zonal champions by Ste Madeleine Secondary and Carapichaima East Secondary respectively. The latter two teams will represent the zone in the SSFL Big Five against Signal Hill Secondary (Tobago), Blanchisseuse Secondary (North) and St Augustine Secondary (East).

The Big Five is expected to kick off in January 2024, due to the delays caused by the registration drama.

MMPHS claimed that Elliot’s role on the Disciplinary Committee—despite being a key member of the Credentials Committee—meant the body could not be deemed “independent”, in keeping with Article 12 of the constitution, and therefore poisoned its judgment against the school. (Notably, the MMPHS complaint only pointed to Elliot’s post as an executive member.)

(Elliot recused himself from the disciplinary proceedings against Moruga due to his role as South Zone secretary, while Seepersad did the same for the case against Miracle Ministries.)

However, the Appeals Committee, which comprises Derek West (chair), Rudolph Hope and Forbes Persad, declared that the disciplinary body was “properly constituted” and further ruled “there was no new evidence presented to alter the facts of the case”.

There were caveats. The Appeals Committee recommended an amendment to Article 12, regarding the composition of the disciplinary body, so as “to avoid the ambiguity of its interpretation”.

And, in Moruga’s case, the Committee recommended that “for the purpose of efficiency and effectiveness of the registration process that schools that do not properly register players for a competition be debarred from playing any games until that has been satisfactorily addressed”.

It raises the question: how can schools be blocked from playing until registration issues are addressed, if the relevant SSFL committee does not spot the error in the first place?

And that leads back to Credentials Committee employee, Elliot.

Cupid said he was aghast when the Disciplinary Committee revealed that it “hired someone to investigate the registration breaches” in its case against the two schools.

“The same money they spent for Mr Ashford Lalchan to investigate the issue,” said the MMPHS coach, “if he has the expertise to get that information—why they didn’t spend that same money before the season to see that everything was good?!”

Cupid said he felt let down by SSFL officials who should have felt obligated to help schools with the registration of their players.

The coach alleged that the SSFL’s registration process has long been a weapon against schools outside of the status quo.

“Rather than help schools, they withhold information about registration issues as a trump card to help out their own schools or other schools,” said Cupid. “[…] Or it’s like: ‘okay, Carapichaima can’t catch Miracle Ministries, so let’s see if we can dig up something on them’.”

He said his players and staff were devastated by the ruling.

“I already had my schedule in place to prepare for the Big Five with a camp and thing,” said Cupid. “Some of my players said: ‘coach, I not going to look for no hustle for Christmas holidays—I coming to train’.

“To think you train and work so hard to excel, and then this…”

Cupid, a former Trinidad and Tobago international and W Connection right back, said SSFL officials often spoke about moral superiority over the controversial Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) hierarchy—but where was the proof?

“At least the TTFA did the honourable thing and came out and apologised (for a registration error that botched Guaya United’s TTPFL Tier 2 Playoff bid),” said Cupid. “I believe the SSFL should do the honourable thing. If somebody reaches out for assistance, you choose not to help them and then reprimand them for the same thing—well you haven’t done your job.”

Gonzales declined to comment on the performance of the SSFL’s committee members. He noted, though, that aggrieved schools have the right to raise any such issues before the general body.

Wired868 reached out to Elliot for comment.

Wired868: The Miracle Ministries school [representative] believe you should resign, be fired or at least apologise for the registration fiasco as a result of your position on the registration committee.

Do you have any comment or response to that? Or an explanation as to how the two schools were able to play the entire season without the errors being picked up?

Elliot: No.