Dear Editor: Arrogant, inept SSFL execs disrespected Signal Hill and spoiled the Intercol competition

“[…] The bigger problem here, is twofold. Firstly, Signal Hill Secondary is a former footballing powerhouse since the days of its Senior Comprehensive moniker, has decades under its belt of producing dazzling football, and, arguably, the most successful Trinbagonian player to have ever taken the field: Dwight Yorke.

“SSFL seems to have left their respect for the institution in the purported car trunks they were dealing out of before they got their Ato Boldon stadium offices.

“There is no reason given, or imagined, that can let us be comfortable with how long they are taking to pronounce judgement on the protest [of their National Intercol semifinal penalty shootout against St Benedict’s College]. It is, simply, the aforementioned arrogance at play here…”

The following Letter to the Editor on the perceived mismanagement of the 2024 SSFL Premier Division and Intercol competitions was submitted to Wired868 by Jonathan May of San Fernando:

So, the results are finally in. St Benedict’s College have been stripped of the SSFL Premier Division title, which they were never actually officially awarded (no trophy handover, no declaration by the SSFL that they were the winners), and escape relegation.

It has been confirmed that the registration of one player was not done in accordance with proper procedure and regulations, and it took a month and eventually a written legal opinion of an attorney to confirm what hundreds of football supporters were saying from the beginning of the scandal.

All well and good… Or is it?

The SSFL, through their shockingly arrogant display of robust incompetence, are apparently turning a blind eye to a few more things that are yet unresolved. They have not even given the stakeholders of the league the courtesy of a target date to give a response.

The first unresolved issue here, is the submitted, and acknowledged protest of Signal Hill Secondary on the goalkeeper’s movements during the penalty kicks shootout in the semifinal match of the National Intercol tournament.

Now, I used the words “submitted” and “acknowledged” deliberately eh—because this at least means Signal Hill followed through with the correct procedure, and didn’t instead choose to quarrel on Facebook. Which does exactly nothing.

The SSFL, by all appearances, seems to have taken the stance of all year one primary school children who fail miserably at the game of hide and seek: “if I cyah see he, then he cyah see me.”

Unfortunately, we do. We do see. We see the issue as unresolved. The blatant disrespect to Signal Hill Secondary for not giving any kind of response, whether for or against, must sting harder than knowing Watson Duke once held a position of authority there in Tobago, inclusive of the attempt at swimming.

Does Signal Hill have a chance of the protest being upheld? 50/50, in my book. It’s either yes or no, as the keeper movements did seem to flout certain playing regulations on paper.

A video review and opinion by a qualified adjudicator on the movements of the keeper can’t be unobtainable to a SSFL that was able to garner a lawyer’s opinion on registration and attendance of a secondary school student.

• St Benedict’s College goalkeeper Thane Devenish saves a penalty from Signal Hill Secondary forward Kyle James with an alleged illegal movement during a shootout at the National Intercol semifinal at the Ato Boldon Stadium on 29 November 2024.

The bigger problem here, is twofold.

Firstly, Signal Hill Secondary is a former footballing powerhouse since the days of its Senior Comprehensive moniker, has decades under its belt of producing dazzling football, and, arguably, the most successful Trinbagonian player to have ever taken the field: Dwight Yorke.

SSFL seems to have left their respect for the institution in the purported car trunks they were dealing out of before they got their Ato Boldon stadium offices.

There is no reason given, or imagined, that can let us be comfortable with how long they are taking to pronounce judgement on the protest. It is, simply, the aforementioned arrogance at play here.

We have no other league to follow for school football, and they damn well know it.

The second part of the twofold problem with the Signal Hill protest: because they have not dealt with the protest and proceeded to play the final of St Benedict’s vs Fatima College, St Benedict’s have been awarded the trophy.

Deservedly so—they played excellently and Fatima clearly missed young Caden Trestrail on the field.

St Benedict’s outplayed their rivals in that match, and Fatima had no answer on the day. But there is a Damocles-level sword hanging over that match; were St Benedict’s even supposed to be on the field that day?

I, for one, can’t say for sure that they were. They had to overcome a resurgent Signal Hill Secondary to get to the final, and a protest was filed before they met Fatima College.

Should there have been a replay of the semifinal? Should Signal Hill been given the nod ahead of St Benedict’s to meet Fatima? Should the SSFL have just done their duty and dealt with the protest to settle the matter once and for all?

Questions, questions, questions. And like the 2023 imbroglio with Moruga Secondary and Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School, the answer eh sure to arrive at all.

I’ll take a minute to gird the loins and measure my back for the relevant broadness needed to withstand the howling cries for public scourging about to come my way from the St Benedict’s mob for the next point.

That point being: now that the results are in, the entire Intercol campaign should be declared null and void for 2024, as the South Zone matches were misrepresented, or rather, the opponents in the qualifiers and semis were wrongly matched.

For the benefit of those supporters of St Benedict’s who can’t see past the red mist of rage for the prior words, here is why. The matches for Intercol in any zone, are determined by the placement of the teams when the league format is finished.

So, when the Premier race was over, and critically before the Garcia issue was decided upon, the placement for South Zone was St Benedict’s first, Presentation College second, and Naparima College, third. This means that their opponents in the Intercol were then named based on that ranking.

That ranking, however, should never have happened. The registration issue should have been dealt with way before Intercol kicked off. The points that were eventually stripped from St Benedict’s, should have been stripped weeks before, as a multitude of fans were clamouring for.

And don’t blame me for that, Gold and Green squad, because is a big time lawyer who write that in his legal opinion.

So the Premiership placings were, as confirmed by all in authority, decidedly wrong. And then it follows that the Intercol matchups for the South Zone, were decidedly wrong. Rules after all, to the chagrin of some alumni, have to be followed.

And because the qualifying matchups were wrong, in a knockout competition, then all we are left with is a what if situation.

Any football fan could tell you that in Intercol, the upsets are huge, and giant killing is a thing. We could have been looking at a Naps vs Pres South Zone final instead, especially since Naps stayed quiet about goalkeeper movement for their meeting in the penalty spot with St Benedict’s.

That’s a big hint there, in case you missed it.

I know this is going to invoke the ire of the La Romain stalwarts, and words are going to be typed in all caps, sneers are going to be sneered.

And somehow or the other they will ignore the relevant issues and pose this letter as some sort of wicked document that seeks to only belittle and denigrate a 17-year-old player who only wanted to do one thing, which was showcase his football talent and play the game. Par for the course, then.

I’d leave it up to the discerning ones to see what this letter is really about; the incompetence of the SSFL, and the dangers of staying quiet in the face of arrogance and ineptitude.

If we don’t hold the SSFL accountable for their mishandling of this season, then we will get exactly the same come September 2025.

There are other issues that surround this season that this letter writer won’t deal with…yet… such as exploitation of players at the cost of their education, backroom shenanigans that allow team managers to quietly dictate the pace of the authorities that they are meant to answer to, and the bizarre acceptance, even celebration, of all of that by the supporters.

I didn’t make that up. Their most vocal supporters can’t confirm that young Derrel Garcia or some of his teammates attend class. They are in school, one said, even if it is to take a small sweat.

This is even after the legal opinion was communicated that Garcia was not, in fact, a properly registered student of the school for the four games in question.

It’s really worrying that none of them are asking if this youth’s education is up to par for his age.

If the SSFL had only moved with any kind of efficiency, or even the most basic level of courtesy to all stakeholders, this letter would be unwritten. But it seems that although they physically moved to new offices a few years ago, their mentality remains lodged in the cardboard boxes of the famed car trunks.

But hey; once they could blame poor Keith Look Loy, I guess it all makes sense to them, right?

Right?

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