T&T U-17 and ‘Pres’ coach Shawn Cooper banned from coaching minors; Corneal: This is unheard of!

Trinidad and Tobago Safeguarding manager Gary St Rose has banned Men’s National Under-17 team head coach Shawn Cooper from coaching minors in an unprecedented move within the national setup.

On Saturday 15 March, St Rose issued a release on a TTFA letterhead that took aim at the veteran coach, who is also an accomplished Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) coach with Presentation College (San Fernando).

“The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) writes to advise, that in accordance with Section III Article 29 of the TTFA Safeguarding Policy and Framework v3.0, age group restrictions have been placed on the Safeguarding License of Mr Shawn Cooper,” stated the Safeguarding memo.

“With immediate effect and in accordance with Section III, Article 29 Mr Shawn Cooper is prohibited from coaching youth players (18 years and under), until further notice.”

Section III, Article 29 states: ‘Where a person and or organisation is being investigated for abuse, a breach of the Safeguarding policy, or for a criminal offence, the TTFA shall impose conditions on that persons or organisations license to work with children, youth players and vulnerable groups.

‘These restrictions would include but not be limited to the following: supervision requirements; reporting requirements; age group restrictions; restrictions to specific groups; provisional suspension.’

In roughly four years since the TTFA introduced a safeguarding arm, there have been barely a half dozen suspensions. Last year, the NLCL joined that dishonourable list.

Cooper is, by some distance, the most high-profile football official to run afoul of the St Rose-led Safeguarding unit.

In a departure from the previous suspensions, which were for specific periods (the NLCL competition was suspended from all football activities for 90 days), Cooper’s own restrictions have no end date.

It means that, at the moment, Cooper cannot function in his current post as Presentation College head coach—where he leads the Premier Division side (under-20 team) but also has supervisory powers over another four of the school’s teams—from under-13 to Senior Division (under-20).

St Rose told Wired868 that he was unable to speak about the TTFA’s decision due to legal implications. However, he explained why the penalty is open-ended.

“Because it is not a suspension, it is an age group restriction,” said St Rose. “It is a restriction on the license and not a suspension from football.”

Wired868 understands that the TTFA decision might be at least partially based on a post-tournament survey conducted with players of the Men’s National Under-17 Team, which came within one result of the Qatar 2025 Fifa Under-17 World Cup.

The young Soca Warriors could have advanced to the World Cup with a win over Costa Rica on Sunday 16 February, but instead lost 2-0 at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela.

Players were subsequently polled by the TTFA Safeguarding United on matters such as the level of satisfaction with the environment created by the coaching staff, as well as their physical and mental health during the competition.

The survey was not limited to players who travelled to Costa Rica but also included boys who were not selected.

It is uncertain whether the answers were ever discussed with Cooper or whether the head coach was interviewed as part of the process.

TTFA technical director Anton Corneal revealed that not only was he not involved in the decision to ban Cooper from coaching minors—but he was not even informed by his employers.

“I am surprised by the decision,” Corneal told Wired868. “[…] I was not contacted directly [by the TTFA].”

The TTFA technical and development committee, according to one member who spoke on condition of anonymity, was also not informed of the investigation into Cooper or the decision to restrict the license of a national youth coach.

But then the technical and development committee—which is headed by TTFA president Kieron Edwards and includes Jefferson George, Brent Rahim, Steve David, and Ian Pritchard—is unlikely to be informed of much since it has not met in roughly four months.

Wired868 was informed that the crucial standing committee has allegedly not met since November 2024. In the months following the body’s last meeting, Trinidad and Tobago played in the Jewels of the Caribbean Under-20 tournament and three age group tournaments: the Concacaf Women’s Under-17 and Under-20 and Men’s Under-17 qualifying competitions.

A functioning technical committee would typically meet before and after each competition to discuss the preparation of the respective teams and review their performances thereafter.

Wired868 was told that, instead, the national football teams have basically operated with input from only Edwards, who is not a coach of any standing, and Corneal.

Edwards did not respond to questions from Wired868 up until the time of publication. Cooper also declined comment.

Corneal vowed to look into Cooper’s ban.

“How can a decision like this be made without the input of the technical director?” asked Corneal. “[…] This is unheard of!”

Trinidad and Tobago are due to participate in the Concacaf Boys’ Under-15 Championship this August, while the TTFA must prepare a team to take part in next year’s Fifa Under-17 World Cup qualifiers.

Corneal said the National Under-15 Team falls under the TTFA High Performance programme and, as such, is likely to be headed by Densill Theobald, Yohance Marshall and Fifa talent coach Kevin McGrestin.

At present, Theobald is also head coach at Defence Force.

Corneal suggested the TTFA will conduct a zonal league competition at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva to screen players for the National Under-15 team. This became necessary as there is no Under-15 division in the 2025 Republic Bank National Youth Football League (RBNYFL), and efforts to incorporate a truncated competition under that umbrella failed.

So, instead, Corneal said the local football body intends to activate zonal under-15 outfits, led by suitably qualified coaches, who will select teams to compete with each other over five weekends.

In the case of Tobago, that island will likely be split into two zones to play each other, with national coaches expected to fly over to watch the games.

From those zonal exhibition matches, the players who stand out to the national coaches will be invited to join a shortlist.

In the case of next year’s National Under-17 squad, Corneal said there will be open screening for under-16 players this year. Several players who trained with Cooper’s National Under-17 team, including wingers Jaydon Caprietta and Jasai Theophilus and goalkeeper Levi Williams, remain eligible to represent Trinidad and Tobago in that age group.

Corneal said Cooper “would have been a possibility” to coach that squad. However, at present, the Safeguarding ruling makes that impossible.

Cooper has coached at international level for two decades—both with the men’s youth teams and Women’s Senior team—while he has Premier Division and National and South Intercol titles to his name.

Corneal, although unsure about the charges levelled against the coach, suggested that the Safeguarding ruling was a slap in the face for his service.

“Does he deserve this?” Corneal asked. “These are coaches that gave their livelihood to our game.”

Last month, the provisional suspension against the NLCL competition expired without directors Brian Jordan and his wife Germaine Jordan ever facing a TTFA panel to address the allegations.

The Jordans are free to operate a youth tournament again, although they have refused to do so without a meeting with “the TTFA President and/or Executive”.

“The tournament committee feels highly frustrated, harassed and disrespected,” stated Jordan (B), after their Safeguarding suspension.

Cooper is facing the fire now.

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Lasana Liburd

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.