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St Augustine Secondary have become the first team of the 2025 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premier Division season to incur a points deduction, after allegedly using an illegitimate player for their 1-1 draw against St Mary’s College on Wednesday 1 October.
On Saturday night, the SSFL office administrator issued a notice to Premier Division schools which stated: “see attached updated Premiership standings and results”—and that was it.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
The standings reflected a points deduction for the “Green Machine”, with their draw against St Mary’s College now converted to a 3-0 win for the “Saints”. But you would probably need an inkling of St Mary’s protest against St Augustine to figure that out.
Earlier this month, St Mary’s College officially queried St Augustine’s use of defender Diallo Paul in their Premier Division contest. There was some doubt as to whether Paul, a former Valencia Secondary student, was a St Augustine student at the time of the match.
Wired868 was told, by an anonymous source, that Laurence Seepersad, the SSFL assistant secretary-administration, verbally informed St Mary’s College that their protest was successful.
Allegedly, St Augustine head coach and maths teacher Tacuma Jones accepted that Paul had not been registered 72 hours before their game.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
However, that was not the extent of St Mary’s protest. The Saints wanted to know whether Paul was a St Augustine student at all when the two teams met.
The end result would have been the same either way for the Saints: an additional two points with three goals to boot. They did not press the issue further.
However, the difference in sanction is, potentially, much more severe for the Green Machine if Diallo was not a student at the time of his registration.
Article 16.1 of the SSFL Constitution states: “Students must be duly registered, according to the existing rules and regulations of the Ministry of Education and on the official roll of the school presenting the team. These students must attend classes at that school during normal school hours.”
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
The penalty for infringement of this rule is: “Suspension of the school from further competition in the division for the remainder of the season.”
SSFL president Merere Gonzales directed queries on the matter to Seepersad and Disciplinary Committee chair Essiel Seecharan, who ought to have been involved with the judgment.
Seecharan told Wired868 that it was “the school’s responsibility to share the information to the respective parties involved”—even though the decision affected all 16 schools and their supporters.
Photo: Ramsey Prentice/ Wired868.
He confirmed that a ruling was made on Thursday. But he did not provide any further details.
Wired868 asked Jones if he would: “give any clarification over your use of Diallo Paul and any other illegitimate players?”
He responded: “no comment on the issue”.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
St Augustine’s latest point deduction is the third time that Jones’ team were caught using an illegitimate player in 13 months.
During the 2024 season, the Green Machine were deducted seven points for the improper use of two players, Shumba Cudjoe and full back Aaden Maharaj, across five matches.
In Cudjoe’s case, he was registered to represent St Augustine while he was still a Bon Air Secondary player, while Maharaj was used in a Premier Division match while suspended.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
The former case might have provoked a suspension for St Augustine. However, the SSFL Disciplinary Committee opted for a points deduction.
In 2025, SSFL officials again appeared to choose the lesser of the two potential charges.
Prior to their draw with St Mary’s, St Augustine Secondary edged Carapichaima East Secondary 2-1 at their Warren Street headquarters. It is uncertain, given the scarcity of information, whether SSFL officials verified that St Augustine had not used improper players against “Caps” too.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
The points deduction saw St Augustine slip one place in the standings, from 10th to 11th place, while St Mary’s are unchanged in fifth spot—albeit now two points closer to leaders Fatima College.
St Augustine host St Benedict’s College on Wednesday while St Mary’s College are away to St Anthony’s College.
Fatima, the defending champions, lead the Premier Division standings at present, although Naparima College are one point behind and have a game in hand.
Photo: Dirk Allahar/ bCreative/ Wired868.
Upcoming SSFL Premier Division fixtures
(Wed 15 October)
Naparima College v Fatima College, 3.30pm, Lewis Street;
St Anthony’s College v St Mary’s College, 3.30pm, Westmoorings;
Scarborough Secondary v Presentation (San F’do), 3.30pm, Scarborough ground;
Carapichaima East v San Juan North, 3.30pm, Carapichaima East;
St Augustine Secondary v St Benedict’s College, 3.30pm, Warren Street;
QRC v Trinity College, 3.30pm, QRC ground.
2025 Premier Division
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Fatima | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 22 |
| 2 |  Naparima | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 1 | 27 | 21 |
| 3 |  Presentation | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 18 |
| 4 |  QRC | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 16 |
| 5 |  St Mary's | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 28 | 15 | 13 | 15 |
| 6 |  St Benedict's | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 15 |
| 7 |  St Anthony's | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 10 |
| 8 |  Arima North | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 10 |
| 9 |  Signal Hill | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 |  Malick | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 19 | -1 | 8 |
| 11 |  St Augustine | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 24 | -16 | 8 |
| 12 |  Trinity Moka | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 21 | -10 | 6 |
| 13 |  Trinity East | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 30 | -19 | 6 |
| 14 |  San Juan | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 16 | -4 | 5 |
| 15 |  Scarborough Sec | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 26 | -17 | 5 |
| 16 |  Carapichaima | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 31 | -25 | 0 |
Editor’s Note: Wired868 managing director Lasana Liburd is also manager of the Arima North Secondary football programme.
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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.
Well, I wrote about the slackness in SSFL prior to the league’s 2026 kick off in a Trinidad Guardian article entitled “SSFL 2026: Matters Arising” and called for a tighter operation, evidently to no effect. Here is a relevant excerpt:
“…some Principals leave football matters to unsupervised coaches and managers. For this reason, problems persist with “over age” players being used in lower divisions, students being absent from school during the day but donning match uniforms in the afternoon, and students passing through school like the proverbial “dose of salts” with little to show at the end of their years there.
SSFL operates its massive competition with ONE full time employee and relies on voluntary, part time personnel. The league needs to fortify its registration, oversight and disciplinary mechanisms to ensure that we are spared another shameful episode in 2025. Surely, the country’s biggest league could find sponsorship dollars to finance a full time and competent registration and competitions staff.” (11/09/2025).
But, you see, the only way someone could persistently engage in this type of rogue behaviour is if the supervising authority – SSFL – allows it.
This Wired article states,
“St Augustine’s latest point deduction is the third time that Jones’ team were caught using an illegitimate player in 13 months.”
So the school loses some points season after season but the PERPETRATOR of this egregious behaviour escapes unpunished to engage in it again and again. The SSFL executive should resign. This coach should be banned. And the Principal should be investigated for lack of fiduciary responsibility, if not integrity.