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St Augustine Secondary have paid the price for their failure to travel to Tobago to face Signal Hill Secondary in a rescheduled Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premier Division fixture on Monday 17 November, after the SSFL Disciplinary Committee ruled against them this morning.
The Disciplinary Committee, led by chairman Essiel Seecharan, declared that Signal Hill be awarded three points and as many goals—as is standard for forfeitures.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
The result pushes the Tobago school to 34 points. Signal Hill now trail leaders Naparima College by only goal difference and sets up an extraordinary finish to an otherwise frustrating season.
St Benedict’s College are just one point behind Naparima and Signal Hill, which creates a fascinating scenario.
Naparima host Signal Hill at Lewis Street, San Fernando from 3.30pm on Thursday and a draw would see “Naps” finish above the Tobago school. However, St Benedict’s are away to Trinity College East in Trincity and a win there could see them leapfrog Naparima and Signal Hill if the two play to a draw.
So, whoever wins the game at San Fernando will be the 2025 Premier Division champions. But a draw favours St Benedict’s reclaiming the crown that they first secured in 2022.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
For St Augustine, the Disciplinary Committee ruling means they will be relegated, while it ensures that Trinity College East and Malick Secondary both survive demotion.
At present, the “Green Machine”, with 12 points and -30 goal difference, are 13th from 16 teams with the bottom three set to drop into the zones. However, they are just one point ahead of San Juan North Secondary (11 points, -4 GD) and Scarborough Secondary (11 points, -18 GD).
San Juan North and Scarborough face each in their final outings and any result would see either one or both teams finish above St Augustine.
A draw in Shaw Park would be enough for the “San Juan Kings” to beat the drop while a win for Scarborough would almost certainly ensure that the Premier Division has an unprecedented three Tobago schools in 2026.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Speyside Secondary host Mucurapo West Secondary tomorrow and then the pointless Presentation College (Chaguanas) in their final Big Five outings and will achieve promotion with just one point from a possible six.
In keeping with the farce surrounding fixtures this season, there is no set date yet for San Juan North or Presentation (Chaguanas) to travel to Tobago—as the SSFL executive try desperately to schedule games around the ongoing Coca Cola Intercol tournament.
Much of the issues can be linked to the league’s financial shortcomings, as sponsors tightened their purse strings or pulled out entirely earlier this year.
Photo: Dirk Allahar/ bcreative designs/ Wired868.
League officials, headed by president Merere Gonzales, made it clear to participants that they could not guarantee the usual subsidy of between $8,000 and $10,000 to help Trinidad schools to travel to the “Sister Isle” this year.
But, in late September, St Augustine indicated that they—like a handful of schools before and after them—could not secure tickets to Tobago for their game against Signal Hill.
The SSFL allowed the match to be rescheduled. However, when St Augustine still could not afford to cross the seabridge seven weeks later, on Monday 17 November, the league ran out of patience.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
St Augustine have 72 hours to appeal, which comes at a cost of $1,000 that is only refundable if they win. But, as it stands, their fate is sealed.
Signal Hill, who have won their last four straight matches, are not bothered either way—and have made it clear that they would prefer to face St Augustine on the field. But that seems very unlikely now.
On Thursday, they will play their most important game in over a decade.
Photo: Nicholas Williams/ Wired868.
At present, coach Downie Marcelle’s troops are three points away from being the first secondary school to win the SSFL Premier Division.
Naparima will ensure that accolade does not come easily.
SSFL fixtures
(Thu 27 Nov)
Naparima College v Signal Hill Secondary, 3.30pm, Lewis Street;
Malick Secondary v Fatima College, 3.30pm, TBA;
Trinity East v St Benedict’s College, 3.30pm, Trincity;
Trinity College v Presentation (San F’do), 3.30pm, Moka.
(To Be Determined)
Scarborough Secondary v San Juan North, 3.30pm, Shaw Park.
2025 Premier Division
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Naparima | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 40 | 7 | 33 | 34 |
| 2 |  Signal Hill | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 47 | 15 | 32 | 34 |
| 3 |  St Benedict's | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 40 | 13 | 27 | 33 |
| 4 |  Presentation | 14 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 37 | 9 | 28 | 31 |
| 5 |  Fatima | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 45 | 23 | 22 | 29 |
| 6 |  St Anthony's | 15 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 30 | 25 | 5 | 25 |
| 7 |  Trinity Moka | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 29 | 32 | -3 | 23 |
| 8 |  Arima North | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 34 | 27 | 7 | 22 |
| 9 |  QRC | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 19 |
| 10 |  St Mary's | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 31 | 23 | 8 | 18 |
| 11 |  Trinity East | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 21 | 50 | -29 | 13 |
| 12 |  Malick | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 29 | 40 | -11 | 12 |
| 13 |  St Augustine | 15 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 16 | 46 | -30 | 12 |
| 14 |  San Juan | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 26 | -4 | 11 |
| 15 |  Scarborough Sec | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 36 | -18 | 11 |
| 16 |  Carapichaima | 15 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 72 | -65 | 0 |
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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.
After all the postponements and rescheduled games this season, it is indeed ironic that a school is relegated through a forfeited game. A decision of the disciplinary committee. The justification for this decision is one that should be disclosed. What is in the public domain is that the SSFL lost sponsorship and it affected the league’s ability to provide assistance to schools for inter island travel with schools being asked to take responsibility for such travel.
If therefore as is stated in this article that St Augustine previously indicated their inability to travel owing to financial constraints and again indicated their inability due to financial constraints especially with their status dependent on the result of this a game, what could possibly be a justification when a win would guarantee safety, a draw would give hope and be dependent on other results. Realistically, foreiting would not have been an option.
Let’s think about the players who have not been given an opportunity to at least fight for survival on the playing field. A choice taken away from them and over which they had absolutely no control.
What would SSFL be without a controversy each year? It continues in one form or another.