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Naparima College winger Jaydon Caprietta was not properly registered to represent his school for the 2025 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) season, Wired868 understands.
However, Naparima administrators uploaded Caprietta’s paperwork within the SSFL database on 10 September, with all the necessary information.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
How can both things be true?
That is, Wired868 was informed by multiple sources, because Naparima registered Caprietta as a Northgate Secondary player.
Northgate is based in St Augustine and competed in the East Zone Under-16 competition alone this season. More to the point, Northgate is located right after Naparima on the SSFL’s online dropdown menu from which administrators upload documents for players and staff.
The fact that Caprietta’s documentation—all speaking to his credentials as a Naparima player—were uploaded under Northgate, is likely to be seen then as a case of human error rather than cheating.
Not for the first time, the SSFL Credentials Committee, whose duties were overseen by assistant secretary operations Laurence Seepersad due to general secretary Azaad Khan’s poor health, could find itself just as complicit as the school in the hot spot.
When Naparima uploaded Caprietta’s 002 form under the wrong school, the SSFL administrative staff should have spotted the error and ordered the southern giants to reapply for the player.
Had that been done, Caprietta, a National Under-17 player earlier this year, would have missed only their outing with Trinity College East, which Naparima won 7-0 with a goal from the winger.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Instead, the SSFL presented Naparima with a player pass for Caprietta and he proceeded to represent the school for the entire season.
On the eve of Naparima’s final game of the 2025 Premier Division season, St Benedict’s College principal Gregory Quan Kep wrote a letter of inquiry to the Credential Committee, which stated:
“[…] Mr Jayden (sic) Caprietta’s name was not included on the SSFL 002 submitted by Naparima College via the TTSSFL online site on the 10th September 2025 and would have played vs Trinity East College (sic) on the 13th of September.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
“A search should be made to ensure that Mr Jayden (sic) Caprietta registration was submitted during the course of the season.”
Technically, Quan Kep was right. Naparima did not submit a 002 form for Caprietta to play for their school.
But Naparima believe they also have a strong case that they did register Caprietta with all the necessary paperwork—only that some of the documentation was uploaded under a different school.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Naparima finished the season in first place with 37 points and are awaiting their first league crown since the Covid-19 pandemic. St Benedict’s ended in second place with 36 points.
If Quan Kep’s inquiry finds favour with league officials, Naparima would not only be denied the title—but they would also be relegated.
Such a decision would hand St Benedict’s the crown, just a year after they were denied the title due to their use of Derrel “Zoom Zoom” Garcia while he was an inactive student.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Wired868.
A demotion for Naparima would also save the Premier Division status of St Augustine Secondary, who are due to be relegated as it stands—along with Carapichaima East Secondary and either Scarborough Secondary or San Juan North Secondary.
Were Naparima to be punished for Caprietta’s first outing against Trinity East, the resulting three-point deduction would see St Benedict’s crowned as the 2025 champion school.
Naparima officials, who spoke with Wired868 on condition of anonymity, are confident that they would not be penalised though.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Last season, several schools inadvertently uploaded player documentation under Arima North Secondary, which is the first school in the site’s dropdown menu.
Naparima expects that the league is obliged to also allow them such latitude. It is also unlikely to escape the relevant bodies for appeal that the SSFL ought to have alerted the school of the error and allowed them to fix it, rather than accredit Caprietta.
St Benedict’s had two other bones of contention with Naparima’s registration this year.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Quan Kep noted that their fellow southern school accepted midfielder Mikhael Bullock as a fifth form repeater, although he failed his Biology SBA. (Bullock is a former St Benedict’s student.)
And St Benedict’s also suggested that Naparima midfielder Jacob O’Reilly should not have been allowed to repeat form five under Ministry of Education regulations since he had a gap year, which he spent in Spain with the CF Intercity International Academy that also housed Benedict’s student-athletes like Garcia and Adam “Toka” Pierre.
Quan Kep noted that Naparima registered O’Reilly’s SEA date as 2021 when it was actually 2020.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
In both cases, though, Bullock and O’Reilly’s school status were approved by the Ministry of Education, while there was no material advantage to be gained this season by wilfully stating O’Reilly’s SEA date as 2021.
O’Reilly’s true SEA date means he cannot play in the SSFL in 2026, though, unless as a sixth form student. Certainly, the difference between an SEA date of 2020 and 2021 would be vital next year.
Thus far, neither SSFL president Merere Gonzales nor Seepersad have responded to questions from Wired868 about St Benedict’s inquiries.
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868,
Naparima, who downed Presentation College (San Fernando) 4-0 in the South Intercol final yesterday, face either St Augustine Secondary or Carapichaima East Secondary in the National Intercol semifinal on Friday.
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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.
