Three SSFL finals still undecided, three exec posts could be contested—plus another constitutional tangle

The Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) completed its first general council meeting of 2026 yesterday, with still no date set for three outstanding schools finals or a pivotal Premier Division contest between Signal Hill Secondary and St Augustine Secondary.

At present, Wired868 understands that St Augustine are trying to book flights to Tobago for the final Premier Division match of the season. The “Green Machine” need at least a draw to retain their place in the SSFL’s top flight for the 2026 season.

Should St Augustine get a result in Tobago, Malick Secondary will be relegated. However, a Signal Hill win would mean demotion for the Green Machine.

Incidentally, Malick already signalled their intention to lobby to stay in the top flight—regardless of the standings—if St Augustine survive, on the grounds that their players thought they were safe when the result was initially awarded to Signal Hill for the Green Machine’s alleged forfeiture.

Malick, who stated their case before the general council, also blamed the supposed current mental anguish of their players on the incompetence of the SSFL’s executive committee.

It is now roughly five months since the initially scheduled end date for the 2025 SSFL Premier Division, yet it is still unclear which three teams would be relegated—although Carapichaima East Secondary and Scarborough Secondary completed their fixtures and appear to have accepted their fate.

Outside of the incomplete Premier Division match schedule, the Boys National Under-14 and Under-16 finals, both involving Naparima College and Signal Hill, remain up in the air, along with the Girls Big Five final between Pleasantville Secondary and Signal Hill.

A Naparima official told Wired868 that his team stopped training in January, as it was too expensive to continue paying coaches with no idea when the final would kick off, while players from both schools are also now involved with teams in the TTFA’s National Youth League.

In a bid to address the overlap between the schools and club competitions, though no fault of either teams, St Augustine coach Tacuma Jones moved a motion to waive the threat of penalty over students who are now with their clubs.

Article 16 states: “a player shall not play in another Trinidad and Tobago Football Association affiliated league after one’s first game in the Secondary Schools Football League. Failure to abide by the rule will result in the loss of points for each game the player takes the field.”

Scarborough Secondary were controversially penalised, using this clause, for fielding midfielder Johan Elliot in their final game of the season—a rescheduled contest with Signal Hill that they won on the field, but lost in the protest room.

Jones asked the general council to waive that clause, since the league is now outside of the recognised SSFL season and it would be deemed unfair for players to miss an unspecified number of club games while waiting on the SSFL Fixtures Committee to confirm match dates.

However, a TTFA official with a good grasp of the SSFL Constitution suggested that schools had not adequately sidestepped the problem.

Since the rule regarding players’ registration is embedded in the Constitution, the official explained, it can only be changed via a constitutional amendment in an AGM or EGM—not by a simple vote of the council.

“The council must abide by the Constitution,” stated the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You cannot come in a council meeting and change something in the Constitution—impossible!”

It was a possible constitutional faux pas that was not picked up by the SSFL assistant secretary – administration Laurence Seepersad, who chaired the meeting in the absence of schools’ football president Merere Gonzales.

Ironically, the official explained, the SSFL is the only local football body that did not update its constitution last year, as mandated by Fifa. Gonzales, as football president, never effectively oversaw that operation, which could have smoothened out several issues, including player registration, rescheduled fixtures, inter-island travel stipends and student-athlete rules.

Seepersad’s own presumed ignorance of the Constitution, yesterday, is far from an isolated incident.

Scarborough and SSFL second vice-president Syandene Blackman-Walsh fingered Seepersad for misleading them on a constitutional point, which led to the school’s demotion last season.

An issue involving Blackman-Walsh, incidentally, also came up at the general council meeting yesterday.

The Signal Hill teacher resigned her post as second vice-president on 30 January 2026, so as to remove “an unavoidable conflict of interest between the role of second vice-president of the SSFL and my continued service as Tobago Zone secretary”.

A few weeks later, Blackman-Walsh asked the SSFL executive to rescind her resignation. Seepersad told the general council yesterday that the executive was prepared to retain her as second vice-president.

However, a member countered that the matter of whether Blackman-Walsh’s post should be deemed vacant ought to be heard at the AGM.

So, the SSFL’s membership would determine whether an executive member can basically have an about-turn on a formal resignation, without facing the polls.

As it stands, the SSFL is already due one by-election, with Seepersad eyeing the position of general secretary, which became vacant at the death of Azaad Khan. If Seepersad is elected, his current position would become vacant—triggering a second by-election.

The SSFL intends to hold its annual prizegiving ceremony on 18 April. They hope to at least know the identity of all of their 2025 champion schools by then.

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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.