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Offline Flex

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Elite League Thread
« on: May 21, 2019, 12:29:24 AM »
T-League pre-season set for July.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


A new new Foot­ball League pre-sea­son is set to kick off Ju­ly 12 and will cater for all the teams in the T-League which com­pris­es 24 teams.

Yes­ter­day Guardian Me­dia Sports was re­li­ably in­formed the pre-sea­son tour­ney will be spon­sored by a for­eign com­pa­ny which sup­plies sports cloth­ing, gear and oth­er equip­ment.

The in­vestors are ex­pect­ed to pump a sub­stan­tial amount of mon­ey to­wards the com­pe­ti­tion, Guardian Me­dia Sports was told that the league sys­tem will be played in a round-robin for­mat in the dif­fer­ent tiers.

The 10 teams from the Tier 1- W Con­nec­tion, the 2018 League win­ners, North East Stars, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, Po­lice, Cen­tral FC, Point Fortin Civic, Club San­do, De­fence Force, Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed and San Juan Jabloteh are all sched­uled to be­gin bat­tle in the each-team-plays-each team com­pe­ti­tion, for a win­ning prize of $250, 000, and much need­ed prac­tice ahead of the com­ing sea­son which be­gins in Sep­tem­ber.

The sec­ond placed team in tier 1 will take home a hand­some $150, 000 while the third place team will walk away with $75, 000. How­ev­er, league or­gan­is­ers are still try­ing to arrange a prize struc­ture for tier 2 of the League, that will fea­ture ac­tion among 14 teams- FC San­ta Rosa, Queen's Park FC, Pris­ons FC, Cunu­pia FC, Guaya Unit­ed, Po­lice FC, Matu­ra Re-Unit­ed, the Uni­ver­si­ty of T&T (UTT), RSSR Foot­ball Acad­e­my, San Fer­nan­do Gi­ants, Pe­tit Val­ley/Diego Mar­tin Unit­ed, Bethel Unit­ed, Club San­do and Erin FC.

The of­fi­cial launch of the league is set to take place on a date to be an­nounced next week, but one or­gan­is­er who spoke on con­di­tions of anonymi­ty said the league is await­ing writ­ten ap­proval from the par­ent T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion which is be­ing head­ed by David John-Williams.

"We have re­ceived ver­bal ap­proval, but we are await­ing ap­proval in writ­ing be­fore the fix­tures can be drawn up. The tour­na­ment is be­ing held specif­i­cal­ly for the pur­pose of prepar­ing teams for the com­ing sea­son so it will be com­plet­ed in time in Sep­tem­ber," ex­plained the of­fi­cial who is closed to the lat­est de­vel­op­ments.

Mean­while, an of­fi­cial re­lease from the sev­en-man Com­mis­sion formed to guide the new T-League has con­firmed the teams for 2019 sea­son. Guardian Me­dia Sports was re­li­ably in­formed that a third-tier com­pe­ti­tion is be­ing lob­bied for by the T&T Su­per League clubs that did not play in the 2018 sea­son af­ter they were deemed non-com­pli­ant or could not pay the re­quired reg­is­tra­tion fee.

It un­der­stood the clubs are re­luc­tant to re­turn to Re­gion­al As­so­ci­a­tion foot­ball (North­ern FA, Souther FA, East­ern Coun­ties Foot­ball Union, Cen­tral FA, East­ern FA and the To­ba­go Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion.

« Last Edit: November 08, 2022, 07:26:38 PM by Tallman »
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Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2019, 12:43:55 AM »
what a commesse

Offline Sam

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2019, 05:17:34 AM »
Toetie league sounding good.

Faster than a speeding pittbull
Stronger than a shot of ba-bash
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Offline dtool

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Watch this guy
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2019, 01:39:02 PM »

Joe Gyau
Son of Phillip and grandson of Nana call up for USA
Striker
Wish him all the best
Phillip have to get some player for Howard U


Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2019, 05:05:50 PM »
New T-League to start in Late August.
TTFA Media.


A total of 24 teams have been confirmed to participate in the T-League, which is a merger of the Pro League and the TT Super League.The T-League, which brings all clubs under one umbrella, is expected to kick-off in late August to early September and will come as a relief to many locally-based footballers who have been out of match-form since both leagues ended in December last year.

“The people who have been entrusted have been working overtime. The chairman of the commission, Mr Lindsay Gillette, really pushed that this come to fruition. There is a lot of infighting in football but this is something which all the clubs agreed with – which is something ain’t happen in a long while. The same characters that you hear (disagreeing) – the Keith Look Loys, the David John Williams – everybody worked together, and it shows that within all that’s happening people want to see the betterment of the sport,” said Brent Sancho who worked with the Commission of the new League.

The top tier (T1) will feature the ten Pro League clubs – W Connection, Terminix La Horquetta Rangers, Police, North East Stars, Central FC, Point Fortin Civic, Club Sando, Defence Force, Morvant Caledonia United and San Juan Jabloteh.Tier two (T2) will involve 14 clubs from the Super League – FC Santa Rosa, Queen’s Park, Prisons FC, Cunupia FC, Guaya United, Police, Matura Reunited, UTT, RSSR, San Fernando Giants, Petit Valley/Diego Martin United, Bethel United, Club Sando and Erin FC.In 2019 and 2020, one team will be promoted from Tier 2 to Tier 1, which will result in a 12-team T1 by 2021. “Meantime, normal promotion and relegation between T2 and the rest of local club football will continue in 2019,” the media release noted.

According to a tripartite memorandum of agreement (for the period of three years), between the TTFA (TT Football Association), Pro League and TT Super League, the T-League will have a league commission comprising no more than seven members – two apiece from the Pro League and Super League, two independent representatives and a TTFA representative.The competition will be organised and managed by the TTFA in conjunction with the league commission, while the TTFA will provide funding for the competition for the duration of the memorandum of agreement in an amount agreed upon and approved by the TTFA.The Pro League clubs have agreed to pledge their Government subvention monies towards the budget for the next three seasons.

Chairman of the Commission Lindsay Gillette spoke more on the new League at a press conference on Tuesday. See videos below for his statements

TTFA Press Conference - The T-League - New League Commission

Part 2 of T-League Commission Press Conference hosted by TTFA

Gillette praises TTFA Home of Football hotel - "It's Incredible"

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2019, 06:36:39 PM »
Brent, Keith is not the problem. DJW is!

Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2019, 03:08:56 PM »
Football's new proposal on the sporting horizon.
By Alvin Corneal (Guardian).


There is al­ways a cer­tain amount of is­sues when it comes to sport in the re­gion and some­times across the world.

For in­stance, some months ago, when the cur­rent Pres­i­dent of Fi­fa was of­fer­ing his opin­ions to make some sig­nif­i­cant and at­trac­tive de­ci­sions which are like­ly to var­i­ous dif­fer­ent ap­proach­es to foot­ball in cer­tain coun­tries, es­pe­cial­ly the ones with nu­mer­ous votes in FI­FA elec­tions.

I dis­tinct­ly re­call when the news came out like a breath of fresh air when the FI­FA pres­i­dent an­nounced that the num­ber of 48 coun­tries will be able to bat­tle for places in the world cup fi­nals in Qatar.

I was ab­solute­ly shocked over that de­ci­sion be­cause that ad­just­ment has been dis­cussed among the ex­perts of FI­FA com­mit­tees of the past. There was nev­er any sup­port for such a de­ci­sion. How­ev­er, it would ap­pear that Mr Infantino de­cid­ed to go that route and rushed to the less­er de­vel­oped coun­tries for sup­port. There was a lot of joy for the Pres­i­dent that the Caribbean will sup­port him ful­ly, of course with the re­gion get­ting an­oth­er space or two to en­ter the fi­nals.

Well, sud­den­ly, the FI­FA has re­cent­ly an­nounced that this pro­pos­al will not hold and the cus­tom­ary 36 teams tour­na­ment will re­main. The Caribbean may be dis­ap­point­ed see­ing that there is a cer­tain de­gree of close­ness among the Caribbean lead­ers and the FI­FA pres­i­dent. He will have to try an­oth­er project in which to hold the votes for the No­vem­ber elec­tion.

How­ev­er, near­er to home, the mys­tery of our foot­ball com­plex­i­ties has sud­den­ly been en­thused over the fact that a com­mis­sion which was ap­point­ed by heav­en knows who, have just an­nounced that the T 1 and T2- leagues will start in the months of Au­gust or Sep­tem­ber.

I am at a loss to find out those who have cho­sen a com­mis­sion con­sist­ing five per­sons to make some new plans for the game in T&T, by get­ting a fi­nan­cial­ly strong own­er who will be an­nounc­ing the prize monies on­ly the two leagues just men­tioned.

My un­der­stand­ing is that the choice of per­son­nel was made by mem­bers of the board, many of which had failed mis­er­ably to or­gan­ise their pre­vi­ous com­pe­ti­tions, and lit­er­al­ly showed that they had to ap­proach the gov­ern­ment to as­sist with their salaries pay­ment.

In the first place, I have not seen or heard that the TTFA had de­cid­ed to change the struc­ture of our foot­ball with­out re­turn­ing to the con­sti­tu­tion and call some lev­el of ref­er­en­dum to in­vite the clubs in the North, East, cen­tral, To­ba­go and South whose play­ers clien­tele con­sist of more clubs that T1 and T2 leagues col­lec­tive­ly.

Then a few ques­tions? Has this been a de­ci­sion of the TTFA? When was it done and why have the zon­al di­vi­sions not been en­ti­tled to par­tic­i­pate in the process? Sec­ond­ly, for an­oth­er time, I am ask­ing a ques­tion as to how the teams that have been se­lect­ed earned the right to be cho­sen as the top clubs in the coun­try for the two Tiers rec­om­mend­ed?

Is it be­cause they can af­ford to pay the hefty reg­is­tra­tion Fee.?

Be­cause they have cer­tain­ly not shown to our foot­ball lov­ing so­ci­ety that their qual­i­ty of play is any­thing that is worth­while.

Maybe, they have for­got­ten that many of these teams have been tardy with re­gards their fi­nan­cial com­mit­ment to their play­ers from time to time, and had to rush to the min­istry of Sport for a hand­out. Maybe, the gov­ern­ment does not re­alise that these team own­ers are en­tre­pre­neurs and fran­chise hold­ers, whose fund­ing was in­vest­ed with the in­ten­tion to make a prof­it through gate re­ceipts and prize monies.

The his­to­ry to that sit­u­a­tion is well known and the num­ber of times we have heard of teams not be­ing able to re­ceive their prize mon­ey, or even some of those who qual­i­fied for the CON­CA­CAF cham­pi­ons league, strug­gled to even at­tend the away fix­tures.

Just in case those in­vestors don't know, they are de­stroy­ing the op­por­tu­ni­ties of vil­lagers in var­i­ous com­mu­ni­ties who may well pos­sess the true nat­ur­al tal­ent of the game. His­to­ry has shown that fact.

Large crowds have al­so shown that the gate re­ceipts of match­es played in the com­mu­ni­ties over the years have had thou­sands of peo­ple who will pay and trav­el to towns and vil­lages to sup­port their teams. The peo­ple of this coun­try still moan the ab­sence of qual­i­ty foot­ball which they have seen over the past forty years. What they are view­ing ap­par­ent­ly does not war­rant the cost of the en­trance tick­ets. In­ci­den­tal­ly, what are the con­di­tions which will fi­nan­cial­ly qual­i­fy to play in these “mys­tery” leagues?

I am hear­ing about FI­FA and UE­FA in­ter­fer­ence or maybe some will call it as­sis­tance. I have my doubts since FI­FA has al­ways preached that Na­tion­al as­so­ci­a­tions must han­dle their ad­min­is­tra­tive af­fairs com­pe­tent­ly, not by all the quag­mire of cross-talk among the ex­ec­u­tives as they use the me­dia to ex­press their views.

Then, what will the zon­al sys­tem gain from the new look ex­er­cise and who will the man­age­ment? On the looks of it, The TTFA seem to ig­nore the Zones, sim­i­lar to what they prac­tised in re­cent times.

How­ev­er, if the zones al­low that type of ne­glect by the rul­ing body, then there will con­tin­ue to be the huge de­te­ri­o­ra­tion of Foot­ball in our coun­try. God Bless us all.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline maxg

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2019, 12:35:22 AM »
 :applause: :applause:

Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2019, 11:12:27 AM »
TTFA boss: US$1.3M will go towards T-League.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).


A SUM of US$1.3 million will go towards the running of the inaugural T-League, which is set to kick off in either August or September 2019.

This disclosure was made by TTFA (TT Football Association) president David John-Williams, during an online interview at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva on Wednesday.

John-Williams used the interview to refute claims that the TTFA has been using all its resources towards the Home of Football project, which is situated next to the Ato Boldon Stadium.

According to John-Williams, “FIFA gives money for specific projects that cannot be used for anything else. The funding for the hotel has been provided by FIFA and cannot be used for anything else. FIFA has what is called a FIFA forward programme 2.0 and (TTFA) is beneficial to the sum of US$1 million a year, broken up into two categories – US$500,000 a year for its operations and the (rest) based on KPI.

“You must achieve 10 KPIs to receive that money, and that is based men’s (and) women’s national teams, boys (and) girls leagues, a referees programme etcetra,” John-Williams continued. “What you are guaranteed by FIFA is (money) for operations. Under the programme, you are US$2 million over two years for special projects.

“The TTFA board decided that the outfitting of the hotel will be assigned just around US$700,000 and the other US$1.3 million will go into the new league, in terms of developing club football.”

The T-League was launched last fortnight, but this is the first time that an official figure was announced, regarding how much money was invested into the competition.

John-Williams repeated his recent pronouncements about the financial struggles facing the TTFA.

“It’s well known that the TTFA is in heavy debt and we have to balance the books,” he said. “We cannot continue going into more debts and depend on somebody to bail it out. Those debts have come about as a result of having a football programme going but not addressing those (outstanding) payments. As a result, something has to suffer.

“This current administration has taken a harsh decision to reduce its expenditure and tailor our cloth. While we are developing the infrastructure of the TTFA, the Home of Football and the income-generation project, programmes will suffer. When these projects come on stream, I think it will serve the TTFA in good stead to finance their programmes.”

The TTFA will be focusing a lot of its attention on the elite Under-13 programme. And John-Williams hailed the support of the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) towards the programme.

John-Williams said, “There is renewed interest in T&T football. We look forward to the Home of Football opening and the income generation project because it will add some stability into our finances. We are working feverishly to try to eradicate the debt that the Association is in.

“We have a responsibility to bring expenditure in line with the revenue that we receive. We feel the Association will be in a better place in two to three years.”

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2019, 12:47:19 AM »
Note: T-League, which, be­cause of the in­volve­ment of UE­FA and FI­FA, will re­place the T&T Pro League as the coun­try’s tier 1 com­pe­ti­tion.

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Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2019, 12:37:54 AM »
T-League will happen — Sancho.
By Walter Alibey (Newsday).


Brent San­cho, a mem­ber of a com­mis­sion formed to im­ple­ment the UE­FA/FI­FA-pro­posed foot­ball leagues in T&T, says the T-League will hap­pen.

San­cho's com­ment came amidst fears there will be no foot­ball this year due to the on­go­ing woes faced by the com­mis­sion in get­ting the league go­ing. How­ev­er, San­cho yes­ter­day said all will be done to en­sure the T-League, which will com­prise a Tier 1 for T&T Pro League clubs and a Tier 2 for T&T Su­per League teams, will take place this year, even if it means the tour­na­ment will run in­to next year.

San­cho said the tim­ing of the fund­ing from Gov­ern­ment, through the Min­istry of Sports and Youth Af­fairs and the FI­FA For­ward Project, has been one of their chal­lenges. He is ex­pect­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s promised fund­ing to be avail­able by next week, cou­pled with funds from the FI­FA For­ward project.

Pro League clubs San Juan Jabloteh, North East Stars, Point Fortin FC, Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, Mor­vant Cale­do­nia Unit­ed, W Con­nec­tion, Cen­tral FC and Club San­do will each re­ceive $450,000 from the Gov­ern­ment, of which $115,000 each will be put in­to an ac­count that falls un­der the purview of the com­mis­sion with over­sight of the T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA).

The funds from Gov­ern­ment and FI­FA, San­cho said, will be used to run the af­fairs of the league. The fi­nan­cial in­put from all the clubs will al­so cov­er for Pro League cam­paign­ers - De­fence Force and Po­lice FC, which did not have to put out any mon­ey as teams un­der na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty. Su­per League clubs are not re­quired to put out any funds.

San­cho, who is Cen­tral FC's own­er and man­ag­ing di­rec­tor, said for all these rea­sons and more the T-League has to get go­ing. The league will be run by the com­mis­sion un­der the su­per­vi­sion of the TTFA. He al­so said he be­lieves com­mis­sion chair­man Lind­say Gillette is the best man to lead the sport in T&T.

How­ev­er, San­cho could not say whether the league will be a one or two-round com­pe­ti­tion but not­ed that “even if it has to go un­til Feb­ru­ary or March next year, that will be fine.”

On­ly re­cent­ly, Min­is­ter of Sports Sham­fa Cud­joe said her min­istry had not re­leased the $2.4 mil­lion in fund­ing for the T-League be­cause of un­cer­tain­ty sur­round­ing the start and how it will be func­tion.

In an in­ter­view yes­ter­day, how­ev­er, San­cho said, “Over the past three years, dif­fer­ent for­mats of in­for­ma­tion that they have re­quest­ed, this year the for­mat has changed again. But that be­ing said, the Min­is­ter has as­sured that she is will­ing to meet and we are pos­i­tive that once we have those dis­cus­sions we can start mov­ing for­ward. She has made it clear that the mon­ey is there, so it’s just about con­ver­sa­tion. Like any­thing else, once there is a will by all par­ties to make this a re­al­i­ty, then it will hap­pen.”

Cud­joe’s con­cerns sur­round mat­ters of com­pli­ance for clubs et cetera but San­cho said di­a­logue is the ide­al so­lu­tion.

The T-League is sched­uled to start in mid-to-late Sep­tem­ber. In the mean­time, how­ev­er, the one-round pre-sea­son As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion Foot­ball League is on­go­ing and spon­sors of this tour­na­ment have giv­en the as­sur­ance a sec­ond round of match­es will take place if a start to the T-League is not forth­com­ing.

« Last Edit: July 24, 2019, 12:45:28 AM by Flex »
The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2019, 12:32:21 PM »
No wonder Cudjoe don’t want to dispense funds. Look, play 2 rounds of the Acension league and start the football next year, we!

Offline soccerman

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2019, 01:41:09 PM »
No wonder Cudjoe don’t want to dispense funds. Look, play 2 rounds of the Acension league and start the football next year, we!
Four pro clubs including Central FC and W Connection decided not to participate in the Acension League so that will surely affect their players.

Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2019, 03:32:12 PM »
No wonder Cudjoe don’t want to dispense funds. Look, play 2 rounds of the Acension league and start the football next year, we!
Four pro clubs including Central FC and W Connection decided not to participate in the Acension League so that will surely affect their players.

Tell them 4 haul they tail. They can join the 2nd round.

Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #14 on: August 08, 2019, 12:23:59 AM »
New T-League kicks off Oct 4.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


The long-await­ed start of the new UE­FA/FI­FA rec­om­mend­ed T- League, has been set for Oc­to­ber 4, Brent San­cho, a mem­ber of the Com­mis­sion which was formed to take T&T foot­ball in­to this era said on Wednes­day.

This era will see a two-tier League, with Tier 1 com­pris­ing of 10 teams in the T&T Pro League, and Tier 2 fea­tur­ing 14 T&T Su­per League clubs. San­cho, the Cen­tral FC man­ag­ing di­rec­tor made the com­ment in an im­me­di­ate re­sponse to Min­is­ter of Sports and Youth Af­fairs Sham­fa Cud­joe's claims that or­ga­niz­ers of the league were at fault for the de­layed start, as they failed to sup­ply her min­istry with cru­cial in­for­ma­tion re­quest­ed, in or­der to re­ceive monies need­ed for the start of the com­pe­ti­tion.

San­cho said the doc­u­ments, which cov­ered the fi­nan­cial sta­tus of clubs, as well as if the said clubs are TTFA/FI­FA com­pli­ant, were sub­mit­ted on Wednes­day morn­ing.

Cud­joe said the T-League or­ga­niz­ers were al­so tardy in de­liv­er­ing in­for­ma­tion re­lat­ed to the sched­uled start of the T-League and the num­ber of teams that were set to par­tic­i­pate.

San­cho speak­ing to the Guardian Me­dia Sports in an in­ter­view said, "The chal­lenge has al­ways been the tim­ing of the funds. The com­mis­sion has met on sev­er­al oc­ca­sions and tried to put things in place. There have been some chal­lenges with monies, as it re­lates to the FI­FA For­ward Pro­gramme, as well as chal­lenges for gov­ern­ment's sub­ven­tion to the pro league clubs."

The Cen­tral FC boss said he thought that doc­u­men­ta­tion re­quest­ed by the min­istry was sort­ed out. "The com­mu­ni­ca­tion lines have bro­ken down as it re­lates to who was sup­posed to be re­spon­si­ble for send­ing the in­for­ma­tion, whether it be the com­mis­sion, the T&TFA, whether it be the pro league. That be­ing said all com­mu­ni­ca­tions have been up and run­ning, every­one has been work­ing hard. I know the in­for­ma­tion has been sent in."


Ac­cord­ing to San­cho, "The in­for­ma­tion that the min­is­ter is seek­ing, is very new to us as pro league clubs. Last year we had a dif­fer­ent set of tar­gets that we had to hit. This year was dif­fer­ent for us. We have nev­er been asked the type of ques­tions that the min­is­ter re­quest­ed, so ob­vi­ous­ly, the clubs had to get things to­geth­er in a way they nev­er used to be­fore."

Ear­li­er, Min­is­ter Cud­joe said, "We have been giv­en the cheque from the Min­istry of Fi­nance and there­fore the gov­ern­ment is ready, but there is in­for­ma­tion that the TTFA and the Pro League need to sub­mit the re­quest­ed in­for­ma­tion to the min­istry. Of course, you know the spe­cif­ic clubs that are in­volved, all have to be fi­nan­cial. Al­so, the last time we met with them, they stat­ed that they're re­struc­tur­ing to fit the T-League struc­ture and they will get back to us with nec­es­sary in­for­ma­tion."

She added, "We would have re­quest­ed in­for­ma­tion as to, is this league go­ing to hap­pen?, is it go­ing to hap­pen in this fis­cal year and if so, when? And if so, how many teams will be par­tic­i­pat­ing, and they have been un­able to re­spond to us."

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Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #15 on: August 08, 2019, 02:29:31 PM »
Like Sam said, the t-teee league.

Offline Tiresais

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #16 on: August 14, 2019, 02:33:44 AM »
How many rounds? Cup competitions? I'm still a bit worried

Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #17 on: August 20, 2019, 12:37:38 AM »
Sancho: T-League won’t clash with Ascension; Piper explains transfer policy.
By Amiel Mohammed (Wired868).


Commission member and Central FC managing director Brent Sancho has reiterated that the proposed ‘T-League’ competition—the much-touted Trinidad and Tobago Football Association-run domestic competition that seeks to unify the Pro League and Trinidad and Tobago Super League (TTSL) competitions—will not clash with the ongoing Ascension Invitational Tournament.

The Ascension Invitational has already completed five rounds of competition and today is transfer deadline day for movement between clubs. Tournament official Richard Piper confirmed that, even though it is a pre-season competition, players can only represent one club at a time in a TTFA-sanctioned competition.

“Right now, the only other TTFA sanctioned tournaments is NFA and, from what I understand, Eastern Counties,” said Piper. “So, players from the Ascension League will have to choose whether or not they are playing in North Zone or the Ascension Tournament.”

Piper explained how the penalties for infringing on the rule would work:

“For instance, if you have a player in the Ascension Tournament that goes and gets registered in the North Zone without being deregistered from the Ascension Tournament, that NFA club could face the possibility of losing the game in which the player played in by three goals and three points. That player can’t come back to the Ascension Tournament.”

The Invitational competition was introduced by Terminix La Horquetta Rangers director Richard Ferguson to fill a void in the 2019 football calendar at a cost of TT$2.3 million. Prior to its launch in July, no formal competitive football was played in the country. National Senior Men’s Team head coach Dennis Lawrence blamed T&T’s poor performance at the June Gold Cup on this inactivity.

Heading into the latter half of the year, however, the traditional leagues are seeking to resume, raising questions of how the competitions will work together.

Sancho reiterated that the T-League will not get in the way of the Ascension tournament, though.

“The board and everyone met—with Mr Ferguson present—and we set the 4 October as a target to accommodate his Ascension League,” said Sancho. “The Commission is still waiting on funding and sorting out those other aspects, but 4 October is the target.”

The Commission was assembled to steer the T-League but has experienced numerous setbacks from the get go. Chairman Lindsay Gillette recently voiced his displeasure with funding delays as well as what he viewed as political gamesmanship from Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams and general secretary Camara David.

Sancho said he agreed with Gillette’s position.

“I fully endorse what [Gillette] said,” Sancho told Wired868. “At the end of the day, the sole hope of all parties of the Commission is to see football played in a sustainable environment.”

The collaboration between the Commission and Ascension simplifies player registrations in theory, but Piper asserted that even if there was an overlap, a player’s registration would still belong to the team that has his official registration certificate.

“With regards to the players from clubs who may not have played in the Ascension Tournament, like Central FC, W Connection, etc, their registration is still held by Central FC, etc in principle,” he said. “They would just be classified as under the Ascension Invitational registration just for this tournament.”

The rule of players only being allowed to play in one tournament at a time, however, would still apply.

The Ascension Invitational Tournament is heading into its sixth week of action this weekend with Defence Force and Morvant Caledonia United in Division One and Deportivo Point Fortin in Division Two dominating thus far and sitting atop their respective divisions.

As the transfer window closes today, a few teams have been wheeling and dealing to bolster their ranks. Few have been as busy in the window as FC Santa Rosa, which has seen an almost complete overhaul of the squad that lifted the TT Super League title in 2018.

After starting the Invitational with the ‘Big Cannons’, former captain Ryan ‘Fry’ Stewart, Noel Williams, Shabaka Mahluli, Carlon Nicholas departed, while Kordell Samuel, Russel Alfred, Nykoaba James, Julio Noel, Rawle Felix, Isaiah Lee, Jaydon Prowell, Rakim Cabie and Rivaldo Coryat were added.

The new-look Santa Rosa team, which is fourth in the 12 team standings, face second from bottom Matura ReUnited from 4pm on Saturday at the Matura Recreation Ground. All eyes will be on the newly renovated Phase Two La Horquetta Ground, though, as Rangers—fresh from their 10-2 mauling of Matura—host Division One leaders, Defence Force, from 6pm.

Rangers opened their ground last Saturday with soca stars Blaxx, Preddy and Isasha performing after their contest. This weekend, their guest performers will be Swappi and 5 Star Akil while the Ascension Angels dancers are scheduled to perform at halftime. There will also be a ‘Sexiest Short Pants’ competition with TT$500, TT$300, TT$200 cash prizes for first, second and third place respectively.

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Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #18 on: August 20, 2019, 02:41:29 PM »
ball of f---ing confusion!!!!

Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #19 on: August 28, 2019, 12:13:11 AM »
Hospedales: Major bodies had different T-League views.
By Joel Bailey (Newsday).


OWNER OF Pro League club San Juan Jabloteh, Jerry Hospedales, said the failure of the proposed T-League to get going was due to the differing views between the Pro League and Super League. Last Wednesday, the Pro League announced their desire to start their 2019-2020 season, since there was no official decision over whether or not the T-League would have commenced this year.

Hospedales, in an interview, on Monday, said, “I had supported (the) call to resume business, to continue the establishment of professional football. “Ever since the Football Federation (now TTFA) had withdrawn from professional football in 2001, a group of us which included Jamaal (Shabazz), (David) John-Williams, myself and the deceased Richard Fakoory got together to ensure that professional football should remain as an anchor for our football,” he continued.

“It is essential for producing and generating future national teams. We did that for 18 years without confusion and suddenly, with this proposed new integration, there was, to me, compelling evidence that the time was not appropriate for that merger. We shared different philosophies about football in T&T.”

Commenting about the financial assistance provided to the Pro League throughout the years, Hospedales said, “Unfortunately, while the Government continued (to help), the corporate sector never came in, in the size that we wanted them to come in.

“At the present time, we’re somewhat strapped for cash but, whatever it is, we must continue the professional football league.” If no funding was given to the T League, how will the Pro League get funding?Hospedales replied, “The Government funding was for a period of three years. This is the second year of the funding. The Government said before the funds are released, the clubs must meet certain conditions, including the submission of financial statements, annual reports and payments of salaries.

All ten clubs have become compliant so that monies should come.” Why the Pro League couldn’t wait until the three-year period ended before contemplating a T-League?Hospedales responded, “The UEFA and Concacaf advanced the proposal that the football in TT should be strengthened by the integration of both leagues, with promotion and demotion. In the interest of moving that proposal forward, most of us agreed to it because of the increased funding.”

One wonders whether or not there will ever be a unified league, which was being pondered on for most of this year.According to Hospedales, “When you run and manage a Pro League club, you need to have discipline and focus to be able to secure corporate finances. Running a Pro League club costs a minimum of $1.5 million a year.

“You have to carry out your business in a way to bring some confidence in the corporate community. If you do not have that experience, it is difficult to integrate in what the Pro League is doing. At the present time, outside of the Pro League, the other clubs do not have ambition in that capacity.”Hospedales added, “To have a unified league, both leagues must have the same philosophy. You can’t run water and oil. You must have discipline. You can’t be venting your anger to the press.”

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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #20 on: August 28, 2019, 04:21:37 AM »
There are reasons why adults, parents and older siblings hold kids' hands. Had FIFA, UEFA and CONCACAF held the Pro League's hands all the way to the finish line, none of this would have happened. Perhaps we would have been engaged with the presentation of reasonable alternatives rather than cosmetic alternatives.

A government stakeholder should also have been witness to the hand holding, particularly as the GoTT and the people of Trinidad and Tobago are the most invested constituents of football in Trinidad and Tobago. I'll keep beating that drum especially since we are essentially referring to a gentrified hybrid of CEPEP.

This exercise has been a failure.

Also ... although certainly the following is not the desired benchmark, it's noteworthy ... that the league is not even a consistently tempting or attractive vehicle through which to launder money. I submit that's not so much a reflection of integrity mechanisms but of the broader perceived commerical utility and viability of the league as a venture.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2019, 04:42:48 AM by asylumseeker »

Offline Tallman

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Gillette: TTFA did not deliver $$$ for T-League
« Reply #21 on: August 31, 2019, 08:33:46 AM »
Gillette: TTFA did not deliver $$$ for T-League
By Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian)


Lind­say Gillette, for­mer Chair­man of the now-dis­band­ed Foot­ball Com­mis­sion of the T-League has de­fend­ed the work of the com­mit­tee which was set up ear­li­er this year to form the League.

Ear­li­er this week, T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion Pres­i­dent, David John-Williams said that Foot­ball Com­mis­sion head­ed by Gillette was be­ing re­placed by a new five-mem­ber com­mit­tee com­pris­ing T&T Pro Chief Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer (CEO) Ju­lia Bap­tiste, Cen­tral Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tive Col­in Par­tap, Vet­er­an Foot­ball Foun­da­tion of T&T pres­i­dent Sel­by Browne, Women's League Foot­ball pres­i­dent Su­san War­rick, and To­ba­go Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion boss, An­tho­ny Moore.

In ex­plain­ing his de­ci­sion for dis­band­ing the Foot­ball Com­mit­tee and re­plac­ing it with the new body, John-Williams the T&TFA board felt that the Com­mis­sion did not ful­fil its full re­spon­si­bil­i­ties in terms of the tasks it was set out to do.

How­ev­er, speak­ing at a Press Con­fer­ence on Fri­day, in Port-of-Spain, the along­side, North­ern Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent, An­tho­ny Har­ford, Gillette, the cur­rent Am­a­teur Swim­ming As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (ASATT) boss said he had is­sues with the state­ment made by T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (T&TFA) pres­i­dent.

Gillette said, "When you said the Com­mis­sion did not do the job it was sup­posed to do, I have a re­al is­sue with that".

An an­i­mat­ed Gillette added, "Tony (Hard­ford) came here as an in­de­pen­dent rec­om­mend­ed by the Su­per League clubs while I was rec­om­mend­ed by the T&T Pro League clubs.

"The Com­mis­sion is made up of two Pro League Clubs rep­re­sen­ta­tives, two from the Su­per League and a rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the T&TFA (Ca­ma­ra David) along with both of us".

"They said we did noth­ing, but I want to re­but that in the strongest way pos­si­ble be­cause I think we have ac­com­plished a lot in terms of our man­date and what we were sup­posed to have done".

"We were sup­posed to have got­ten the two leagues to­geth­er, the Pro League and the Su­per League to form one league (T-League)".

"The Com­mis­sion was very care­ful in cre­at­ing a name, at the ta­ble at our board meet­ing we said the T-League sounds good, we talked to peo­ple about it, see if they liked it, and we then came back and said it was a great name.
"We even asked about the terms and con­di­tions in which they will play foot­ball, and on May 6, 2019, at the Cas­ca­dia Ho­tel we all as­sem­bled, the Pro League, Su­per League, and T&TFA and we signed an agree­ment.

"It meant we were go­ing to have one league, a com­bi­na­tion of the Pro League and Su­per League which was sup­posed to be ten Pro League clubs, and four Su­per League clubs.

"But guess what, it was de­pen­dent on, re­ceiv­ing mon­ey from the T&TFA be­cause you can­not have foot­ball be­ing played in the ab­sence of mon­ey".

"And I kept ask­ing through the T&TFA rep­re­sen­ta­tive and the pres­i­dent, when will we re­ceive the T&TFA part of their promise that they will fund the league.

Gillette ex­plained, "The Com­mis­sion has no bank ac­count, it has no ju­ris­dic­tion ex­cept what we did, which was to cre­ate the ad­min­is­tra­tion be­hind the league to en­sure that good foot­ball go­ing for­ward".

"So we even did in­ter­views with many peo­ple, but I am not go­ing to hire any­body in the ab­sence of mon­ey and sec­ond­ly, I am not go­ing to start any league in the ab­sence of mon­ey.

"I am not go­ing to have those foot­ballers sign any con­tract in the pre­tence that mon­ey is com­ing, It is not fair es­pe­cial­ly in these times".

"We kept re­quest­ing from the T&TFA when will they re­ceive that mon­ey. It was a com­bi­na­tion of the FI­FA fund mon­ey and the Min­istry of Sports through the Sport Com­pa­ny, de­liv­er­ing on their part of their bar­gain which is the mon­ey that was used for the Pro League as you may know over the many years".

"The Min­istry of Sport de­liv­ered their mon­ey to the Sport Com­pa­ny and they were work­ing with the Pro League to en­sure that there is com­pli­ance, and we had an agree­ment on how the mon­ey would be used to go for­ward".

"So It was all per­fect and agreed up­on, but it was de­pen­dent sole­ly on T&TFA re­ceiv­ing mon­ey to start the sea­son. So I have a re­al is­sue when the pres­i­dent comes out and say that we did not live up to ex­pec­ta­tion. We de­liv­ered on it".

"We had giv­en the T&TFA all the bud­gets, and the cost of run­ning the league from an ad­min­is­tra­tive point of view as well as from a foot­ball point of view.

We have to thank the Min­is­ter of Sport, she came through in spades for us, she de­liv­ered her end of the bar­gain, and now they had the com­pli­ance is­sues which they had to re­solve with the Sport Com­pa­ny.

"But guess who was not for­ward­ing their mon­ey, Gillette asked sar­cas­ti­cal­ly, the T&TFA, so how can you now blame the Com­mis­sion.

"As the Com­mis­sion we agreed to the As­cen­sion League, with Tony as our rep­re­sen­ta­tive and he was able to ne­go­ti­ate in­sur­ances, so we want­ed foot­ball to con­tin­ue and As­cen­sion has kept its word as far as I am aware and met all its com­mit­ments, so again the on­ly last thing to make all of this hap­pen was fund­ing from that FI­FA for­ward to the T&TFA.

At the start of the year, Con­ca­caf rep­re­sen­ta­tive Howard McIn­tosh on a vis­it to T&T stat­ed that mon­ey will be pumped in­to the new­ly formed League in the form of $6.3 mil­lion from the Sport Com­pa­ny of T&T, US$1.5 mil­lion from FI­FA For­ward Pro­gramme through the T&TFA and US$175,000 via Con­ca­caf’s sub­ven­tion.

How­ev­er, Gillette said all his ef­forts to get an­swers on fund­ing from the T&TFA proved fu­tile.
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Offline Flex

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #22 on: December 11, 2019, 02:31:35 AM »
Beaten TTFA candidate weighs T-League role.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).


Beat­en pres­i­den­tial can­di­date in the re­cent T&T Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion’s gen­er­al elec­tion, Richard Fer­gu­son, is set to join forces with the new William Wal­lace-led ad­min­is­tra­tion in the area of fi­nance.

Fer­gu­son was knocked out in the first round of vot­ing dur­ing the No­vem­ber 24 AGM be­fore Wal­lace beat out then-in­cum­bent David John-Williams for the TTFA pres­i­den­cy.

How­ev­er, Guardian Me­dia Sports has been re­li­ably in­formed that Fer­gu­son is now set yo play a key role in as­sist­ing with the fi­nan­cial con­cerns of the em­bat­tled foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion. His first ma­jor as­sign­ment will re­port­ed­ly be to pro­vide fund­ing for the new T-League struc­ture which is sched­uled come in­to ef­fect next year as part of the TTFA’s de­vel­op­men­tal plans.

A re­li­able TTFA source who did not want to be named said the new T-League for­mat will see the foot­ball as­so­ci­a­tion con­tin­u­ing the ini­tia­tives of the world gov­ern­ing body for foot­ball, FI­FA and UE­FA, from where the T-League ini­tia­tive came from in the first place.

It is un­der­stood that the TTFA is set to re­form a com­mit­tee of mem­bers from the top-flight T&T Pro League and Su­per League teams and the TTFA that will have the man­date to shep­herd in the new T-League, which will fea­ture a tier 1 and tier 2 com­pe­ti­tion com­pa­ra­ble with foot­ball in in­ter­na­tion­al leagues such as the Span­ish La Liga, Eng­lish Pre­mier League and Ger­man Bun­desli­ga among oth­er com­pe­ti­tions.

Con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, how­ev­er, Fer­gu­son re­fused to ei­ther con­firm or de­ny this de­vel­op­ment.

Fer­gu­son, who is own­er and man­ag­ing di­rec­tor of the Ter­minix La Hor­quet­ta Rangers, was the prin­ci­pal spon­sor of the As­cen­sion In­vi­ta­tion­al Foot­ball League that was start­ed be­cause of the in­ac­tiv­i­ty in lo­cal foot­ball. Fer­gu­son, whose Rangers fin­ished as run­ner-up in the just con­clud­ed First Cit­i­zens Cup last week, has been against the con­tin­u­a­tion of the T&T Pro League al­though his club is a mem­ber team.

Two months ago, Fer­gu­son al­so tried to spon­sor the T&T Pro League, promis­ing to give clubs a part of the share from tele­vi­sion rights. It is un­sure when the new tour­na­ment (T-League) will get go­ing but the TTFA board could de­cide when its first meet­ing is held on Sat­ur­day.

« Last Edit: December 11, 2019, 02:35:46 AM by Flex »
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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #23 on: July 14, 2022, 03:18:14 PM »
TTFA to go ‘Elite’...governing body submits new league proposal
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)


The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) is seeking to form a “New Elite Football League” (NEFL) to serve as the premier domestic competition.

For the time being, ‘New Elite Football League’ is a place-holder title, meaning the name can be changed.

This League will be the primary recognised league in Trinidad and Tobago, replacing the TT Pro League, as qualifier for Caribbean and CONCACAF club football competitions.

The proposal is for the new league to run from the months of September to May on an annual basis, with an initial horizon of three years. The competition will cater for ten clubs, which have until July 22, 2022 to submit application.

In its preamble, the TTFA states: “We intend to approach the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to request a minimum investment of $3.5 million per year (over three years) into the NEFL.”

The TTFA proposes to fund the ten Premier teams to a tune of $2.5m, with each club getting $250,000 to primarily pay salaries over the eight-month series. Another $500,000 will be for administrative costs to run the NEFL and $500,000 to pay referees costs and administrative expenses in either the TT Super League or another second-tier league. Zonal football will be funded to the tune of $150,000 while $50,000 will go towards coach education scholarships.

Clubs have to fulfill a buy-in requirement of $75,000 as an initial one-time payment, which will be placed in bond/trust and held in a separate account governed by the TTFA. An independent body will run the NEFL in the form of a Board comprising two TTFA reps, one representative from participating clubs, a SporTT/MSCD representative, two independents and one CEO.

Applicants are required to show that they have an income-generating plan and are also required to fulfill CONCACAF club Licensing and other regulations. Other requirements are for clubs to have a credible youth programme and they must cater for women’s football in some form.

The suggestion though is that while clubs welcome the chance to play football again, there is concern that the proposal falls short in several areas. For instance, clubs are concerned about the buy-in fee of $75,000, coming out of the pandemic which has left most local clubs financially devastated. While the effort by the TTFA’s normalisation committee to restart local football was welcomed, a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said there were other concerns.

“It needs to be revisited. Essentially it is nothing different from the Pro League,” stated the source, a local club owner.

“We are not sure if there is Government support,” the source added. “Then there is a question of having to put in another $75,000 coming out of a pandemic. Each TT Pro League club would have spent five, six million dollars over the years and there is also no guarantee for those who pay the $75,000, that somewhere down the road someone won’t garnishee the TTFA and take all the money.”

Like other club owners, TT Pro League chairman Brent Sancho felt it was too soon to speak and reserved comment for a later date.

However, in a brief statement, Sancho said: “I have only just received it and my plan is to review it with the Pro League board. However, we do have some non-starters that we made very clear to the NC from the start.”

The Express also sought to contact Richard Ferguson, the outspoken Terminix La Horquetta Rangers managing director, to ascertain whether his club would be interested in such a competition, but was unable to reach him up to press time.
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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #24 on: July 21, 2022, 08:10:31 AM »
Corneal: TTFA’s ‘Elite’ League only entry to CFU, CONCACAF tournaments
By Nigel Simon (T&T Guardian)


Anton Corneal, Technical Director of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) has stressed that for local football clubs to compete in future Caribbean Football Union or CONCACAF competitions, they will need to be part of the “New Elite Football League” (NEFL).

In 2018, both two-time winners W Connection and Central FC were the last clubs to represent T&T at the CFU Club Championship, while a year later North East Stars (2017 Pro League champions) and W Connection (2017 Pro League runners-up), were not allowed to compete in the 2019 CONCACAF Caribbean Club Championship as the association did not properly execute its club licensing programme.

Earlier this month the T&TFA issued a press release that stated that it was in the process of establishing a new top-flight local football competition “New Elite Football League” with a proposed starting date of late September 2022 or early October for the next three years.

During a one-on-one interview, Corneal explained that T&TFA is seeking an investment of $3.5 million per year from the T&T Government for the next three years with the competition comprising ten to 12 clubs with each club receiving $250,000 for their operational cost during the eight months of the league.

In addition, $500,000 each will go towards the administrative costs of running the league by the T&TFA and cover the referee’s salaries and administrative expenses in either the TT Super League or another second-tier league.

The lower levels of zonal football will be given a financial package of $150,000 with $50,000 geared towards Coaching Education scholarships. However, to compete in the league clubs are required to pay $75,000.

Corneal, a former national Under-17, and Under-20 FIFA World Cup coach as well as an assistant to Holland’s Leo Beehakker at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, said, “We are doing this for the country, it’s not for the T&TFA or to benefit the association, but it’s to make sure that we can provide the game and a proper league and that money is turned right back into the running the league.

He added, “Football is not being played, and what has been played in the three leagues we have supported (Tiger Tanks, Next Level Under-20, and Ascension Football League), have really supported the game, and now it’s our turn (T&TFA) to put a structure in place and some of the benefits is it will provide the chance to play in the Caribbean and CONCACAF Club Championships, and you will have to play in that league. Because we will like the players to be exposed and that’s one of the faster ways to get the players exposed. So again in the very near future, we will be able to tell the type of feedback we get and registrations from all the clubs.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, professional league football was stopped in T&T in 2019, and apart from the three leagues mentioned, no organised competition has taken place even though the restriction on sporting activities have been lifted by the government and Corneal was mindful of the importance of T&T not falling further behind.”

Corneal, a certified coach educator and Technical Expert with FIFA continued, “We have lost two to three years with youth players, years we cannot get back and development we cannot get back, and again all we can do is pretty much reset, and get ready again, and make sure our programs are up and running, and when it comes to league football, there is nothing like the now, so if we can do this in as short as space a time as possible it will be great.”

Corneal, who returned to the TTFA technical director for the third time revealed, “I realised that youth football is one of the areas that we have blundered in the past.

“We don’t look at long-term development and we have looked at it in spurts sometimes I believe 15 years ago, and then there was another time we looked at youth football and give it its due share and we need to do so right now and make sure that the development programs are in place and they are sustained over a period of time, and in the long term it will help with the changing of the level of the game in eight to ten years.

“For a league, a meeting of interested stakeholders was held over the weekend. At the last meeting, everyone was basically on the same page and recognised the challenges that we do have and we are just here to find our way.”

He said, “There is a need for the game to be played as our young players need to ply their trade and I think we owe it to them as an association to provide that opportunity.

“The idea of a new league came about because the other leagues are not playing and we thought why not T&TFA with assistance to governed the league gives some of the former teams that are coming out of the Pro League and the Super League the opportunity to play.

“The way we did registration is to see the interest of teams in both leagues and that’s going to give us a guide and whether it be professional if there is the financial support behind it as there is a plan where we will look at what type of support we get from the government, corporate T&T and from T&TFA themselves, and then we will come up with a plan on how well we can really assist those teams.

With regards to the financial strain the league may come under, Corneal said he thinks the league’s governance and operations would not cost anything extra because a lot those administrative work will come out of T&TFA with persons that are already hired, so there may not be an additional cost.

We have to find clever ways of making this work and making sure that it is sustainable because we don’t want it going to a situation where we don’t have the support after two or three years, and then we are looking at a new league again.

Looking at the possible structure of the competition, Corneal said, “I think the structure of the league will be similar to what we had in the past (TT Pro League and Super League) with two tiers of football with ten or 12 teams in the top tier, and then the second tier of possible 16 teams.

“But again that is going to be guided by the number of teams that do register, and of course lets’ not forget zonal football as it’s so important that we continue with the zones as they are the ones that really take care of the masses.

“The young players get to play in zonal teams and once they have excelled you will find that the professional teams and super league teams will start looking at them, so there needs to be a pathway, and we are hoping to create that pathway for young players.

Noting that proper planning has been taken into the setting up of the competition after failing to come to a solution on a new league with the Pro League and Super League, Corneal then pointed out, “We have been in discussions with the Pro League and Super League I think for the past two years, and we have even had input from UEFA, FIFA, and CONCACAF on possible directions, and one of the areas that were very concerning to me is that we could not come to a head or we could not start a league, and I think that is a priority.”
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #25 on: July 21, 2022, 08:42:35 PM »
 ???

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #26 on: July 21, 2022, 11:35:27 PM »
It is DISINGENUOUS to refer to those extended tournaments as leagues. Stop gaming de public.

Offline Deeks

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #27 on: July 22, 2022, 06:46:10 AM »
It is DISINGENUOUS to refer to those extended tournaments as leagues. Stop gaming de public.

Sylum, why you hurting your head. The people know the difference. But all we want to see is some football. Organized or disorganized.

Offline kounty

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #28 on: July 22, 2022, 06:33:03 PM »
so Fifa overturn the election and install a normel committee, watch like a hawk for gov't "intervention" in the football affairs, then submit their operating expenses budget to my gov't normel, normel?
we in 2022 for Heaven's sake -- look other places gettin thru with equal pay for women and men. surely we could do better for the long-term good of the game.

Offline Tallman

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Re: T-League Thread.
« Reply #29 on: July 29, 2022, 02:26:15 PM »
No limit to number of teams for New Elite League
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian)

There is no ceiling for the number of teams entering the proposed New Elite Football League in September.

Acting general secretary of the T&T Football Association Amiel Mohammed sought to clear the air on this misconception as the FIFA-installed Normalisation Committee and the embattled football association seek a model that will meet the needs of all clubs.

Up to last Friday’s deadline date for registration, 20 clubs, mostly from the T&T Pro League and the T&T Super Leagues had submitted applications to be in the league. Two weeks ago, a document explaining the concept of the league that also served as an invitation stated: “The league is posed to be the primary affiliated, elite and premier league of T&T, operating at the highest level domestically.

Club licensing and other regulations have been designed as a development tool for all football clubs in T&T. The criteria outlined in these regulations have been carefully selected to serve as guidelines for clubs looking to increase their professionalism.

The NEFL is expected to run from September to May 2023 on an annual basis, with an initial horizon of three years.”

Before last Friday’s close of the deadline, some clubs raised concerns about being possibly left out if they were not among the 10 teams to be selected and about the exorbitant registration fees.

Mohammed explained to Guardian Media Sports yesterday that, “There is no threshold, there is no ceiling. I don’t know where the misconception is that there is only ten teams in the league. If we have, for example, 15 teams that fulfil the criteria, then we roll with 15 teams, if we have 95 teams that will fulfil the criteria, we roll with 95.

Of course, I am just exaggerating that, but that is what it is. If it only has eight teams that fulfil the criteria, the same principle applies.”

“ We’re always engaging the stakeholders, so we will continue to engage with them to hear their concerns, whetehr it be those concerns or any other concerns, to find the model of the best way to move forward,” said Mohammed.

The clubs to have submitted applications are going through the club licensing process at this time. This, as outlined in the document, is critical to clubs’ selection for the league.

“What they submitted was just an appilcation form for the league, that don’t mean that they’re in the league,” Mohammed said.

Selection for the league requires clubs to satisfy two main areas, namely (1) Club Licensing Requirements, which will be governed by the guidelines where the First Instance Body will receive application from clubs and make decisions on granting licenses. And (2) League Development Committee Requirements- which will review applications based on the domestic requirements that are outlined to participate in the league.

Should clubs be approved in both areas, they will be assured of being selected in the league.

Mohammed said his organisation has not yet received funding for the league, but will continue to keep the stakeholders updated. He described it as a work in progress.

The TTFA/NC has approached the government for an injection of $3.5 million for a three-year period. This amount will ensure that each club in the top tier, receives $250, 000 to be used to pay salaries over the eight-month period.

The remaining amount will be used to cover referees fees ($500, 000), administrative fees, a second tier league which is expected to cost approximately $300, 000 and coaches’ education.

Clubs are also required to pay a registration fee of $75, 000 to be placed in bond/trust to secure their entry in the top tier league.
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

 

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