Anton Corneal ponders SSFL boycott.

[Youth Baller]

buh wah d ass is dis ras? for the past 5 years at least ii culd say for sure that the majority if not all not players on the under-17 and under-15, and under-20 side were pick from the SSFL! teh SSFL! i rmeber see loads of players on the national teams with no PRO LEAUGE NAME by them , but instead they only had the SSFL to show that they had playeed for and most likely picked because of thier performances there . who say dat not tru lie because i hav nuf padna dat i good with up till now that i culd give you examples of!

[Mango Chow!]

Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Maradonna, Cruyff, Barthez, Valderamma, Wanchope,Petr Cech, Buffon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Osvaldo Sanchez, Hugo Sanchez, (and the list goes on and on, of course) are ALL players that were in a position to RECEIVE WORLD CLASS INSTRUCTION from some WORLD CLASS ACADEMY or another, IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES where they were taught from as early an age as they were able to understand: the fundamentals of football.......short and long passing, trapping, shooting, heading, team tactics, spatial awareness, defensive discipline, proper goalkeeper training, fitness, movement with the ball and without it, proper nutritional habits, PROPER SHIELDING WHEN YOU HAVE POSSESSION OF THE BALL, where to shoot the ball when you are in a 1-on-1 with the keeper at various angles, etc and the list goes on!!! Where in T&T are ANY  of our young players really receiving this kind of training? At which Junior PFL team, at which national youth team training camp are our youths receiving this kind of knowledge and technical breeding at the level that the aforementioned superstars were/are receiving in their respective countries.  How many WORLD CLASS former professionals that received the same training as youths, and then played at the highest levels are running these same academies in T&T that can impart their knowledge upon our youths?   Even the Jamaican youth team that played in the youth World Cup in Argentina 2001 played at a level that we would salivate to attain, never mind that Saviola and Company mash dem up.  Is Anton Corneal himself even qualified ebough to raise the level of the youths that he is tsasked with?  Corneal only startin' the blame-game, pointing a finger now because he is FULLY aware of the task at hand, given our lack of investment in our football programs and he knows that he ain't the one to bring about the necessary changes, so why not blame the SSFL from all now?!?
 
   Until we have a PROPER  sytem in place to turn our youths into world class footballers, Corneal just need to hush he arse and do the best he can with what is afforded him.  Show Trinidad and Tobago that you can take these players and lead them to the Under-17 World Cup next year!!

[morvant]

Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Maradonna, Cruyff, Barthez, Valderamma, Wanchope,Petr Cech, Buffon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Osvaldo Sanchez, Hugo Sanchez, (and the list goes on and on, of course) are ALL players that were in a position to RECEIVE WORLD CLASS INSTRUCTION from some WORLD CLASS ACADEMY or another, IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES where they were taught from as early an age as they were able to understand: the fundamentals of football.......short and long passing, trapping, shooting, heading, team tactics, spatial awareness, defensive discipline, proper goalkeeper training, fitness, movement with the ball and without it, proper nutritional habits, PROPER SHIELDING WHEN YOU HAVE POSSESSION OF THE BALL, where to shoot the ball when you are in a 1-on-1 with the keeper at various angles, etc and the list goes on!!! Where in T&T are ANY  of our young players really receiving this kind of training? At which Junior PFL team, at which national youth team training camp are our youths receiving this kind of knowledge and technical breeding at the level that the aforementioned superstars were/are receiving in their respective countries.  How many WORLD CLASS former professionals that received the same training as youths, and then played at the highest levels are running these same academies in T&T that can impart their knowledge upon our youths?   Even the Jamaican youth team that played in the youth World Cup in Argentina 2001 played at a level that we would salivate to attain, never mind that Saviola and Company mash dem up.  Is Anton Corneal himself even qualified ebough to raise the level of the youths that he is tsasked with?  Corneal only startin' the blame-game, pointing a finger now because he is FULLY aware of the task at hand, given our lack of investment in our football programs and he knows that he ain't the one to bring about the necessary changes, so why not blame the SSFL from all now?!?
 
   Until we have a PROPER  sytem in place to turn our youths into world class footballers, Corneal just need to hush he arse and do the best he can with what is afforded him.  Show Trinidad and Tobago that you can take these players and lead them to the Under-17 World Cup next year!!

nice point but yuh doh need that to produce ah player eh bredda. yorke didnt have it and he is class too

[rippin]

Why can't they produce a program that will improve the level of all the SSFL teams? Apparently Corneal and Wim have something they looking for. Why not let all the coaches in Trinidad know what it is? The larger the pool to choose from the better. People need to remeber we not only preparing for the U-17 World Cup.

It is my understanding that these academies that we talking bout doh only house 20 odd students. Their pool is much larger and they have different feeder levels.To get to the academy you have to prove you worth.

Another thing nobody noticed what  went on with Canada they brought different players for new men to get exposure. They balancing the long term with the short term.

Producing large quantities of talented ballers will also the country recognitiion. If the man playing pick up sweat running decent ball Trini will get a good rep.
Right now even the $hittiest Hispanic in a sweat does be at a decent level. You have to respect that.

[Lightning]

Why can't they produce a program that will improve the level of all the SSFL teams? Apparently Corneal and Wim have something they looking for. Why not let all the coaches in Trinidad know what it is? The larger the pool to choose from the better. People need to remeber we not only preparing for the U-17 World Cup.

It is my understanding that these academies that we talking bout doh only house 20 odd students. Their pool is much larger and they have different feeder levels.To get to the academy you have to prove you worth.

Another thing nobody noticed what  went on with Canada they brought different players for new men to get exposure. They balancing the long term with the short term.

Producing large quantities of talented ballers will also the country recognitiion. If the man playing pick up sweat running decent ball Trini will get a good rep.
Right now even the $hittiest Hispanic in a sweat does be at a decent level. You have to respect that.

The objective of a secondary school is education. i.e., to prepare all students academically for life after school. This pursuit requires multi-year plans which drive students towards a particular goal.  Sports while important in school life, are considered extra curricular activities and as such do not take priority in a schools multi-year planning.

Now take that same paragraph and flip it.

The objective of a sports academy is athletic development. i.e., to prepare athletes for life in sport. This pursuit requires multi-year plans which drive athletes towards a particular goal.(WC qualification, Olympic participation, development of coaches, professional play)  Academics, while important, are considered a requirement but do not take priority in an academy's multi-year planning.

It can be argued that certain gifted youngsters may be able to be part of both the secondary school system and an academy system. However the reality is once you decide to go down a particular path (sport or academics) you are likely to stay focused on the path you have chosen.

[fishs]

buh wah d ass is dis ras? for the past 5 years at least ii culd say for sure that the majority if not all not players on the under-17 and under-15, and under-20 side were pick from the SSFL! teh SSFL! i rmeber see loads of players on the national teams with no PRO LEAUGE NAME by them , but instead they only had the SSFL to show that they had playeed for and most likely picked because of thier performances there . who say dat not tru lie because i hav nuf padna dat i good with up till now that i culd give you examples of!

The sad thing is that you are correct.
The quality of the youth teams are poor to say the least and what I'm saying is before the SSFL the youths were better.
We can't provide much proof because back in the day there was not much international youth football played.

 But check the age that Gally, Archie Michael Grayson etc made the senior national team. the only man in recent memory to play on the senior team as a teenager was Yorke.
Get the drift.

[dombasil]

When is the next tournament for the U16 team? Is it in November this year? If it is then the team needs to be training together now. Not getting together  just before the tournament. If it is next year then I think that hey could be allowed to play this month of football.
 No one is wining on the SSFL. It has its purpose and good players are spotted and 1st noticed in the league. But the quality has dropped off dramatically from the mid 80's on. True there have been good teams but the level has been consistently low. Coops man you have to see it to believe the level. It generally looks like what u16  football used to look like.
But gone are the days when we could  just select a bunch of SSFL stars and beat side in the Caribbean just so. The US does not do like that. Haiti does not do that and thay have said themselves. wE have tried to do it the old way with Grovesnor and Ron and the teams get dey ass buss.
As I said before  the boys will still go to school their respective schools and train with the national team and I am sure their will be an attempt to get them competitive games against foreign opposition which is what they need to try tactics and evaluate themselves.

[Coop's]

It makes no sense to stop players from playing SSFL unless you have something in place to make up the difference.

yes you can say that we need to not play SSFL and do weight and endurance training but what do you mean "exactly"

What is the program?

What is most likely to happen is that they will not play SSFL and they will just train as a group and maybe join a gym or something.

People in TnT does talk big but things does never materialize.

If we talking about live in camps and consistient games against world class competition and  traveling and thing then fine

but some how I feel we go be struggling to find opposition and funding for all these preparations.

The SSFL is an important league in Trinidad.
In fact it is the biggest league in Trinidad

Yes we can say that the standard has droped and the players is real crap compared to in the past

but we can say that about everything.

Sport is a about competing in front of spectators

The only league in the country that has spectators is the SSFL

It is one thing to train hard and prepare
It is a whole other thing to have your friend and family and gul and parthner watching you play football and the Tv and papers present.

It provides a whole other level of pressure that cannot be simulated.

This is the Benefit of SSFL
It brings a level of competitiveness that is not present in any other part of trinidad and tobago football.

Yes the standard of olay is lower than national level, but national players have to know how to play at all levels.

They have to know when to step up and step down their game.
They have to know when to control a ball when you play against slow opposition and lay it off one time when they rush you hard.

They have to know how to be individualistic and when to get team mates involved to make them better.


If we have right coaching and the right program we will know what the players have to do.

back in 1992 For Secondary schools league a member in my team get Ban for a few games because he played for his club team in the TTFF U16 Finals.


Here we are in 2006 and there is talk about banning nationals from playing in the SSFL.

Corneal and them should spend some time developing a national program process because we are sending mixed messages to the young footballers in the country.

             
                  It's the best i've heard on this issue so far. 

[Coop's]

Life funny back in the 60’s and 70’s you couldn’t make the national if you didn’t in SSFL know they saying to hell with that league   

Times change

         I don't think time has changed at all because every one of our players is a product of the Colleges League.
         If the Colleges League does not develope or improve our Youth players,then where or how do they develope,all the Coaching schools and Academys it have in the country how many national team players come from there.
         It never had no real system in T&T for developing players,it was always and still is you have to develope yourself,laziness is what's keeping us back,no one wants to work hard but they all want big money,Minor league and all gone through because those players and all want to be paid,too much big boy mentality in our Football that's why we struggleing to improve.
         
         

[Coop's]

This is just a thought,what about these guys continueing to train as a team with Coaneal but release them for their school games.

[Trini _2026]

This is just a thought,what about these guys continueing to train as a team with Coaneal but release them for their school games.

naw the SSFL coaches may want some chemistry  . they may prefer them to train with the school team since they will most likely be the star players..

[dombasil]

Yes, while in the long term what probably needs to be fixed is the league and the powers that be must get together with the SSFL and try to see a way forward with improved coaching and certification of coaches at the SSFL level and maybe a change in the struture of the league if possble keeping in mind that it is a high school league. In the short term, with the qualifying competition just around the corner. I think it is in either Oct or Nov.(will some one give me the info). This seems to be a the prudent coach or action. If of course it is just for strengh training and conditioning without competitive matches against other national teams there seems little point in banning the players from playing.

[dombasil]

The games in the 1st round generally are Mon, Wed and Sat. then at the end of the 1st round without a break Tuesday, Thursday and Sat.
So there does not seem to be much space in there to do both. The League starts next week.

[palos]

Life funny back in the 60’s and 70’s you couldn’t make the national if you didn’t in SSFL know they saying to hell with that league   

Times change

         I don't think time has changed at all because every one of our players is a product of the Colleges League.
         If the Colleges League does not develope or improve our Youth players,then where or how do they develope,all the Coaching schools and Academys it have in the country how many national team players come from there.
         It never had no real system in T&T for developing players,it was always and still is you have to develope yourself,laziness is what's keeping us back,no one wants to work hard but they all want big money,Minor league and all gone through because those players and all want to be paid,too much big boy mentality in our Football that's why we struggleing to improve.
         
         

For the umpteenth time....the College's League doh produce nobody.  It might showcase dem...but PRODUCE?  NOPE.  Not since Benedict's days...DEM DID PRODUCE PLAYERS.  All de production takes place de other 10 months of the year Colleges League inactive.

Matter of fact...I will go on to say....IF yuh dependin on SSFL for development of we youth players....the SSFL...AS IT STANDS....is DETRIMENTAL TO FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT IN T&T.

Yuh doubt meh.....check wha dombasil say in he post above...

The games in the 1st round generally are Mon, Wed and Sat. then at the end of the 1st round without a break Tuesday, Thursday and Sat.
So there does not seem to be much space in there to do both. The League starts next week.

What possible DEVELOPMENT could take place when u playin 2 to 3 competitive matches a week in a 2 month season?  Wha kinda recovery time we youngsters have?

You self Coop's.

[rippin]

Ask any man who play for Naps under Steadman from 94 to 2000 who develop them. When I was in 1st form  Naps was demoted. Steadman take men in Form 2 get that back in the SSFL and the core of that team won the triple and in 99 and then win intercol and something else in 2000. Men like Joel Bailey, Leon "Police Brown", Mcknight, Erasto Neptune, Jayce Peters, Clint Diveteuil, Fabien Lewis, Jerrol Forbes. Yes they had talent before but they didn't win in 95 it take them 4 years to win. I think that is development.
Now any body who saw these players play will admit they had skill.

And men feel training does only start when school start. That might be true at some schools but it wasn't so at Naps. Training used to start in Summer and by the time league start men clicking and fit while other players struggling. Naps beat Malick in 99 on sheer fitness. That was a tight game and Malick loose it in the last 15 minutes when they run out of steam.

John Williams and Jan Steadman did a lot with Naps players and for their football program.

[fatimarima]

I don't know if removing the players from the SSFL is such a good idea.  Maybe a better idea would be to supplement their SSFL games with international friendlies and practice games against local pro teams.  Another suggestion would be to focus on improving the quality of the SSFL.  Remember how good SSFL was when teams like John D. and Sando Tech played in the league.   Its the same league that developed players like Latapy, Marvin Faustin, Kerry Jamerson, etc.  Why not include the technial  schools along with local universities in the league?  Just a suggestion that might benifit Trinidad and Tobago football in the long run.   Anyway, I really like Anton as a coach and a player, so Im sure he will prepare the team well.

No disrespect to anybody....but SSFL (with the odd exception) IN GENERAL NEVER develop de players yuh call dey.  That is a myth.  Because dem players PLAY in de SSFL...doh translate into de SSFL DEVELOP dem players.

Dat come like sayin de Petit Valley League wit it's 5 a side no offisde football plus a goalie DEVELOP dem players too and dey play in dah league fuh more matches dan any SSFL season.  All a dem players did play dey.

   

OK while the Colleges league was not solely responsbile for developing players like latapy, it certainly played a role in his development and others like him.  I think every experience in the game of football plays a role in the development of a player.  So the real question is, how much of a role does the SSFL play in the development of our young players?  In my opinion The SSFL plays a significant role in the development of our young players.
Therefore I think that it is worth it to seek ways to improve the SSFL.   I think someone said something like "SSFL dos not develop players it showcases the players".  My thoughts on that is that the SSFL is both developing and showcasing.  The experience of playing in the SSFL is contributing to the players development.
Remember the coaches in the SSFL teams are also a major influence on player dvelopment. 
With that said, do you guys think that the majority of our top players would be were they are today if they never played in SSFL / colleges league?
 

[truetrini]

everybody talking about we SSFL and how it does produce players...shit talk dat!

What have we accomplished as a footballing nation except tuh win de Caribbean Cup and jes recently making it tuh de WC by de skin ah we teeth on de very last day of qualifying?

NUTTEN!

Dat league too short and dese days it shitty too!

Now if Corneal going tuh jes have dem fellas playing together and not against international competition den is best we leave dem in dey schools.

But odderwise...de SSFL is shit!

[Jah Gol]

The Lincoln Phillips suggestion about standardisation of coaching is the way to go. The point made earlier about sport being deemed extra-curricular in secondary school is a good one, however it is also important to evaluate the strength of our physical education programmes in the first place.  A few questions emerge from this :

1) Does PE reach the widest possible pool of students ?
2) Does PE occur regularly enough ?
3) Is PE considered a tool in academic learning ?

Recent research in the US proved that 30 minutes of exercise per day was not only healthy for children but boosted academic learning.

Was it Aristotle who said that 2 most important things in education are Art and Sport ? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think what is required in our education system is a paradigm shift towards focussing on Human Development - mind, body and soul. This is where sport and ethics can play a greater role in the curricula. In order for us the use all of our talent resouces i.e. widen our player pool, firstly P.E. must play a greater role in Primary and Secondary education. Football can be just a component of that program in primary school. Later in Secondary school each student should choose a sport to play where they can be expose to professional coaches. With advance in entertainment technology children have more options for diversion than ever before and many have chosen thess less active Televsion and Video Games as entertainment. Attracting children back out unto the field of play must be done in a systematica way. The best way to do that is through schools. Through increased physical activity we will not just just devlop better players but better athletes.

Corneal should consider ways to improve the standard of the college's league rather than just dismissing it. Simeos had an idea to make the league twice as long and allow only 1 game per week. I agree with that.  This would be good for the players both academically and from a football perspective as well.

The league must improve from an organisational level first. The administrators of the league ought to consider who are its stakeholders and engineer ways to add value to each of its stakeholders but mainly fans and even more importantly coaches and players.Then we can talk about creating a decent product- good football players.

[fishs]

 Most everybody here saying the same thing.

 The SSFL in its present format does nothing to improve youth football as we know it and something has to be done about it.

 In the short term I would remove the U16 players from playing in this league and arrange games for them against the clubs youth teams (u19)
In fact if there is a club U19 league I would let them play in this league.

In the future I would cut the SSFL championship teams to 10 ( the 10 best schools in T&T.)
The coachs of all schools should come from a pool of coachs that have attained a particular level of certification
These salaries should be paid for by the Min of Education (say a teacher II salary, about 9,000.00 a mth)

 The rest of the plan is simple.

[Lightning]

It should also be noted that national teams (especially not the senior team) are not the place where players should be developed.  Ideally clubs/community based organisations would have year-round youth programs with qualified coaches to prepare individual players at each stage of their development for the next level, whatever that might be. The goal of these programs would be to develop the individual player sometimes at the expense of collecting meaningless trophies.....

[Trini _2026]

Schools vs country
SSFL vow to keep players
Lasana Liburd Â


Wednesday, August 30th 2006
 
 
Azaad Khan, Secondary Schools' Football League (SSFL) general secretary, yesterday vowed to resist any move by Trinidad and Tobago national youth team coach Anton Corneal to withdraw players from the schoolboy competition.

Corneal, an assistant senior coach and head coach of the national youth teams, told the Express that he felt his team had a better chance of qualifying for the 2007 Korea Under-17 World Cup if his players stayed away from this year's schools league.

Corneal led the under-16 team to third place at the recently concluded 2006 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Youth Tournament, held in Trinidad and Tobago, and should coach the team into the final qualifying round next April.

Corneal referred to the SSFL competition as a "big, bad wolf" and claimed that it was having a negative impact on recent national youth teams. He pointed to the failures of former under-17 coaches like Nigel Grosvenor and Ron La Forest in the Caribbean qualifying rounds over the last six years.

"I am thinking of withdrawing our players this year so we can have proper preparation without being hindered," said Corneal. "I am not against the colleges' league but, when we are talking about qualifying for a World Cup, we have to put things into perspective."

However Khan, who is also CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club CEO, warned that school principals would refuse any demand to stop players from playing.

He insisted that Corneal's claims were baseless, particularly because the schools' league will finish six months before the final Under-17 World Cup qualifying phase.

"Nowhere in the world, including the US where Corneal came from, do you take players and ban them from a league," said Khan. "According to FIFA rules, national teams take players away five days before a game. So how can he justify taking students (eight months before a tournament)?

"We have already spoken to principals in the league and no way are they going to release them like Corneal wants. The (national qualifying) tournament is in April and any coach who is capable and competent will not see that as an obstacle."

St Anthony's College coach and ex-national youth coach Grosvenor also disagreed with the idea of withdrawing schoolboys.

Corneal used Grosvenor's failure to take the national under-17 squad into the Concacaf phase, two years ago, to highlight the problems posed by the schools' league. But Grosvenor insisted that his circumstances were different.

"In my case, the tournament was in October-November so that was much closer to the schools competition," said the St Anthony's College coach. "If the tournament was during the year, I would go along with what he was saying because I had a problem since the guys were physically tired.

"But when secondary schools finishes in October and their next tournament is in April, they have time to recuperate and they will not be short of match practice because they will be playing in a competition."

George Hislop, a retired magistrate and former chairman of the SSFL disciplinary committee, urged the TTFF to reconsider and argued that schools competition was an important part of the students' holistic development.

"In terms of education, they have no right to go in any school and to take any boy out of his classes," said Hislop, "and I see classes to extend to extra curricular activities as well. The Ministry of Education should take a stand and not permit anybody to interfere with a boy's life in school."

Hislop, father of national World Cup goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, said the majority of the Soca Warriors represented their schools and many referred to their SSFL days as the happiest in their career.

He also noted that the Portugal 1991 Under-20 squad, which was the first English-speaking Caribbean team to qualify for a Fifa tournament, relied heavily on the schools' league for resources.

"It is one time in the boys' life that stays with them forever," he said. "(Alvin and Anton) Corneal played school football and enjoyed it and I think it is damn foolishness to stop these boys from experiencing that. I think they are just playing up to (Fifa vice-president Jack) Warner to have people believing that playing international football is more important than anything else."

Khan said the SSFL were trying to improve their standards by shrinking the number of competing teams as well as improving the level of coaching. He countered that Corneal's problems were largely of his own making and slammed the coach for selecting an under-par team and not paying enough attention to the various youth competitions.

"The aim of the school league is to project talent," said Khan. "We show you the talent and it is your job to harness that. We have accepted that there are flaws in the league but sometimes people like to use the league as a scapegoat for their own deficiencies. Corneal is with the national senior team and wants to coach all the youth teams himself too. That is not done anywhere in the world. His track record and what he was doing in the States to me does not qualify him for that job."
 

[vb]

I doh have de tıme to read all de posts on dıs thread. but my 2 cents is

divide the youths in zones and have them play in the super league in their zones.

Second option have just the national youth team and put dem in the pro league, but ı doh know ıf dey could handle dat kinda jamming.

VB

[Mr Mc]

Schools vs country
SSFL vow to keep players
Lasana Liburd Â


Wednesday, August 30th 2006
 
"The aim of the school league is to project talent," said Khan. "We show you the talent and it is your job to harness that. We have accepted that there are flaws in the league but sometimes people like to use the league as a scapegoat for their own deficiencies. Corneal is with the national senior team and wants to coach all the youth teams himself too. That is not done anywhere in the world. His track record and what he was doing in the States to me does not qualify him for that job."
 

wheeeey sah!!!
say what you really feel Mr Khan, no need to mince words 

[dombasil]

Whey boy.,Khan real lash Anton. 
But he also need to explain how it is good for the student athletes in his league to be playing 3 games a week over a period of a month.

[DeSoWa]

Schools vs country
SSFL vow to keep players
Lasana Liburd Â


Wednesday, August 30th 2006
 


He also noted that the Portugal 1991 Under-20 squad, which was the first English-speaking Caribbean team to qualify for a Fifa tournament, relied heavily on the schools' league for resources.
 

could someone explain this for me please? I am a little confused by that staement. Am I missing something here?  

Big Up!

[takenoprisoners]

Schools vs country
SSFL vow to keep players
Lasana Liburd Â


Wednesday, August 30th 2006
 


He also noted that the Portugal 1991 Under-20 squad, which was the first English-speaking Caribbean team to qualify for a Fifa tournament, relied heavily on the schools' league for resources.
 

could someone explain this for me please? I am a little confused by that staement. Am I missing something here?  

Big Up!

My guess is that it should read the T&T under-20 at Portugal in 1991......

[Bourbon]

Intercol is probably the closest thing that we have here to EPL or La Liga due to the passion that it thrives on.   I'll agree that the league in its current format is poor for development. I was wondering, what about stretching out the league over two terms,(in effect one game per week,) and using most of the remaining time for training. It would be less pressure on the players, more time for development (when correctly supervised) and still the academic focus would be allowed. given that exams would be held in the third term and most players might be preparing for CXC/CAPE exams, this could develop their football while not forsaking their academic standing. I dunno how well a football academy would fit into the current structure as the general attitude that may be developed, they may give up on their education which could be to their detriment in the future. I remember reading this article earlier this year on this site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5148730.stm

Over four years between the ages of 12 and 16 a French boy would receive 2,304 hours of training. That is twice as much as England - where you would be given 1,152 hours.
"Those four years are crucial - they are the most important years in youth football - both physically and technically. It is difficult to catch up when you are 17 or 18.

"It is like a musician, it doesn't matter whether he is English or French, the one who works more becomes better."

Dat far more than anything any of our youths getting here. We have to step up. Either by implementation of academies to work along with schools or by streaming them from early into the academy and having them develop both football and academics. The academies would have to be placed in their own tier of the league due to the obvious advantage they would have, and probably the only play normal schools for intercol. This however, virtually sends the message to all outside of the academy system that the door is closed. I still iffy on the idea, i thinking along the lines of secondary school working in conjunction with PFL youth teams etc, but i not too sure how to merge them without sacrificing one. Just throwing out my thoughts on it, and maybe with the different opinions here we might be able to plot a sensible course of action  

[doc]

The school are staying true to their mission. The league is all about competition period. There is also a cricket season as well.

[weary1969]

Man does forever talkin here bout the need for the ProLeague Teams to be associated with villages etc. That is the benefit of the SSFL people who went to schools when the plaque was laid does come out to support their school.

Why Corneal eh come up with a plan to improve the SSFL? He keepin them together to do what? When I hear that I will say keep them out.

[Tallman]

"The SSFL does not prepare youth players for CONCACAF play. It is a recreational league which enjoys huge popularity and that's all."

Keith Lookloy made the above statement in 1999, just after returning from El Salvador with the U-17 team who took part in the second round of CONCACAF U-17 qualification. We lost 6-1 to El Salvador, 6-0 to Canada and 6-1 to Mexico.