Pro League to select 2009 participants
By Lasana Liburd (T&T Express)
The Trinidad and Tobago Pro League will decide on their participating clubs for the 2009 season on Ash Wednesday and defending champions, San Juan Jabloteh, are sure to be among them although their professional status may owe much to a technicality.
New Pro League applicants are obliged to prove they can meet contractual obligations to their staff for the entire season. However, existing clubs are not required to similarly demonstrate their financial stability.
It means that Jabloteh, who are understood to be in a precarious financial situation since the collapse of their long standing title sponsors, CLICO, will have extra time to source a new backer if necessary.
CLICO declared a billion-dollar deficit last month and will be bailed out by the Trinidad and Tobago government, although it is uncertain whether that financial assistance will extend to the sponsorship deals of the insurance giants.
"There is no update (to our situation)," Jabloteh chairman Jerry Hospedales told the Sunday Express. "I will let you know as soon as there is something to report."
The "San Juan Kings" are set to debut in the CONCACAF Club Championship this year and could become the first team to win three successive Pro League crowns.
However, the Sunday Express understands that Jabloteh paid salaries for the first time this year with prize money received from the Pro League last week. And, even then, it was not enough to spread around as the club's English technical director Terry Fenwick is understood to have remained unpaid.
Fenwick refused comment on Jabloteh's internal problems and his own position with the club.
So far, Police FC are the only new team confirmed for the upcoming season as they replace outgoing North East Stars to maintain a ten-club line-up in the top flight.
Marabella Flames, South End, St Clair Coaching School and Angostura 1976 Phoenix are the remaining applicants. St Clair CS and Phoenix, who are both based in Tobago, are desperate for assistance from the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to cover airfare expenses, which are considered to be crucial to their bid for professional status.
At least two clubs from that four are likely be added to the Pro League family.
