Excerpted from
The Story of T&T Football
By Valentino Singh
Between 1974 and 1987, some 121 foreign teams visited Trinidad.
Among them were several English club teams, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspurs, Arsenal, Southampton, Everton, the Brazilian Under 20s, Nautico, the Italian Under 21 team, Sweden, Cuba, Bradford City, Hearts of Scotland.
Some of these teams, ironically, were brought to the country by an organisation which the TTFA outlawed in 1981.
The body was called the Trinidad and Tobago Premier Soccer League (TTPSL) and it was the brainchild of businessman Arthur Suite.
Suite who owned the Aviation Services Limited (ASL) introduced ‘the professional footballer’ to Trinidad and Tobago, forming the ASL Sports Club which became the first organisation to pay its players, despite the fact they were campaigning in the lower division of the north zone. Suite recruited the best players in the country including the national captain Leroy Spann, Ron La Forest, Noel Sammy LLewelyn, Vaughn Alexander, Earl Carter, John Granville and Trevor Fredericks. And although the team started in the north zone, it took just two years to win promotion into the National League in 1980.
Inspired by good crowd support, Suite launched his league in March 1981, offering some $160,000 in prize money.
He also revealed that eight of the country’s top teams - Challengers, Essex, San Fernando Strikers, Essex, HAS Cocorite United, CCI Falcons, Ebonites, and his team ASL Sports would play in its first season.
The TTPSL then applied to the TTFA for associate membership which was promptly denied.
Warner suggested that the organisation was turning back the clock by centralizing the sport in Port of Spain. He stated that the League’s constitution was unacceptable and argued that under FIFA rules, it was a proprietary league and could not be entertained. He immediately banned all players, officials and others associated with the league from any relatiohsip with the governing body.
Suite called on Warner to say what part of his constitution was in breech but his letter was ignored. Nevertheless the league opened with a Disney parade on June 5, 1981, complete with Mickey Mouse characters.
It came at a time when a new breed of player was emerging and the top players were no longer contented to play without financial rewards.
When the season ended, the ASL team won both the league and the knock out title in matches that were all contested in front of good crowds at the PSA Centre.
The teams which stayed in the TTFA’s National League were Defence Force, Memphis, Tesoro Palo Seco, Police, Tarouca Utd, Maple, Malvern, Point Fortin Civic Centre, TESCA, Peterborough, Benefica, Telcos, Fulham, Jabloteh, Forest Reserve Police and Tesoro.
Defence Force won both the league and FA Trophy. Although ending with the same 47 points as Palo Seco in the league, their goal difference was much superior. It was less difficult for them in the FA Trophy final where they slammed Memphis 5-0.
Despite losing some of the major players, Trinidad and Tobago won the Caribbean Football Union’s Nation’s Cup in Puerto Rico.
The team was: Michael Maurice, Shurland Richards, Reynold George, Wayne Joseph, Joel Rahim, Colin Skeene, Curtis Murrell, C. Riley, Garfield De Silva, Patrick Geoffroy, Terry Williams, Cleveland Mendes, Oscar Waldron, Nevick Denoon, Frank Haynes, Alvin Anderson., Keith Eddy, Veron Skinner, Garnet Craig, Bert Neptune and Michael Didier.
Eddy and Skinner scored in 2-0 wins against St Vincent and the Grenadines and Guadeloupe and Cleveland Mendes got a double, and Skinner, Craig, Haynes and Joseph all scored in a 6-0 rout against Puerto Rico.
The following year, the TTPSL amended its constitution to come in line with the requirements of FIFA and were granted affiliate status by the TTFA.
Now called the Carib Professional league, it had grown from eight to twelve teams.
They were BWIA ASL Sports , Strikers, Malvern, Memphis, Ebonites, Police, Modniks, Falcons, ECM Motown, Challengers, Essex and Cocorite United.
The TTFA competition which was called the Stag National Football league comprised 16 teams as follows: Jabloteh, Forest Reserve Estate Police, Maple, Defence Force, Palo Seco, Point Fortin Civic Centre, Leeds United , Tacarigua Utd, Caroni, Fulham, Peterborough, Concordians, Barataria Ball Players, Texaco, Benefica and Telcos.
Immediately, there was a dramatic swing in the sport as several foreign teams, on the invitation of Suite visited and played against ASL Sports and the national team.
The United States visited for the first time and drew 1-1 with their host before beating a Trinidad
and Tobago team 2-1.
Suriname beat the National team 3-2 but lost 1-0 to ASL Sports. English team Arsenal won against ASL Sports 3-2 but beat a representative team from the league 2-0 while Ireland won their only game against ASL 3-1. Manchester United also won two games 2-1 and 4-1 while Bermuda battled a Trinidad and Tobago team 2-2 in the opening match of the season.
Two Brazilian powerhouses, Flamengo - the team of superstars Zico and Junior and Corinthians also played a game each. Flamengo beat ASL 3-1 and their countrymen went on a goal spree in an 8-2 rout.
ASL won the league but Memphis won both the Premier Cup and the People’s KO trophy. The Defence Force also repeated their success of the previous year by winning the Stag sponsored NFL.
Perhaps, the most bizarre aspect of the season was when the national team aborted plans to go to the CAC Games in Cuba in August.
Having prepared for the tournament, the players were at the airport and all set to board the plane when one of the players, Brian Williams was declared medically unfit by a doctor. The Association reacted angrily and withdrew the team.
Before the year ended, there was good news for football when Suite and the TTFA settled their differences and agreed on one major league for the 1983 season. It was noticeable during the year that there was a lot of negotiations between officials of the PSL and the TTFA.
And on December 8, 1983, an agreement was reached for one body - the Trinidad and Tobago Football league (TTFL) to replace the two rival leagues.
The new league included the top five teams from both PSL and NSL and were joined by the National Under 21 team for the season.
They were : BWIA ASL Sports Club, ECM Sports, Malvern, HAS Cocorite, KFC Memphis (PSL) and Defence Force, Tac arigua United, Forest Reserve Estate Police , Leeds United and Tesoro Palo Seco (NFL).
The TTFA’s constitution was changed to permit Suite to become first vice-president of the association.
The agreement gave ASL Properties Limited a franchise to run the Trinidad and Tobago Football League (TTFL) on a day to day basis while the TTFA continued to run football in the lower divisions.
ASL won both the league and FA Trophy but the year proved to be disastrous as far as club football was concerned. Excessive rain disrupted the fixtures and attendences at matches were poor.
By the year end, Suite announced the League was folding.
The most significant development during the year, however, was the elevation of Warner to the FIFA executive. At the beginning of the year, Warner was appointed to the FIFA executive after Andre Kamperveen, the CFU representative was killed in Suriname during an uprising in that country. Warner 39, was the youngest person to be placed on the FIFA body as the average age was 55. He attended his first meeting of the governing body for football on May 19, 1983 in Switzerland and one month later was elected president of the Caribbean Football Union, to replace Kamperveen.
But any smiles that came to his face as a result of his promotions, were wiped off his face by the end of the season in December when a group calling itself the ‘Interim Committee’ headed by St Elmo Gopaul called for an extra ordinary general meeting of the TAFA to debate a motion of no-confidence in the body.
Letters were sent to the President, the Minister of Sport and following an avalanche of letters which were published in the newspapers, the TTFA agreed to the meeting.
On February 12, 1984, at a seven-hour meeting in Central, Trinidad rejected the motion 70-43 with two abstentions.
In spite of the folding of the joint league and the motion of no confidence in the Association’s Suite’s ASL was among the 12 teams in the National Football league for the 1984 season which opened with a match between an India team and Trinidad and Tobago at the National Stadium. The Indians won the game 3-1 with Nevick Denoon scoring for the home team but the season was a major flop with spectators staying away.
ASL again won the league with 57 points after 22 matches. Their nearest rivals were Defence Force who had 46 points.
The two teams were among qualifiers for the ‘Big Four’ series later in the year, a series that was expected to attract crowd support and therefore income for the Association. But Suite told the TTFA that the club was not be taking part. However, after the Association found a replacement, Suite changed his mind and decided to play. But the TTFA refused to the change its position and ASL was not allowed in the series. Suite promptly announced that ASL would not be taking part in the TTFA competition the following season. That set the stage for more confrontation between ASL and the TTFA.
On January 14, 1985, Suite launched the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). He had in his corner some of the top names in local football. These included former national player and coach Alvin Corneal, Edgar Vidale, Ken Butcher, Ken Bartolo and Suite’s brother Cecil.
The Association responded by declaring the organisers persona non grata with its president Peter O' Connor stating: “They can do it but they will not be part of international football.’
The TTFF was a direct rival to the Association and attempted to compete with it by playing a zonal competition instead of the national league.
ASL won the north zone but there was none of the interest of the past years. Defence Force, as was expected dominated the TTFA’s National league and then survived a torrid 1-1 draw with Trintoc in the FA Trophy final before winning a penalty shootout after 20 shots on goal.
Earlier, the season opened with Manchester United and Southampton playing to a 1-1 draw at the National Stadium - a game that attracted 18,000 fans. Another English team Bradford City also visited. They won and lost but more importantly, they saw a young man by the name of Russell Latapy and invited him for trials.
Latapy, at 14 years, was voted the country’s footballer of the year in 1983 after dominating the Coca Cola Youth series in which he was voted “MVP.’ His trial with Bradford City would set the stage for a career that would see him earning the sobriquet of ‘The Little Magician,’ a tribute to his excellence at midfield. Eventually, he played with Porto in Portugal before moving to Hibernian in Scotland and then to Rangers. His trial with Bradford City set the stage for hundreds of others to follow and by the time 2000 reached, Trinidad and Tobago had nearly 50 players with professional contracts in Europe.
These included Tobago-born Dwight Yorke who started with Aston Villa before earning a lucrative $12.5 million pound transfer to the top English team Manchester United. Players like Shaka Hislop (West Ham), Stern John (Nott Forest), Anthony Rougier, Marvin Andrews (Livingston) were among those who followed Latapy into professional careers.
But the 1985 confrontation between the two bodies led to difficult times for the sport. The game had already suffered from the PSL conflict, losing public confidence which ultimately had a negative effect on the revenues of the association.
With two organisation competing in a diminishing market, none could do well.
