Prisons FC slam Super League chaos

Ferdinand Bibby, president of Prisons Service FC, issued a media release on Tuesday expressing their extreme disappointment.

On Sunday, the league’s competition manager, Richard Piper, issued a media release, at 6.21 pm, announcing Prisons were the 2019 champions after their game against Police FC, at the YTC Ground in Arouca, ended in a 2-2 draw. Prisons have a total of 29 points, four more than nearest challengers Bethel United, who have a game in hand.

However, at 6.50 pm on Sunday, the league sent another release, indicating Bethel were successful in appealing the disciplinary committee’s decision to award Police the win in their November 10 clash.

That game between Bethel and Police, which took place at the Mt Gomery Recreation Ground, ended 2-0 in Bethel’s favour. But Police protested the unfit conditions at the venue, and were later awarded a 3-0 win, by default, from the disciplinary committee.

Bethel's successful appeal now puts them just one point behind Prisons with a game against Matura ReUnited in the final round and a chance of leapfrogging into first place. Both Police FC and Prisons FC claimed to be in the dark about Bethel's appeal when they played to a draw on Sunday. A Police FC official on Tuesday told Newsday the club on Monday appealed the reversal of the disciplinary committee's ruling.

Prisons Service FC are now asking a few questions – when was Bethel’s appeal lodged and did it meet the required timelines stipulated by the league; when and where did this appeals committee meet and decide upon Bethel’s appeal; and why the decision of the appeals committee was only communicated to clubs the night after the final round of competition.

According to the club, “The Super League has displayed itself as a beacon for good governance but will be susceptible to despotism if negative behaviours are left unchecked when displayed.”

SOURCE: T&T Newsday

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Prison FC challenges Bethel’s Super League appeal.
By Walter Alibey (Guardian).

Up­set over last-minute claims that Prison Ser­vice FC, with 29 points at the top of the stand­ings, may not be the even­tu­al win­ners of the Ter­minix Su­per League, the club’s pres­i­dent, Fer­di­nand Bib­by, has called for clar­i­fi­ca­tion from the league on an ap­peal which could po­ten­tial­ly snatch the ti­tle right out of their hands.

Af­ter Sun­day’s 2-2 tie be­tween Prison Ser­vice and Po­lice, league or­gan­is­er Richard Piper, in an email, had in­formed the me­dia of the Prison’s tri­umph and con­grat­u­lat­ed the Arou­ca-based team for win­ning the ti­tle. Less than half-an-hour lat­er, how­ev­er, Piper sent out an­oth­er email in­form­ing the me­dia that Bethel Unit­ed FC had won an ap­peal which took them to 28 points and could clinch the ti­tle if they beat Matu­ra Re­Unit­ed in their fi­nal match at a date and time to be de­ter­mined.

In a three-page doc­u­ment on Tues­day, how­ev­er, Bib­by called for trans­paren­cy and clar­i­ty in the mat­ter, say­ing it was caus­ing dis­tress among the af­fect­ed clubs. In his let­ter of con­cern, Bib­by asked: “When was Bethel Unit­ed’s ap­peal lodged and did it meet the re­quired time­lines stip­u­lat­ed by the TTSL? When and where did this Ap­peals Com­mit­tee meet and de­cid­ed up­on Bethel Unit­ed’s ap­peal? and, Why the de­ci­sion of the Ap­peals Com­mit­tee was on­ly com­mu­ni­cat­ed to clubs the night af­ter the fi­nal round of the com­pe­ti­tion?”

Ac­cord­ing to Bib­by, “It is clear that Piper, the Com­pe­ti­tion Man­ag­er, ei­ther wasn’t in­formed of the pend­ing hear­ing of Bethel Unit­ed’s ap­peal, or failed, or re­fused to in­form the clubs of the fact pri­or to com­ple­tion of the last round of foot­ball (with the ob­vi­ous im­pli­ca­tion of the de­ci­sion on the ti­tle race).”

He added, “If Piper, TTSL Com­pe­ti­tion Man­ag­er, didn’t know of Bethel Unit­ed’s ap­peal then who knew? Pe­ter Thomas, TTSL Sec­re­tary, is the of­fi­cial con­duit of protests and ap­peals for the TTSL. Thomas was in­formed of the hear­ing of Bethel Unit­ed’s ap­peal and failed or re­fused to in­form Piper or the clubs of the fact of the pend­ing ap­peal pri­or to com­ple­tion of the last round of foot­ball (with the ob­vi­ous im­pli­ca­tions of the de­ci­sion on the ti­tle race).”