4 hours ago
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WALTER ALIBEY
Senior Multimedia Reporter
This year’s Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premier Division will be called the SSFL SporTT Boys Premier Division League and will be held in honour of the former long-standing SSFL general secretary, Azaad Khan.
Khan was a gentle giant in the administration of the sport before his passing in November last year. He served as a teacher, dean and vice-principal and shaped the lives of generations of students.
At the launch of the League at the Bamboo Room at the Cycling Velodrome in Couva, yesterday, Khan was remembered on the verge of its start which will take place at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Balmain, Couva tomorrow afternoon.
The programme will feature last year’s Coca-Cola Girls National InterCol winner Pleasantville Secondary School in a clash with Signal Hill Secondary, the Big Five winners, at 3 pm for the Girls Super Cup. The boys, multiple-title winners Naparima College will face St Benedict’s College at 5 pm in the feature showdown.
Fatima College holds the Super Cup title, having triumphed 4-2 over St Benedict’s from the penalty spot last year; however, Naparima College may fancy their chances, as they remain confident after a clean sweep of titles that excludes only the Super Cup. Under coach Angus Eve, the Southerners clinched the Premier Division crown, the South Zone InterCol, and the National InterCol crown.
This year, 17 teams will contest the feature premiership division, with the bottom four teams set to be relegated and three from the Championship Division to be promoted to revert to the normal 16 teams.
Last month, the Sport Company came to the rescue of the League when challenges on the air and sea bridges for Tobago teams threatened to cut the participation of the teams in the sister-isle.
The Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Phillip Watts, and officials of the SporTT assured a 17-team format by offsetting the airbridge expenses totalling TT$406,700 in the premiership division.
The league will comprise the reigning champion—Naparima, St Benedict’s, Presentation, Fatima, St Anthony’s, St Mary’s, Trinity Moka and East, Hillview, and Queen’s Royal Colleges, together with Arima North Secondary, San Juan North Secondary, Malick Secondary, St Augustine Secondary, Mucurapo West Secondary and the Tobago duo of Signal Hill and Speyside Secondary Schools.
The SSFL will organise action in the Championship Division and the lower divisions, such as form 1, Under-14, 15 and the girls’ divisions.
Following the closure of SportsMax two years ago, the SSFL still secured the services of First Citizens, Shell, Coca-Cola, Sunshine Snacks, and a plethora of streaming companies such as Wave, ScorchTV, Brandon Cavalio at FLOW with Vinode Mamchan’s 360TV, and Shane Correia at Foundation Park.
President of the SSFL, Merere Gonzales, said that since they will have no shortage of media coverage for the top-flight tournament. This is to eliminate the error of not having coverage for the league.
Founded in 1964, the school’s league has been established and rooted in the culture of T&T’s sporting history as the most advanced and developed youth competition. The League, Gonzales said, has worked closely with the T&T Football Association to provide players for the national teams.
Gonzales, a former FIFA referee, pointed to the number of players earning positions on the country’s youth teams for the Concacaf tournaments earlier this year, saying 85 per cent of the players were players from various school teams.
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