Semi-pro Superleague kicks off

The inaugural $160,000 Superleague Semi-professional Football League will kick off this Saturday with matches throughout Trinidad.

The league will be managed by All Sports Promotion and was launched yesterday in the pavilion of the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. Managing director of All Sport, Anthony Harford revealed that a shortened version of the league will be played this year with the promise of a much larger tournament next May. “We have been in negotiations with the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) and  only recently we struck a deal. With such little time to market the league it was not possible to play an expanded tournament at this time. We will play one round and expand the league next year to two rounds with a promotion and demotion system,” said Harford. The new competition replaces the Semi-Professional Football League played a few seasons ago. First vice-president of the TTFF, Lennox Watson said that when the professional league was formed, a void was left in local football. He said the Superleague will fill that crucial position. A total of 66 matches will be played this season and there will be no promotions or demotions. ”With only one round to go it is a bit of a lottery, so demoting and promoting a team is not really fair,” Harford said.

The teams chosen for the Semi-Professional Superleague are the two winners of the different regional associations. The champion team will walk away with $25,000, the runners-up $12,000 and third place $7,000. The league carries no title sponsor this season and Harford stated that there will be category sponsors instead. Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Roger Boynes was also on hand at the launch and promised to assist the semi-professional league. “The government is putting aside $7 million to assist football in this country and we are going to meet with the TTFF this week to put plans in place to help football. We are confident that we can raise the level of football in this country to what it once was and even better. “I am particularly pleased with the fact that you now have the semi-professional league. Teams can now move from the semi-professional league to the professional league, as now there is a structured system in place,” said Boynes. The teams taking part in the series this season are: Caroni FC, TCL Samba Boys, Mayaro Spurs, Tamana United, WASA Clean and White, Crab Connection, Defence Force, Maraval Youth Academy, Police FC, Club Sando, St Clair Coaching School and BI Water Stokely Vale.