Top cop laments no Police in Pro league

POLICE football section chairman Senior Superintendent Randolph Protain has lamented the withdrawal of ex-national champions Police from the TT Pro League because of lack of funds.

He noted the lawmen were “Team of the Year” in the South Zone last year, but expressed concern about the inability of a police team to play at the highest level because of financial constraints. Snr Supt Protain made the comments when the 2003 Police Inter-Department Football League was launched at the Police Training Centre, St James Barracks last Saturday. “There is need to understand the importance of police football as part of the community relations thrust, and there must be further emphasis by senior officers on football and by extension sports on the whole, to make that impression on the community,” Protain said. The Inter-Department League was officially opened by Acting Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs. “Police football has served as a nursery for senior police teams,” Ag CoP Snaggs said. “There was a time when Police were one of the stronger teams in national football.”

The top cop expressed the hope Police footballers will return to the force they were in the past. He later kicked off the ball to formally start the new season, a powerful  right footer from the half line, which  just missed the goal. Port-of-Spain edged Western Division 2-1on penalty kicks, after the teams battled to a 0-0 deadlock at the end of regulation time. There were ten teams in the march past which was won by Court and Process Section. In the round-robin series Western Division shut out CID  2-0 with a Sean Rosales double; and PoS Division edged Northern Division 3-2 on penalty kicks to advance to the final. Action in the league began yesterday with two matches, Traffic Branch vs PoS and Police Training College vs Eastern Division.  All matches kick off at 4 pm at the St James Barracks.