Southwest Drillers new boys in Pro League

THERE will be a new team in the T&T Pro League when the 2004 season kicks off in April this year. The newcomers will be Southwest Drillers, a merger of Southwest Institute of Football (SWIF) and Point Fortin Civic Centre. Drillers will begin preparing for the Pro League from Wednesday at their “home” ground, Mahaica Oval, Point Fortin. Last season, SWIF made their debut to professional football and because of poor assistance from corporate citizens in the deep South, struggled throughout the season managing to finish only ninth of ten teams.

The SWIF squad comprised youths from the La Brea, Palo Seco, Siparia and Fyzabad communities, but this year Southwest Drillers will embrace their peers from “Black City” (Point Fortin). And since there were several top national footballers coming out of the South including ex-Strike Squad defenders Brian Williams and Floyd “Ninja” Lawrence who are among the Drillers coaching staff, it was very disappointing to see the lack of support from the oil companies in particular. According to technical director and ex-national striker Edgar Vidale, “It is unbelievable that SWIF could not get sponsorship.

“This part of the country produced some of the best football teams and players in local football history, and companies like Shell, Texaco, Trintopec and Trintoc were always willing to support football. “Today we had to go begging around for assistance.” He said, “Civic Centre have joined us so we now represent the entire area and we are bringing all the youths together in the deep South, so hopefully the big companies and contractors who operate all over the area will come forward and help.” Also among the coaching squad is Neville Frederick. Southwest Drillers are also planning to produce teams in the under-20, under-17 and under-15 age groups.