Jabloteh out Pro League

Chairman of Jabloteh Sports Club Jerry Hospedales stated, “the club would suspend immediately all operations relating to its senior football, after having closed earlier, its women’s football and youth clinic activities.”

Hospedales pointed out that the decision was taken on Saturday “in the context of its financial constraints, to restructure its operations to bring its revenue streams into approximate balance with its expenditure profile.”

Hospedales, the long-standing chairman, added, “while the club remains under acute financial stress, it would continue its youth football activities during a transitional period and in the context of its current financing arrangements. The netball (team) would continue as it has been doing under its own fund-raising initiatives.”

Jabloteh, founded in 1974 with the aim of uplifting the socio-economic and moral condition of the young people of San Juan and its environs, was named after a national bird — the oil or devil bird — which resides in the Aripo Caves. According to the team’s website, “originally, the French settlers called the Bird ‘Les Diables Oiseaux’ which were translated by the local settlers into ‘Diablotin’ and finally ‘Jabloteh’.”

Jabloteh converted itself from a youth organisation into a professional club in 1994, upon the formation of the Semi Professional League by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). CL Financial came on board in 1996 to fund the team’s affairs, and Jabloteh finished fourth in the Semi Pro League from 1997-1999.

The Semi Pro was upgraded to the Pro League in 1999 and Jabloteh, one of the League’s founding members, were the title-winners in 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008, as well as the FA Cup holders in 1998, 2005 and 2010/2011, and the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship in 2003.

The San Juan-based club claimed the First Citizens Cup (1999, 2000 and 2003), the Big Six Cup (2004, 2006 and 2008), the Digicel Pro Bowl (2005 and 2006) and the Toyota Classic (2008). And they also competed in the CONCACAF Club Champions Cup (now called CONCACAF Champions League) in 2004, 2009 and 2010.

Hospedales said, “since becoming a professional entity, the club has been discharging a mandate focussed on providing avenues through which the young people in the high-risk and under-privileged communities of the East/West corridor could earn incomes while utilising their natural talents.”

He issued his gratitude to a number of sponsors who made the club stay afloat — CLICO “for its stable financial support”, as well as First Citizens, IBWILL Insurance Brokers, Express Drugs, Adam’s Construction Limited, Bmobile and the Ministry of Sport who “also provided intermittent financial support”.