SSFL disciplinary committee to rule on three matters in the next week

ALTHOUGH the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Big 5 championship division playoffs concluded on March 8, and three teams sealed promotion for the 2024 premier division season, the league’s disciplinary committee will meet on three different matters in the next week.

East zone championship division winners St Augustine Secondary ended the Big 5 campaign unbeaten and finished atop the table with ten points, with Signal Hill Secondary (seven points) and Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School (five points) occupying the second and third spots on the table.

The Big 5 campaign started belatedly on February 2, after the SSFL arbitration committee overturned the original decisions of the league’s disciplinary and appeals committees to punish the Central championship division winners Miracle Ministries and South championship division winners Moruga Secondary for faulty registration of their players.

In January, the SSFL issued an apology for the registration faux pas and they vowed to fix the system moving forward.

Two months after the arbitration committee’s ruling, the SSFL’s disciplinary committee will be in action again. This Friday, they will rule on an incident that took place in the Big 5 game between Signal Hill and Miracle Ministries in Tobago on February 20.

The game finished in a goalless draw, but Miracle Ministries coach Kern Cupid had a coming together with a Signal Hill player near his team’s bench after reacting angrily to taunting by the home team’s opposing player. The incident sparked an angry reaction from Signal Hill players, some of whom charged towards Cupid and the Miracle Ministries bench before tempers were quelled.

Despite there being video evidence of the incident, disciplinary committee chairman Essiel Seecharan said the league’s hands were tied in recent weeks as they were not privy to the referee’s match report.

The next two matters for the disciplinary committee to rule on stem from the same encounter – Signal Hill’s clash with North championship division winners Blanchisseuse Secondary on March 8 in the final round of the Big 5.

Needing a victory to surpass Blacnhisseuse in the standings and clinch a top-three promotion spot, the hosts Signal Hill staged a miraculous comeback in stoppage time as two goals from defender-turned-attacker Imanhi Forbes gave them a 2-1 win and secured their top-three spot.

Speaking to Newsday last week, Blanchisseuse manager Kevon Palmer said “dubious calls” from the officials caused his team the match and also paved the way for a clash between players and fans near the end of the contest.

Blanchisseuse goal-scorer Roger Kirk was sent off in the heated match, to go along with Zakiyus Kirk.

Palmer questioned the decisions made by the referee in sending off the Kirks, and the matter will be a topic of discussion for the disciplinary committee when they meet on March 19.

Also on March 19, the disciplinary committee will hand out possible punishments to the respective Blanchisseuse and Signal Hill teams for their roles in the fracas at the end of the match which saw the Big 5 coming to a quite dramatic close at the latter school’s ground.