‘A brand new start,’ TTGameplan to manage Republic Cup

The 29th edition of the Republic Cup National Youth Football League (NYFL) will commence on February 8 and will conclude on May 3.

The announcement was made at the launch of the 2025 edition of the competition at the Republic Bank Sports Club in Barataria on January 9. At the launch, it was also disclosed that TTGameplan, the brainchild of media practitioner Dennis Allen, will be the new organiser of the Republic Cup.

Allen promised to bring some “razzle-dazzle” to the competition with greater fan engagement and a bigger social media push as he seeks to build on its long history, with TT Football Association (TTFA) third vice-president James Rigues also looking forward to a successful staging of the competition, which will be the first iteration under the Kieron Edwards-led TTFA.

Registration for teams will start on January 11 and closes on January 25.

There will be under-14, under-17 and under-20 divisions among the boys, with an under-17 division being contested among the girls. There will be four zones in Trinidad – Central, East, North, South – to go along with the Tobago zone. Last season, Tobago’s Ball Blasters Youth Academy won the boys’ under-14 age group, with Pro Series and Evolution FC winning the respective under-16 and under-20 boys’ titles. Pro Series also showed their mettle in the girls’ under-20 competition after getting by Tobago Chicas in the Champions of Champions final.

Last year, the winners of the Trinidad leg of the competition played the Tobago winners to crown a national champ. This year, Allen said there will be a change in that format, with the Tobago teams set to enter the competition in the second round. There will also be a draw for the “Sweet 16” phase of the tournament, which Allen said is sure to generate excitement from the fans.

The competition will observe a round-robin format before proceeding to the knockout phase, with all knockout games set to be streamed live. Wired868 will be the league’s official media partner, along with Tobago Sports Live.

Gateway Athletics oversaw the Republic Cup for the last three seasons. In November, Gateway’s managing director Shem Alexander was arrested by the Jamaican authorities for allegedly trafficking guns and ammunition from the US to TT.

Allen said those circumstances have nothing to do with the excellent work Republic Bank has done with the tournament over the years and he wants the focus to be on the young footballers over the next few months.

“This tournament is the biggest investment in youth sport in the country, aside from track and field,” the TTGameplan owner said. “We’re going to play a lot of beautiful football…whatever happens with anybody else, that is for them and their legal team to deal with.”

Asked if the allegations against the former organiser of the competition will hurt the tournament’s integrity in any way, Allen replied, “No, those issues have nothing to do with this. If you examine the reporting, which is a lot of it highly speculative, all we really know is something happened and somebody was charged. That’s nothing to do with this league.

“We’re talking about a brand new start and we’re talking about a new direction for a tournament that’s bigger and has been beyond all those things for the longest while,” Allen said. “This year’s tournament is going to be building on a legacy that has been the benchmark for excellence in youth football in TT…it’s important to understand that while we want to sensationalise the hype, we need to understand the kinda commitment this bank has put into youth and sport. Not for the first time, (but) for the 29th time. That’s going to be the focus.”

This was TTGameplan’s second bid to oversee the Republic Cup, as Allen said they had placed an unsuccessful bid last year.

“I was not part of the decision-making process so I can’t speak to that.

“What I can say is that TTGameplan is a safe pair of hands and we’ll be mindful of the strong traditions and history of this tournament, but we’ll also be adding our own razzle-dazzle to elements that we thought in the past would have been perhaps, underserved.”

The Republic Bank officials didn’t disclose the number of organisations who placed bids to run this year’s tournament.

Having established TTGameplan in 2010, Allen said the entity is best known for its digital content, media services and sports consultancy across varying sporting disciplines. He said the execution of the Republic Cup will be a continuation of TTGameplan’s work, but on a bigger scale.

Allen has extensive experience in sport, having been a basketball player and coach for many years, to go along with executive roles within the basketball fraternity.

Allen’s team will include Chris Gill, who will serve as the financial manager of the tournament, as well as Mike Awai, who will be the football operations manager.