Three weeks ago, members of the powerful Trintoc football team of the 1980s held a reunion to mark the 25th anniversary of the birth of the "Pride of the South", as the team was popularly called.
Venue was Clifton Hill Club, Point Fortin, and special awards were given to some of the men who guided Trintoc to the heights of regional football. Among the lot was former coach Muhammad Isa and ex-manager Richard Braithwaite. In fact it was Braithwalte and Isa, together with Rawle "Pops' Samuel and George John, who formed the Trintoc team in 1980, entering the Point Fortin Football League that year. Trintoc won the League title and then entered the fourth division of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (T&TFA), which they also won in their first try. That year the team also set two local football records-they beat Expro of Belmont 17-2 in Point Fortin, and Adrian Fonrose netted a phenomenal 62 goals in a single season.
By the end of the decade Trintoc had won every title in local soccer and became Caribbean champions in 1988 when they beat Seba United of Jamaica in the final. By that time the team was a who's who of national football with 12 players on the national squad, including Russell Latapy, Clayton Morris, Philbert Jones, Fonrose, Larry Joseph, Brian Williams, Marvin Faustin, Leonson Lewis, Garnet Craig, Anthony Streete, Patrick Geoffroy and Trevor Fredericks.
Current coach of W Connection, Stuart Charles-Fevrier was also on the squad and played the sweeper role in several memorable victories, including a 5-0 thrashing of Defence Force at Arima to capture the National League in 1986. In that game, "Marvellous" Marvin Faustin scored with an overhead bicycle kick that many still claim is one of the best goals ever in local football.
During this period another oil-based team, Trintopec, also rose to prominence under the astute leadership of former national coach Edgar Vidale.
In 1992, the Government decided to bring together both companies-Trintoc and Trintopec-and withy this came Petrotrin. It was then decided to join both football squads and United Petrotrin was born. Braithwaite, who was appointed public relations manager of Petrotrin, recalls that "Football was the number one sport in that part of the country and we were looking for a symbol to show that Trintoc and Trintopec were now one company, so we came up with the name United Petrotrin. We brought together the best players from the communities in which Petrotrin operated and as a result we got a lot of community support."
Current Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation vice-president, Rudolph Thomas, took over as manager of the team with the experienced Vidale as technical director.
United Petrotrin took up where Trintoc and Trintopec left off, winning several national championships, including two FA Trophy titles. A new generation of national players also emerged, among them Angus Eve, Anthony Rougier and Peter Prosper. Highlight of this era was undoubtedly the narrow 1-0 loss in Washington, USA, to the powerful Major League Soccer (MLS) team, DC United, in the semifinal of the 1994 CONCACAF Club Championship.
However, soon after there was a change in the management of the company and funding for football was considerably reduced. As a result, United Petrotrin went into decline and the team was eventually disbanded.
This had a major impact on football throughout the southland as for the first time in almost 40 years there was no team from South Trinidad competing at the highest level of local football. Many of the region's top footballers migrated to clubs in north and East Trinidad and the number of clubs playing in the Southern Football Association (SFA) fell to just 12 teams.
In an effort to revive football in the south, a group of concerned southerners formed the Southwest Institute of Football (SWIF), but the response from the business sector was poor. Fortunately a football godfather emerged in the person of Petrotrin chairman, Malcolm Jones, a diehard football fan who was recently in Bahrain for the historic victory which put the "Soca Warriors" into the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
With his support , United Petrotrin was reborn and the "oil squad" returned to top flight football earlier this year. However, the youthful team had a shaky start and spent most of the season near the bottom of the Professional League. Brian Williams was now head coach and Edgar Vidale assumed the role of technical adviser with Ronald Brereton as manager. A new management committee was installed, which included Arnold Corneal, Petrotrin's communications manager; Rudolph Thomas; former national player Richard Quan Chan; and the highly-respected veteran of south football, Dennis Turton.
As the season went along the team showed slight improvement, but the inexperience of the young players was obvious especially in defence where several blunders cost United Petrotrin valuable points. Salvation was not far away however, and with the return of three former players, Peter Prosper, Felix Seales and former national captain Anthony Rougier, the "oil squad" started to win matches. Rougier was made captain and his influence was immediate as he led the team by example, showing that he still had a lot of football left in him.
It all came together during the recent Professional Football League's Lucozade "Big Six"tournament in which United Petrotrin played unbeaten. On their way to the title , the southerners beat three-time national champions W Connection (3-2), Defence Force(2-1) and North East Stars (1-0). They also held the mighty San Juan Jabloteh to a 1-1 draw.
In a few short weeks United Petrotrin had moved from the cellar position to the top of the heap and big plans are already underway for 2006.
After a long wait, southern football fans can smile once more. The "Pride of the South" is back with a bang.
Coach Brian Williams says: "I think the team performed very well this season...they improved gradually. One of the main reasons for the team's success is because of their hard work, dedication towards the team and being very receptive to coaching.
"United Petrotrin would continue in all aspects to improve the team. With the continued support from Petrotrin we can only be a better unit and force to reckon with."