Point-a-Pierre based petroleum company, Petrotrin, has pulled its professional football club United Petrotrin FC out of the TT Pro League ahead of the 2010 season.
The financially strapped petroleum company made the disappointing decision last Friday to pull its professional football club out of the upcoming season—which is scheduled to begin in April.
Chairman of the football club and Communications Manager at Petrotrin Arnold Corneal spoke with www.ttproleague.com on Tuesday morning and said, “We made the decision last week Friday. The reason being, is that we are going to put more into youth development in our fence-line communities.”
Corneal added, “Looking at the circumstances in our company now, and the cost of participation in the League, it is something that we have to defer at this time.”
“We started this club with two teams—reserve and senior. Now we were up to five teams and we have to be mindful of our financial situation,” said Corneal.
Asked if the pullout would be a permanent one, the United Petrotrin explained that his company would look at the possibilities in the future. And as of now, they are out of the 2010 season.
United Petrotrin FC was formed in 2005, and was home to notable players such as Anthony Rougier, Romauld Aguillera, Keon Daniel and most recently Arnold Dwarika, Cyd Gray, Nigel Pierre, Gary Glasgow and Aurtis Whitley.
Under former coach Brian Williams, the oilmen won the Big Six and Toyota Classic.
Williams was replaced by Brazilian Marcos Tinoco for the 2009 season, and despite a host of big names in his squad, the Oilmen finished seventh with just 30 points in the Digicel Pro League and failed to make the Big Six two points behind Defence Force FC.
“As a purest and someone who has grown up in football, it is sad for me,” continued a disappointed United Petrotrin FC chairman over his team’s pullout of the TT Pro League. “But I understand and accept the company’s position.”
However the club’s chairman said that the company is still committed to youth development adding, “I can say that we will still significantly contribute to youth development.
“And as for players who played for us professionally last season, we are working on moving them to foreign as well as local clubs,” he said.
Coneal preferred not to reveal players’ names or clubs but was comfortable to reveal that Vietnam and Colombia were a couple of possible destinations for some players.
United Petrotrin FC’s TT Pro League history
League Championship
2009—7th
2008—6th
2007—7th
2006—8th
2005—6th
Toyota Classic winners—2006
(Lucozade Sport) Big Six winners—2005