When the T&T Football Association (TTFA) National Super League resumes on Sunday, one of the most recognisable teams in the country, Joe Public, will be absent from the fixture list.
The club gave the TTFA notice of its withdrawal from the National Super League and the Eastern Football Association (EFA) First Division, on Wednesday.
Contacted yesterday, the club’s general manager, Sam Phillips, said he was not in a position to reveal detailed information regarding the circumstances of the club’s withdrawal, but he did confirm that the reason was primarily financial.
Joe Public was only one of two teams (league leader WASA FC the other) to play six matches this season, more than any other club. It managed just one draw and five losses.
The club finished second from bottom last season and only remained in the Super League because of the league’s expansion. The zonal EFA team also struggled this and last season. The club was relegated from the EFA Premier Division last season and sat at the bottom of the First Division standings at the time of its withdrawal, with two opening losses.
Prior to last year’s troubled campaign, the club was regarded among the strongest in the country.
Most recently, the club captured the National Super League treble in the 2011/2012 season, winning the league, knockout and Christmas Cup competitions, then finished runner-up in the league to WASA FC the season after.
Joe Public’s Super League treble winning season came within the same year it withdrew from the TT Pro League. It secured three Pro League titles (1998, 2006 and 2009), two FA trophy titles and two CFU Club Championships titles in 1998 and 2000. It joined the country’s top tier football league in 1997, a year after its establishment by Jack Warner, former vice president at Fifa and TTFF special advisor.
A manager at the club suggested that the club’s coaching school will remain in operation.
TTFA general secretary, Sheldon Phillips advised that the TTFA’s Tournaments and Competitions Committee will review the matter to alter the current standings and upcoming fixtures. The adjusted standings is expected to be released before the league’s resumption on Sunday.
For the club to rejoin the Super League, it will be required to enter the EFA’s First Division and gain promotion to the Premier Division, before playing the Champions of Champions Super League qualifiers.
In the club’s prime, it boasted the services of current national captain Kenwyne Jones and former T&T international players Kerry Baptiste, Brent Sancho, Arnold Dwarika, Cyd Gray and others.
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