More football confusion and bacchanal; no not quite the TTFA, their bacchanal will come later with the home of football and non-compliant clubs, but this time it’s the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL).
The SSFL is dear to all of our hearts. Some would have either played in that league from the time you entered Secondary School starting from the Form 1 league, to under -14 (Giants) then to Under-16 (Colts) and then to Seniors i.e. 1st or 2nd XI.
It is indeed sad to see all the off the field antics from some of the schools in what can only be described as a ‘win at all costs’ attitude.
This has left a sour taste on what has been an exciting 2017 season. At the end of a round of matches, the standing is tabulated based on the on field results, now suddenly within the next day or two, it changes to off the field decisions from the protest room.
Trying to get your star footballers to either repeat Form 5 or have them progress into Form 6 has always been around since I’ve known the SSFL or formally the Colleges Football League. What has honestly stunned me is the level of dishonesty some schools are going to just to try to win the league. I never realised the first prize was US$ 1 million. Even if it was or more, the schools are using these students to get into the school without the proper qualifications and further, what type of example are you setting for these young men? Are they to think that to move ahead in the working world after leaving school is to get documents, falsify them and everything will be fine? This is serious fraud.
I honestly think the SSFL executive is doing a fine job but they lack control over these schools. What they have done, which is commendable, is set the criteria in which boys can play in the league providing they have the correct grades. They have set up the credentials committee but they can only look at documents that they receive from the schools so who would falsify documents? Would it be the boys? The school has to have some sort of criteria in accepting boys either from a transfer or going from Form 5 into Form 6. I also understand to earn entry into Form 6, one requires a signature from a supervisor in the Ministry of Education, therefore, it is correct to assume that the certificates of all students would be seen by the Ministry so the question arises, how did these “bogus” certificates get through? I would think you don’t need a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
Such behaviour cannot be tolerated by any school and I applaud the action by the SSFL. In addition to action being taken against the school, there must be certain individuals or individual who have to take responsibility for these deceitful actions. It is painfully obvious that this action was done to deceive the officials of the league and while I do realise that every school differs in terms of responsibility, in some cases it could just be one PE teacher who is trying his best to get his “stars” back into school; but there must be a line of authority to ensure the rules are not broken.
I understand that another matter is being looked at concerning a top school which is in the title race. The school has infringed on a rule which is clear for all to see. However, they are being tapped on the wrist thereby being let off with a warning because the school is claiming it was naïve. The school cannot be serious. “Naïve?” The rule is as clear as a sunny day at Maracas. I sincerely hope that my information is wrong and that the SSFL executive is as stern with every single school in this twin-island republic as it can be, and give no quarter to none.
It is a pity that I am not writing about some of the entertaining football that has been on show because even though some of the technical aspects of some games have not been great, we have been blessed with good goals, excitement and commitment from the players but we will have to leave on the field action for another time. To all the schools—let’s play fair and ensure the best school team in the land comes away victorious.
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