The principal and physical education teacher of Fyzabad Secondary were charged yesterday for a committing a grave foul in secondary schools football this season.
The penalty, however, is not a three-match ban.
Instead, Troy Jebodhsingh and Nigel Lakhan were each granted $120,000 bail with a $15,000 cash alternative and will return to court next week.
As they appeared at the San Fernando Magistrate Court, the president of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), William Wallace, was talking to Guardian Media Sports about plans for the league to plug the cracks that have allowed this sort of behavior to go on for decades.
The first plan Wallace has is to listen, and not just listen to his committee, but even those in other sports.
He said: “In terms of going forward, we will be looking to the Ministry of Education to tighten up on some things.
“We on our own [SSFL], would like to invite persons who have an interest in secondary schools cricket and persons in the football fraternity, who may have something to offer in terms of going forward.”
When it comes to the Secondary Schools Cricket League (SSCL), Wallace doesn’t have to go very far to find its president.
The SSCL president teaches at the same school as Wallace, Carapichaima East Secondary.
Speaking to GM Sports yesterday, Surujdath Mahabir noted the SSCL had a credentials committee with strict guidelines. He said the deadline for schools to submit credentials was November 30th this year, which gave the committee enough time to vet who would be playing next year and who would not.
Wallace said he would also seek the suggestions of those who watched the league each week.
“I would like to open it up to the public, persons who have been observing what has been happening over the years and if they have suggestions to make, we will gladly embrace those suggestions once they are workable and within the remit of the Ministry of Education,” he said.
The SSFL president also stressed again about the oncoming database, which would aim to keep track of all the student-footballers around the league.
He said: “If you [players] move from the north zone to the south zone, you will have an ID code that goes with you, so we will be able to track all of the players. Things like that will be able to help.”
He also said the SSFL’s constitution committee would look at the constitution of the league and see which areas could be tightened up.
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