Strugglers will know today whether or not they will replace Central Football Association Premier Division League winners, Leeds United in the T&T Football Federation Champion of Champions (CoC) competition when their matter comes up in court this morning.
By virtue of winning the CFA Premier Division last season, Leeds qualified for the CoC six-team round-robin tournament from which two teams will gain promotion to the bmobile National Super League. The CoC was due to kick off on January 9, however Strugglers filed a court order to stop the tournament.
According to CFA, Brian Layne, Strugglers ended the league season in third spot, however the club was not pleased with the manner in which two protests put forward by the club was dealt with costing them the league title in the end. During the season, CF clubs Predators FC and Leeds were awarded full points from matches against Strugglers which was penalised for using a player who was not properly registered.
Layne said the player was never officially given transfer clearance by the T&T Pro League from one of its professional clubs and was therefore not cleared to play for Strugglers. The default win for Leeds helped the club capture the league title while they also swept the knockout competition. UTT was second in the league while Strugglers was third and Predators, fourth.
Following the injunction filed by Strugglers, the CFA was then given 14 days to put its house in order and today will be represented in the San Fernando High Court by Attorney-at-Law Om Lalla when the matter comes up before Madame Justice Judith Jones at 9 am. Attorney-at-Law Samuel Saunders is representing Strugglers in the matter.
According to the T&TFF secretary of the Competitions and Tournament Committee, Neville Ferguson, if the CFA cannot decide on a winner, the competition will proceed without a representative from the zone. But before the matter comes up in court this morning, the CFA Appeals Committee was due to meet last night to try and resolve the matter.