TT Pro League

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TT Pro League

Countries	Trinidad and Tobago
Confederation	CONCACAF
Founded	2002
Number of teams	11
Relegation to	National Super League
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Domestic cup(s)	FA Trophy Toyota Classic First Citizens Cup Digicel Pro Bowl Lucozade Sport Goal Shield Pro League Big Six
International cup(s)	CFU Club Championship CONCACAF Champions League FIFA Club World Cup
Current champions	Joe Public (2009)
Most championships	Defence Force (20)
Website	TTProLeague.com
2009 season

The TT Pro League is a league for professional association football clubs in Trinidad and Tobago. At the top of the Trinidad and Tobago football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. The league is currently comprised of 11 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation. Seasons run from May to December, with teams playing 20 regular season matches. The top six teams following the regular season qualify for the Pro League Big Six, in which the teams involved compete in a single round-robin competition. The league champion is determined by an aggregate season table consisting of both regular season and Big Six competitions. The league is sponsored by Digicel and is therefore officially known as the Digicel Pro League.^[1]

The competition was founded in 2002 as part of a need for a professional league to strengthen the country's national team and improve the development of domestic players. The first season took place in the same year beginning with eight teams. As of the 2009 season, there have been a total of 14 distinct teams that have taken part in the Pro League, but only four have won the title: Joe Public, North East Stars, San Juan Jabloteh, and W Connection.^[2] The current champions are Joe Public, who won their second Pro League title in the 2009 season.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Establishment 1.3 Resurgence 1.4 2008–present 2 Competition format 2.1 League 2.2 International qualification 3 Clubs 3.1 Members for 2009 4 Organisation 4.1 Stadia 4.2 Media coverage 4.3 Sponsorship 4.3.1 Club sponsorship 5 Players 5.1 Top scorers 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

Following the disappointment in 1996 of the national team, which saw the Soca Warriors not qualify for the 1998 World Cup, Jack Warner proposed that creating a league to produce home grown players would function as the building blocks to qualify for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Thus, the need for a professional league and the ability for clubs to operate as business entities, the Professional Football League (PFL) was formed.

In 1999, upon the creation of the PFL, Trinidad and Tobago became the first country in the Caribbean to develop a professional football league.^[3] The league began play with eight teams: Defence Force, Doc's Khelwalaas, Futgof, Joe Public, Point Fortin CC, Police, San Juan Jabloteh, and W Connection. However, the first professional season ended with seven teams due to the expulsion of Point Fortin CC late in the season after showing up for a match with just six players. However, the season saw a continuing theme from the National League and Semi-Professional League years with the crowning of Defence Force, marking their 20th title. Futgof and Point Fortin CC were both relegated at the end of the first season.

Pro League Trophy Winners^[2]

Season	League Champions	Big Six Winners
2002	San Juan Jabloteh	Started in 2005
2003	San Juan Jabloteh
2004	North East Stars
2005	W Connection	United Petrotrin
2006	Joe Public	San Juan Jabloteh
2007	San Juan Jabloteh	W Connection
2008	San Juan Jabloteh	San Juan Jabloteh
2009	Joe Public	Joe Public
Further information: Trinidad and Tobago football champions

[edit] Establishment

In 2002 with the withdrawal of the founder, the PFL closed its doors and so the TT Pro League was born.^[4] League play began composed of eight teams from the PFL including: Arima Fire, Caledonia AIA, Defence Force, Joe Public, North East Stars, San Juan Jabloteh, South Starworld Strikers, and W Connection.

With the creation of a semi-professional league in 2003, the best teams from association football now found the National Super League to play in a semi-professional environment, as they prepared for life in the professional game.^[5] As a result, promotion and relegation was implemented between the Super League and TT Pro League. However, Pro League members must elect potential promotion clubs.

In 2003, the league expanded to ten teams with the addition of South West Institute of Football, later renamed the South West Drillers, and Tobago United. However, at the conclusion of the 2004 season, the league contracted back to eight with Caledonia AIA and Arima Fire merging to form Morvant-Arima Fire, South West Drillers were renamed to United Petrotrin, and Joe Public voluntarily withdrawing to the National Super League.

Furthermore, after establishing itself on the talents of homegrown players, the league saw some of its stars depart for more prominent leagues in Europe and the United States. Collin Samuel signed for Falkirk of the Scottish Premier League in 2002, and a year later was joined in Dundee United by national teammate Jason Scotland. Kenwyne Jones, former striker for Joe Public and W Connection, signed with Southampton for a nominal fee and Cornell Glen joined the MetroStars of MLS during the 2004 season.

[edit] Resurgence

Accompanying the success of the national team by qualifying for the country's first World Cup in November 2005, Trinidad and Tobago experienced increased enthusiasm for its domestic football league. As a result, the country saw the start of the Pro League Big Six and a series of knockout tournaments that have allowed teams to showcase their emerging talents. Along with Trinidad and Tobago's long-standing FA Trophy, First Citizens Cup, and Digicel Pro Bowl, the league created the Toyota Classic in 2005. All four knockout tournaments are played at the conclusion of each season, practically extending each football season from October to December. In 2006, the league expanded back to ten teams with the arrival of Joe Public, Starworld Srikers, and Superstar Rangers.

Along with the reorganisation of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup into the Champions League, TT Pro League clubs have experienced several international firsts. Joe Public faced the New England Revolution from MLS in the Preliminary Round of the 2008–09 CONCACAF Champions League. After leading 2–0 after the first leg, Public used a hat trick from Gregory Richardson in routing New England Revolution 4–0 in Gillette Stadium to advance to the Group Stage on a 6–1 aggregate score. With the result, Joe Public became the first Caribbean club to defeat a team from the United States in a CONCACAF club competition. In addition, Public were also the first to score as many as three goals against a club from the United States.^[6] On 2 October 2008, Joe Public became the first club from the TT Pro League to defeat a team from Mexico's Primera División when they upended the eventual Champions League winner, Atlante, 1–0 in Cancún.^[7]

[edit] 2008–present

The departures of Khaleem Hyland to Portsmouth, Jamal Gay to Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, and Gregory Richardson to the Colorado Rapids, coupled with the return of former Trinidad and Tobago national team stars Russell Latapy and Dennis Lawrence to Caledonia AIA and San Juan Jabloteh, respectively, highlight the exchange of top prospects to Europe and the United States for experienced veterans to the TT Pro League.

Further, the league has taken steps for expansion in recent years with the inclusion of Ma Pau in 2008 and South End in 2009. As a result, the league expanded from ten clubs to eleven, with the intention of expanding the league to twelve teams by the 2010 season.

The league agreed to create yet another knockout tournament in 2009, called the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield, to be played in May and June each year with a unique prize money system. The structure not only allows the winner and runner-up healthy purses at the end of the tournament, but more so give an added incentive for more goals to be scored throughout the tournament.^[8]

The 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League became the first time two clubs from the TT Pro League advanced to the Group Stage of the competition, when San Juan Jabloteh defeated San Francisco of Panama 3–2 on aggregate and W Connection used a 2–1 win over the New York Red Bulls in Giants Stadium to advance 4–3 over two legs.

[edit] Competition format

[edit] League

The TT Pro League season runs from early May through the end of October. During the regular season, each team competes against every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 20 games. Each match sees the winning team awarded three league points, or in the case of a draw, the teams receive one point each. At the end of the season, the teams are ranked firstly in terms of league points accumulated, then goal difference, total goals scored, and then head-to-head records between tying teams. The top six teams with the most league points after 20 games qualify for the Pro League Big Six, a competition that consists of a single round-robin. The team with the most aggregate points from the regular season and the Big Six is crowned the league champion.

[edit] International qualification

The TT Pro League has two automatic berths in the CFU Club Championship. For the 2009 CFU Club Championship, qualifying teams include 2008 TT Pro League champion San Juan Jabloteh and league runner-up W Connection. San Juan Jabloteh is automatically seeded and enter the competition in the 2nd Round. W Connection is required to play in the 1st Round. The 2009 edition of the CFU Club Championship, consists of a knockout tournament for the 1st and 2nd Rounds each being held over two legs. Winners of the 2nd Round advance to the Final Round. The Final Round match-ups are single elimination held at a neutral location; the losers will play one another in a third place match-up.

For the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League, qualifying teams include the top three clubs from the 2009 CFU Club Championship. Each team is required to play in the Preliminary Round, which consists of a knockout round held over two legs. The winners of the Preliminary Round advance to the Group Stage of the tournament.

[edit] Clubs

A total of 14 distinct teams have played in the TT Pro League from its inception in 2002, but only four teams have won the league title. Four teams have also been members of the league every season since its inception. This group is composed of Caledonia AIA, Defence Force, San Juan Jabloteh, and W Connection. For a list of winners and runners-up of the Pro League since its inception, and top scorers for each season, see List of TT Pro League seasons.

[edit] Members for 2009

The following 11 clubs competed in the TT Pro League during the 2009 season.^[9]

Club	Founded	Joined	City	Stadium	Capacity	Championships	Last Title
Caledonia AIA	1979	2002	Morvant/Laventille, Trinidad	Larry Gomes Stadium	10,000	0
Defence Force	1972	2002	Chaguaramas, Trinidad	Hasely Crawford Stadium	27,000	20	1999
Joe Public	1996	2002†	Arouca, Trinidad	Marvin Lee Stadium	6,000	3	2009
Ma Pau	2007	2008	Woodbrook, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	0
Police	1975	2007‡	Saint James, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	3	1994
San Juan Jabloteh	1974	2002	San Juan, Trinidad	Hasely Crawford Stadium	27,000	4	2008
South End	2008	2009	Point Fortin, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	0
St. Ann's Rangers	1979	2006	San Juan, Trinidad	Hasely Crawford Stadium	27,000	0
Tobago United	2002	2003	Bacolet, Tobago	Dwight Yorke Stadium	7,500	0
United Petrotrin	1992	2003	Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad	Palo Seco Recreational Ground	10,000	2	1988
W Connection	1986	2002	Point Lisas, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	3	2005

^†Joe Public originally joined the league in 2002. However, they voluntarily withdrew after the 2003 season, before rejoining in 2006 after two seasons.
^‡Police withdrew after the 2007 season and then rejoined the league in 2009.

[edit] Organisation

The TT Pro League is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 11 member clubs. The board of directors, consisting of a representative from each club, selects a neutral chairman to oversee the daily operations of the league.^[4] Having started on such a corporate structure, the league has recently taken several steps to establish itself as one of the premier leagues in CONCACAF. Upon creation, the league's first goal was to establish better crowd attendances for the games. With the construction of several football stadiums during the first few years of its development, the league created a foundation of fan support. More recently, the league has now set a new mission to create more local talent and make the players not just available for the Trinidad and Tobago audience but for the world.^[10]

[edit] Stadia

Until the early 1980s, the national team held its home matches in Queen's Park Oval, generally thought of as the most picturesque and largest of the old cricket grounds in the West Indies.^[11] The cricket ground is the country's oldest stadium and has also hosted several domestic league matches. After renovation in preparation of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, the ground can now comfortably hold 25,000 spectators.

However, with the construction of the National Stadium in 1980, the national team and several domestic teams had a new football specific stadium. The stadium is now the largest in the country with a capacity of 27,000 and is also home to Defence Force, San Juan Jabloteh, and St. Ann's Rangers in the league.

In 1996, Marvin Lee Stadium was built in Macoya and is housed together with the Dr. João Havelange Centre of Excellence. It serves as the home to Joe Public and holds approximately 6,000 people. In 2005, Jack Warner proposed that Marvin Lee Stadium install an artificial playing surface, citing that it would bring more credibility for the region. Two years later, through a developmental grant from FIFA, Joe Public became the first Caribbean club to install an artificial playing surface, reportedly costing in excess of TT$8 million.^[12] Low-profile games, such as international friendlies against other islands in the Caribbean, are played at Marvin Lee Stadium.

However, it was not until 2001, with Trinidad and Tobago awarded the FIFA U-17 World Championship, more football specific stadia were needed. Thus, with the assistance of Mansour Ramsaran, four new stadia were built in the country for the event – Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar, Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella, and Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet. In addition, the National Stadium, recently renamed in honour of Hasely Crawford, underwent major renovation for the competition to expand the capacity to 27,000 and would hold a semi-final, third place, and final matches.

Caledonia AIA now call Larry Gomes Stadium home, whereas Manny Ramjohn Stadium is the most shared venue in the league having home matches for South End, Ma Pau, Police, and W Connection. 2003 saw the admission of Tobago United into the league and now play their home games in Dwight Yorke Stadium. Until 2006, Ato Boldon Stadium had only one tenant South Starworld Strikers. However, with the Strikers withdrawing from the league, the stadium now is only used for select league matches.

With the additions of Palo Seco Velodrome and Sangre Grande Regional Complex, home of United Petrotrin and North East Stars, respectively, TT Pro League teams have played in nine football stadia with capacities ranging from 6,000 to 27,000.

[edit] Media coverage

Having established itself as the lone professional league in the Caribbean, the TT Pro League achieved another milestone in its short history. On 5 May 2008, the league signed a broadcast partnership with local television and radio body Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) to carry live matches during the year. As a result, fans can now view selected matches broadcast live weekly, on C TV, 91.1 FM Talk City and also on the Internet.^[10]

[edit] Sponsorship

The TT Pro League has been sponsored since 2009. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:

• 2009–2010: Digicel (Digicel Pro League)^[13]

Sponsorships

Club	Major Sponsor	Shirt Sponsor
Caledonia AIA	Neal & Massy	Play Whe[14]
Joe Public	bmobile	bmobile
San Juan Jabloteh	CLICO	blink and CLICO
St. Ann's Rangers		Sports & Games Limited
W Connection	Vibe CT 105	Gatorade

[edit] Club sponsorship

Along with a league sponsor, TT Pro League's teams may also be sponsored by international and national companies. In 1996, San Juan Jabloteh received backing from CL Financial and as a result, the club significantly expanded its operations from a youth organization into a professional football club. Along with national radio company Vibe CT 105 sponsoring W Connection and Joe Public receiving support from bmobile; Caledonia AIA secured a new sponsor from Neal & Massy in March 2006.^[15]

Furthermore, league teams have also sold ad space on the front of their shirts, following the practice of international sport, specifically football. As of May 2009, five of the league's eleven teams have signed sponsorship deals to have company logos placed on the front of their team kits.

[edit] Players

TT Pro League clubs have almost complete freedom to sign whatever number and category of players they wish. There is no team or individual salary cap, no squad size limit, no age restrictions other than those applied by general employment law, and no restrictions on the overall number of foreign players.

The Pro League has been growing in popularity within the Caribbean, and slowing expanding internationally. In particular the league has attracted players from Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, and Suriname from South America; Mexico and the United States from North America; Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from the Caribbean; Botswana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone from Africa; as well as from Scotland and Japan.^[16]

Over 40 foreign players compete in the league, and with Trinidad and Tobago's inclusion in the 2006 World Cup, the Pro League was present for the first time when Cyd Gray, Aurtis Whitley, and Anthony Wolfe represented San Juan Jabloteh and David Atiba Charles for W Connection.

All-Time Top Scorers in Pro League
(Pro League goals only)

Rank	Scorer	Goals
1	Kerry Baptiste	95
2	Randolph Jerome	68
3	Devon Jorsling	61
4	Jerren Nixon	57
5	Andre Toussaint	55
	Anthony Wolfe	55
7	Cornell Glen	44
8	Aurtis Whitley	42
9	Earl Jean	40
10	Kevon Carter	39
Updated to games played on 27 October 2009 (Bold denotes players still playing in the Pro League)

[edit] Top scorers

Players in the Pro League can compete for the Golden Boot as each season's top scorer. Since the first Pro League season in 2002, nine different players have won or shared the top scorers title. In fact, no player has won the Golden Boot more than once. However, complete statistics and goal scoring records are unknown for the 2002–03 seasons. Following the 2009 season, current Joe Public winger, Kerry Baptiste holds the record for most Pro League goals (95). In addition, Jerren Nixon holds the record for most goals in a season (37) – for North East Stars. Nixon's record came in the 2004 season, which consisted of 26 games.

The first foreign player to claim the title was, Guyanese international, Randolph Jerome of North East Stars who finished with 28 goals in 2003. Since then, four more foreign players have finished as the league's top scorer. In 2005, Gefferson of Brazil and Earl Jean of Saint Lucia shared the title with 14 goals each. Other foreign players to win include Roen Nelson of Jamaica in 2007 and Peter Byers of Antigua and Barbuda in 2008.

The highest-scoring match to date in the Pro League occurred on 13 October 2004 when W Connection beat Tobago United 17–0.^[17] In fact, Saint Lucian Titus Elva scored three hat-tricks in the match and currently is the holder of the Pro League single game scoring record with nine goals. Kerry Baptiste has the honour of achieving the most Pro League hat-tricks with four. Whereas, Titus Elva, Devon Jorsling, Peter Prospar, and Anthony Wolfe are tied for second with three hat-tricks. Furthermore, Baptiste and Elva are tied for the most league matches with four or more goals (a beaver-trick) with two.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Trinidad and Tobago national football team
• Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation
• Football in Trinidad and Tobago

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Soca Warriors Online, TT Pro League

v • d • e TT Pro League Competition Seasons (current) · Champions · Players (foreign) · Coaches · Stadia Statistics and awards All-time table · Awards · Golden Boot · Hat-tricks Current clubs Caledonia AIA · Defence Force · Joe Public · Ma Pau · Police · San Juan Jabloteh · South End · St. Ann's Rangers · Tobago United · United Petronin · W Connection Former clubs Arima Fire · North East Stars · South Starworld Strikers

v • d • e Football in Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation League competitions Pro League · National Super League Cup competitions FA Trophy · Toyota Classic · First Citizens Cup · Digicel Pro Bowl · Goal Shield · Super League Cup National teams National Team · Tobago Team Champions · League system

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