2009 TT Pro League

TT Pro League

Season	2009
Champions	Joe Public 2nd Pro League title 3rd T&T title
Relegated	United Petrotrin
CFU Club Championship	Jabloteh (Second round) Joe Public (First round)
Matches played	125
Goals scored	372 (2.98 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kerry Baptiste (35)
Biggest home win	W Connection 8–0 Police (4 September 2009)
Biggest away win	Police 0–7 Joe Public (29 August 2009)
Highest scoring	Caledonia AIA 7–2 Police (18 August 2009) Jabloteh 5–4 Defence Force (15 October 2009)
← 2008 2010–11 →

The 2009 TT Pro League season (known as the Digicel Pro League for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the TT Pro League since its establishment in 2002. A total of 11 teams contested the league, with San Juan Jabloteh the defending champions.^[1] The season began on 8 May, with Super Friday, and ended on 27 October. The format of the season was changed from each club playing three rounds to two rounds in the regular season to facilitate the national team with its attempt to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[2]

Police were readmitted into the league following a one-year absence, whereas South End were admitted as a new club.^[3] However, North East Stars withdrew siting the state of their home ground, Sangre Grande Recreational Ground, for the past few years as the cause to sit out the season.^[4] The Sangre Grande Boys stated that they intend to return to the league for 2010. Furthermore, Caledonia AIA changed the name of the club to Caledonia AIA of Morvant/Laventille.^[5]

The first goal of the season was scored by Caledonia AIA's Walter Moore against Joe Public in the second minute of the first game on 8 May.^[6] Kendall Velox of Caledonia AIA scored the first hat-trick of the season against Police on 23 May.^[7] Kerry Baptiste won the Golden Boot by providing 35 goals for Joe Public on their way to becoming league champions.^[8]

On 12 September, Joe Public used a 2–1 win over W Connection at Manny Ramjohn Stadium to clinch the regular season crown on 41 points. San Juan Jabloteh, Caledonia AIA, W Connection, Ma Pau, and Defence Force all qualified for the Big Six. On 24 October, Joe Public claimed the league title with a 1–1 draw against Caledonia AIA. The achievement marked their second Pro League title with the first coming in the 2006 season.^[1] Having finished as the league champion, Joe Public qualified for the 2010 CFU Club Championship. By finishing runners-up in the league, San Juan Jabloteh also qualified for the CFU Club Championship.

With a 8–0 loss to W Connection on 1 September, Police finished bottom in the league. The club had a disappointing campaign having only recorded nine points with a -48 goal difference. However, on 8 January 2010, United Petrotrin announced that they had pulled the club from the Pro League.^[9] As a result, Police were reprieved from relegation and remained in the Pro League for the 2010 season.

Contents 1 Changes from 2008 2 Competition format 3 Club information 3.1 Stadiums and locations 3.2 Managerial changes 4 Regular season 4.1 Competition table 4.2 Results 5 Pro League Big Six 5.1 Competition table 5.2 Results 6 League table 7 Season statistics 7.1 Top scorers 7.2 Hat-tricks 7.3 Scoring 7.4 Discipline 8 Awards 8.1 Round awards 8.2 Annual awards 9 List of transfers 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

Changes from 2008

The following changes were made since the 2008 season:

• The Pro League signed a sponsorship deal with Digicel and is now known as the Digicel Pro League.^[10]
• The number of rounds in the regular season was reduced from three to two to compensate the national team's attempt to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[2]
• There were a number of changes to the clubs competing in the 2009 season.
  • South End, a new club based in Point Fortin were admitted into the league.
  • North East Stars withdrew from the league and will return in 2010.^[11]
  • Police were readmitted after sitting out the 2008 season.^[3]
  • Caledonia AIA changed the name of the club to Caledonia AIA of Morvant/Laventille.^[5]
  • The Trinidad and Tobago U-20 national team were admitted to the Pro League to prepare for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt, but eventually did not enter.^[12]
  • Applications for admission by Marabella Flames, FC Phoenix and St. Clair Coaching School to join the Pro League were rejected.^[13]
• The Pro Bowl was shifted to close off the 2009 calendar in November and December with new branding partner Digicel following a pullout by former sponsors Courts Trinidad and Tobago Limited.
• A new knockout tournament called the Lucozade Sport Goal Shield took place in May and June with a unique prize money system.^[14] As a result, Lucozade Sport will no longer sponsor the Big Six.

Competition format

The format for the 2009 season was as follows:

• The season began on 8 May and ended on 27 October with the crowning of the league champion.
• During the regular season, each club competed against every other club twice, home and away, for a total of 20 games.
  • Each match saw the winning club awarded three league points, or in the case of a draw, the clubs receive one point each.
• The top six clubs with the most league points after 20 games qualified for the Pro League Big Six, a competition that consisted of a single round-robin. The club with the most aggregate points from the regular season and the Big Six was crowned the league champion.
• The top two teams with the most aggregate points qualified for the 2010 CFU Club Championship.

Club information

Stadiums and locations

The following 11 clubs competed in the Pro League during the 2009 season.^[15]

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	2008 Position
Caledonia AIA	Morvant/Laventille, Trinidad	Larry Gomes Stadium	10,000	4th
Defence Force	Chaguaramas, Trinidad	Hasely Crawford Stadium	27,000	8th
Joe Public	Arouca, Trinidad	Marvin Lee Stadium	6,000	5th
Ma Pau	Woodbrook, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	9th
Police	Saint James, Trinidad	Ato Boldon Stadium	10,000	Promoted
San Juan Jabloteh	San Juan, Trinidad	Hasely Crawford Stadium	27,000	1st
South End	Point Fortin, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	Promoted
St. Ann's Rangers	San Juan, Trinidad	Hasely Crawford Stadium	27,000	7th
Tobago United	Bacolet, Tobago	Dwight Yorke Stadium	7,500	10th
United Petrotrin	Pointe-à-Pierre, Trinidad	Palo Seco Velodrome	10,000	6th
W Connection	Point Lisas, Trinidad	Manny Ramjohn Stadium	10,000	2nd

Managerial changes

Club	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment	Table
Police	Readmitted Team				Richard De Coteau	29 January 2009[16]	Pre-season
South End	Expansion Team				Leroy De Leon	9 May 2009	Pre-season
United Petrotrin	Leon Carpette	End of caretaker contract	18 December 2008[17]	6th (2008)	Marcos Tinoco	21 February 2009[18]	Pre-season
Defence Force	Kerry Jamerson	Sacked	18 December 2008	8th (2008)	Ross Russell	8 April 2009[19]	Pre-season
Ma Pau	Ronald La Forest	Sacked	17 January 2009[20]	9th (2008)	Ubirajara Veiga Da Silva	21 January 2009[21]	Pre-season
Ma Pau	Ubirajara Veiga Da Silva	Mutual consent	2 April 2009[22]	9th (2008)	Michael McComie	8 April 2009[23]	Pre-season
San Juan Jabloteh	Terry Fenwick	Resigned	17 April 2009[24]	1st (2008)	Earl Jean	18 April 2009[25]	Pre-season
San Juan Jabloteh	Earl Jean	Sacked	26 November 2009[26]	2nd	Terry Fenwick	26 November 2009[27]	Post-season

Regular season

Competition table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Joe Public (A)	20	12	5	3	50	24	+26	41	Qualification to the 2009 Pro League Big Six
2	Caledonia AIA (A)	20	13	1	6	49	30	+19	40
3	San Juan Jabloteh (A)	20	11	6	3	29	16	+13	39
4	W Connection (A)	20	9	7	4	36	17	+19	34
5	Ma Pau (A)	20	10	4	6	31	21	+10	34
6	Defence Force (A)	20	9	5	6	36	26	+10	32
7	United Petrotrin (R)	20	7	9	4	32	21	+11	30	Relegation to the National Super League 1
8	South End	20	4	4	12	15	36	−21	16
9	St. Ann's Rangers	20	4	3	13	22	46	−24	15
10	Tobago United	20	2	7	11	17	32	−15	13
11	Police	20	2	3	15	16	64	−48	9

Updated to games played on 20 September 2009
Source: TT Pro League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
¹Following the season, United Petrotrin withdrew from the Pro League for the 2010–11 season reprieving Police from relegation.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1 CAL DEF JOE MAP POL SJJ SOE RAN TBU UPE WCO Caledonia AIA 2–3 2–3 2–1 7–2 1–1 2–1 1–0 5–3 3–2 1–2 Defence Force 1–0 4–3 2–3 4–0 0–1 4–1 0–2 3–1 0–0 1–2 Joe Public 2–3 3–3 2–1 2–0 4–0 1–0 3–0 3–1 1–1 2–2 Ma Pau 4–2 3–0 3–2 1–1 1–3 2–0 3–1 2–0 0–1 1–1 Police 2–6 1–5 0–7 1–0 3–4 0–0 1–2 2–1 0–3 0–1 San Juan Jabloteh 2–0 1–0 0–0 0–1 3–0 5–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 South End 0–2 0–2 0–2 1–0 2–0 0–1 2–0 0–3 1–4 1–1 St. Ann's Rangers 0–6 2–3 3–5 0–2 3–3 1–0 0–2 1–1 1–4 0–3 Tobago United 0–1 0–0 0–3 1–2 1–0 0–1 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 United Petrotrin 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–0 4–0 1–1 2–2 2–4 3–0 2–5 W Connection 1–2 0–0 1–2 1–1 8–0 1–2 3–0 2–0 2–1 0–1 Updated to games played on on 20 September 2009 Source: TT Pro League 1The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Pro League Big Six

Competition table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Joe Public (O)	5	3	2	0	9	4	+5	11
2	San Juan Jabloteh	5	3	1	1	10	9	+1	10
3	W Connection	5	2	3	0	4	1	+3	9
4	Caledonia AIA	5	2	1	2	5	4	+1	7
5	Ma Pau	5	1	1	3	5	6	−1	4
6	Defence Force	5	0	0	5	6	15	−9	0

Updated to games played on 27 October 2009
Source: TT Pro League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Round 1 Home team Score Away team San Juan Jabloteh 5–4 Defence Force Ma Pau 1–3 Joe Public W Connection 1–0 Caledonia AIA

Round 2 Home team Score Away team Caledonia AIA 1–0 Ma Pau W Connection 2–0 Defence Force Joe Public 3–1 San Juan Jabloteh

Round 3 Home team Score Away team Defence Force 1–2 Joe Public Caledonia AIA 1–2 San Juan Jabloteh Ma Pau 0–0 W Connection

Round 4 Home team Score Away team San Juan Jabloteh 1–1 W Connection Ma Pau 4–1 Defence Force Joe Public 1–1 Caledonia AIA

Round 5 Home team Score Away team Defence Force 0–2 Caledonia AIA Joe Public 0–0 W Connection San Juan Jabloteh 1–0 Ma Pau

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Joe Public (C)	25	15	7	3	59	28	+31	52	2010 CFU Club Championship
2	San Juan Jabloteh	25	14	7	4	39	25	+14	49
3	Caledonia AIA	25	15	2	8	54	34	+20	47
4	W Connection	25	11	10	4	40	18	+22	43
5	Ma Pau	25	11	5	9	36	27	+9	38
6	Defence Force	25	9	5	11	42	41	+1	32
7	United Petrotrin (R)	20	7	9	4	32	21	+11	30	Relegation to the National Super League 1
8	South End	20	4	4	12	15	36	−21	16
9	St. Ann's Rangers	20	4	3	13	22	46	−24	15
10	Tobago United	20	2	7	11	17	32	−15	13
11	Police	20	2	3	15	16	64	−48	9

Updated to games played on 27 October 2009
Source: TT Pro League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
¹Following the season, United Petrotrin withdrew from the Pro League for the 2010 season reprieving Police from relegation.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[8]
1	Kerry Baptiste	Joe Public	35
2	Keyon Edwards	Caledonia AIA	16
3	Devorn Jorsling	Defence Force	13
4	Kevon Carter	Defence Force	11
5	Arnold Dwarika	United Petrotrin	10
	Jonathan Faña	W Connection
7	Anthony Wolfe	Ma Pau	9
8	Trevin Caesar	Ma Pau	8
	Kendall Velox	Caledonia AIA
10	Noel Williams	San Juan Jabloteh	7

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Velox, KendallKendall Velox	Caledonia AIA	Police	6–2	02009-05-23 23 May 2009
Edwards, KeyonKeyon Edwards	Caledonia AIA	St. Ann's Rangers	6–0	02009-06-16 16 June 2009
Edwards, KeyonKeyon Edwards	Caledonia AIA	Tobago United	5–3	02009-06-23 23 June 2009
Baptiste, KerryKerry Baptiste5	Joe Public	St. Ann's Rangers	5–3	02009-07-21 21 July 2009
Baptiste, KerryKerry Baptiste	Joe Public	Defence Force	4–3	02009-08-04 4 August 2009
Wolfe, AnthonyAnthony Wolfe	Ma Pau	Caledonia AIA	4–2	02009-08-14 14 August 2009
Whitley, AurtisAurtis Whitley	United Petrotrin	St. Ann's Rangers	4–1	02009-08-22 22 August 2009
Jorsling, DevornDevorn Jorsling	Defence Force	Police	5–1	02009-08-22 22 August 2009
Jorsling, DevornDevorn Jorsling	Defence Force	St. Ann's Rangers	3–2	02009-08-28 28 August 2009
Baptiste, KerryKerry Baptiste4	Joe Public	Police	7–0	02009-08-29 29 August 2009
Smith, ConradConrad Smith	Joe Public	Police	7–0	02009-08-29 29 August 2009
Pacheco, AndreiAndrei Pacheco	W Connection	United Petrotrin	5–2	02009-08-29 29 August 2009
Faña, JonathanJonathan Faña4	W Connection	Police	8–0	02009-09-04 4 September 2009
Bangura, AlusineAlusine Bangura	W Connection	Police	8–0	02009-09-04 4 September 2009
Roy, RichardRichard Roy4	Defence Force	San Juan Jabloteh	4–5	02009-10-15 15 October 2009
Williams, NoelNoel Williams4	San Juan Jabloteh	Defence Force	5–4	02009-10-15 15 October 2009

• ⁴ Player scored four goals
• ⁵ Player scored five goals

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Walter Moore for Caledonia AIA against Joe Public, (8 May 2009).^[6]
• Last goal of the season: Akim Armstrong for Caledonia AIA against Defence Force, (27 October 2009).^[28]
• First own goal of the season: Randy Harris (Police) for United Petrotrin, (19 May 2009).^[29]
• First penalty kick of the season: Reginald Payne (scored) for Tobago United against Ma Pau (9 May 2009).
• First hat-trick of the season: Kendall Velox (Caledonia AIA) against Police, 22', 40', 62' (23 May 2009).^[7]
• Most goals scored by one player in a match: 5 goals – Kerry Baptiste (Joe Public) against St. Ann's Rangers, 13', 41', 45', 78', 88' (21 July 2009).^[30]
• Widest winning margin: 8 goals – W Connection 8–0 Police (4 September 2009)^[31]
• Most goals in a match: 9 goals
  • Caledonia AIA 7–2 Police (18 August 2009)^[32]
  • San Juan Jabloteh 5–4 Defence Force (15 October 2009)^[33]
• Most goals in one half: 7 goals – San Juan Jabloteh v Defence Force (15 October 2009) 1–1 at half-time, 5–4 final.^[33]
• Most goals in one half by a single team: 5 goals – W Connection v Police (4 September 2009) 5–0 at half-time, 8–0 final.^[31]

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Nuru Abdallah Muhammed for Caledonia AIA against Joe Public, (8 May 2009).^[6]
• First red card of the season: Mark Leslie for Ma Pau against Tobago United, (9 May 2009).
• Most yellow cards in a single match: 6
  • W Connection 0–1 United Petrotrin – 2 for W Connection (Eder Gilmar Aras & Gerard Williams) and 4 for United Petrotrin (Cyd Gray, Lyndon Diaz, Ghymo Harper & Nigel Daniel) (23 June 2009)^[34]
  • Joe Public 1–1 United Petrotrin – 3 for Joe Public (Kerry Baptiste, Keyeno Thomas & Jason Springer) and 3 for United Petrotrin (Cyd Gray, Makan Hislop & Luis Andre Lima) (25 July 2009)^[35]
• Most red cards in a single match: 2
  • W Connection 0–1 United Petrotrin – 2 for W Connection (Eder Gilmar Arias & Marvin Phillip) (23 June 2009)^[34]
  • San Juan Jabloteh 3–0 Police – 1 for San Juan Jabloteh (Noel Williams) and 1 for Police (Devon Bristol) (3 July 2009)^[36]

Awards

Round awards

Round	Player of the Round		Round's Statline
	Player	Club
Round One	Kerry Baptiste	Joe Public	10 GP, 13 G, Joe Public 6-3-1 in Round One
Round Two	Kerry Baptiste	Joe Public	10 GP, 22 G, Joe Public 6-2-2 in Round Two

Annual awards

The 2009 Pro League Awards Distribution took place on 7 April 2010, at Cascadia Hotel in St. Ann's, Trinidad, prior to the 2010 season.^[37]

Joe Public took home the majority of the league honours. Eastern Lion Kerry Baptiste was named the league's Player of the Year for the first time in his career, by providing 35 league goals.^[8] Baptiste also received the Golden Boot and was named the Best Forward. Joe Public coach Derek King became the youngest coach in the Pro League to win the league championship.^[38] In addition, Joe Public's Alejandro Figueroa, Trent Noel, and Keyeno Thomas were named the league's Best Goalkeeper, Best Midfielder, and Best Defender respectively. The remaining team award was won by Caledonia AIA for the Most Disciplined Team of the Year. FIFA international referee, Neal Brizan, won the Referee of the Year for the third consecutive year, whereas Boris Punch won the Match Commissioner of the Year in back-to-back years.

Award Winner Player of the Year Kerry Baptiste (Joe Public) Coach of the Year Derek King (Joe Public) Best Goalkeeper Alejandro Figueroa (Joe Public) Best Defender Keyeno Thomas (Joe Public) Best Midfielder Trent Noel (Joe Public) Best Forward Kerry Baptiste (Joe Public) Golden Boot Kerry Baptiste (Joe Public)

Award Winner Team of the Year Joe Public Most Disciplined Team of the Year Caledonia AIA Referee of the Year Neal Brizan Assistant Referee of the Year Ainsley Rochard Match Commissioner of the Year Boris Punch

List of transfers

• List of 2009 Trinidadian football transfers

See also

• 2009 FA Trophy
• 2009 First Citizens Cup
• 2009 TOYOTA Classic
• 2009 Digicel Pro Bowl
• 2009 Lucozade Sport Goal Shield

References

External links

• Official Website
• Soca Warriors Online, TT Pro League

TT Pro League Competition Seasons (current) Champions Players (foreign) Coaches Stadiums Statistics and awards Awards Golden Boot Hat-tricks Current clubs Caledonia AIA Defence Force North East Stars Police San Juan Jabloteh St. Ann's Rangers T&TEC W Connection Former clubs Arima Fire Joe Public Ma Pau South End South Starworld Strikers Tobago United United Petrotrin

2008–09 in North and Central America and Caribbean association football (CONCACAF)  « 2007–08 Club tournaments in CONCACAF member countries between July 2008 and June 2009 2009–10 »  Domestic leagues Belize · Canada '08 '09 · Costa Rica · El Salvador '08 A '09 C · Guatemala · Honduras '08 A '09 C · Jamaica · Mexico '08 A '09 C · Nicaragua · Panama '08 C '09 A · Trinidad and Tobago '08 '09 · United States '08 '09 Domestic cups Canada '08 '09 · Trinidad and Tobago · United States '08 '09 CONCACAF competitions Champions League (Preliminary round · Group stage · Championship round · Finals) · North American SuperLiga '08 '09 · CFU Club Championship

2009–10 in North and Central America and Caribbean association football (CONCACAF)  « 2008–09 Club tournaments in CONCACAF member countries between July 2009 and June 2010 2010–11 »  Domestic leagues Barbados · Belize · Canada '09 '10 · Costa Rica · El Salvador '09 A '10 C · Guatemala · Honduras · Jamaica · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama '09 C '10 A · Puerto Rico · Suriname · Trinidad and Tobago '09 '10–11 · United States '09 '10 Domestic cups Canada · Trinidad and Tobago · United States '09 '10 CONCACAF competitions Champions League (Preliminary round · Group stage · Championship round · Finals) · North American SuperLiga · CFU Club Championship