Moruga Secondary will remain champions of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) south championship, after the SSFL arbitration committee found flaws in the decisions by the disciplinary committee and appeals committee to punish the school for registration breaches.
Moruga finished the SSFL 2023 season unbeaten and six points clear of Ste Madeleine Secondary, and had their sights set on the Big 5 competition with promotion in mind.
However, Moruga were later found guilty of submitting their player registration form without the signature of their principal and school stamp, and also fielding a player who was not registered 72 hours before a match. The school had faced relegation owing to the breaches.
In a media release on Sunday, the SSFL announced that its arbitration committee has quashed the previous decisions and urged the SSFL to review its registration practices as "internal deficiencies in this regard could bring the league into disrepute."
The committee noted that Moruga Secondary reported receipt of players' IDs which may constitute valid registration for the season.
The committee said a help desk should be established as "schools have no official knowledge whether their registration is valid/invalid before the season/match and schools only know of an invalid registration, at some point during or after the season, when a protest is lodged.
"This is extremely unfair to the schools and has the potential to undermine the efforts of the SSFL to continue to provide its stakeholders with a reputable co-curricular sporting opportunity."
The committee noted that Moruga player Veron Gomez was not properly registered before playing a match against Point Fortin East Secondary, and the punishment for that breach stands.
Meanwhile, the committee also noted similar SSFL internal deficiencies with regard to Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School, who topped the central zone.
The disciplinary and appeals committees had found that Miracle Ministries documents were "not an official document from the web page (SSFL) and copy of registration.'
The arbitration committee also took issue with the composition of the disciplinary committee, with members from the credential committee also functioning in dual capacity. "This situation can be viewed as a conflict of interest and makes the disciplinary committee's report invalid."
The arbitration committee quashed the previous rulings and restored Miracle Ministries' points.
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