The 2009 TT Pro League season (known as the ''

Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican-based Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 25 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Samoa, St. Lucia, Surinam ...

Pro League'' for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the TT Pro League, the

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

league for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

clubs, since its establishment in 1999. A total of eleven teams contested the league, with San Juan Jabloteh the defending champions. 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 A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

with its attempt to qualify for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

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were re-admitted into the league following a one-year absence, whereas FC South End were admitted as a new club. However,

North East Stars Athletic Club of Port of Spain (previously known as North East Stars FC) is a Trinidad and Tobago professional association football, football club based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, that plays in the TT Premier Football League. The team plays its ...

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. The ''Sangre Grande Boys'' stated that they intend to return to the league for

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. Furthermore, Caledonia AIA changed the name of the club to ''

Caledonia AIA Morvant Caledonia United (formerly known as Caledonia AIA) is a professional football team in Trinidad and Tobago's top-level TT Pro League. It is based in Morvant; its home stadium is Hasely Crawford Stadium. History The Caledonia AIA Football ...

Morvant Morvant (pronounced, in the local English dialect, "mor-vuh") is a community in Trinidad and Tobago located east of Port of Spain in the region of San Juan-Laventille. Location Morvant is located in the southern foothills of the Northern Range of ...

Laventille Laventille is a suburb of Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. It is administered by the San Juan–Laventille Regional Corporation. Etymology The name ''Laventille'' hearkens back to colonial times, especially when the French dominated the cu ...

''. The first goal of the season was scored by

's Walter Moore against Joe Public in the second minute of the first game on 8 May. Kendall Velox of Caledonia AIA scored the first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

of the season against

on 23 May. Kerry Baptiste won the Golden Boot by providing 35 goals for Joe Public on their way to becoming league champions. On 12 September, Joe Public used a 2–1 win over

W Connection W. Connection Football Club is a professional football (soccer), football club from Trinidad and Tobago, which currently plays in the TT Pro League. The club plays its home games at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella. The club's offices are ba ...

Manny Ramjohn Stadium The Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, located in Marabella, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, is named for long-distance runner Manny Ramjohn, the first person to win a gold medal for Trinidad and Tobago in a major intern ...

to clinch the regular season crown on 41 points. San Juan Jabloteh,

, 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

. The achievement marked their second Pro League title with the first coming in the 2006 season. 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 an 8–0 loss to

on 1 September,

finished bottom in the league. The club had a disappointing campaign having only recorded nine points with a -48 goal difference. This marked the first season in which Tobago United did not finish the league season bottom of the table. Furthermore, on 8 January 2010,

United Petrotrin United Petrotrin Football Club was a football club from Trinidad and Tobago and a former member of the TT Pro League of Trinidad. It was dissolved in 2009. History Formed in 1980, ''Trintoc'' entered the Point Fortin Football League that same ye ...

announced that they had pulled the club from the Pro League.

Changes from the 2008 season

The following changes were made since the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

season: *The

TT Pro League The TT Premier Football League (formerly known as the TT Pro League) is the Trinidad and Tobago professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division in the Trinidad an ...

signed a sponsorship deal with

and is now known as the ''Digicel Pro League''. *The number of rounds in the regular season were reduced from three to two to compensate the

's attempt to qualify for the

. *Club rosters were expanded from 25 to 35 players to provide clubs relief during the league season that involved

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

, and other domestic fixtures. *There were a number of changes to the clubs competing in the 2009 season. ** FC South End, a new club based in

Point Fortin Point Fortin, officially the Republic Borough of Point Fortin, the smallest Borough in Trinidad and Tobago is located in southwestern Trinidad, about southwest of San Fernando, in the historic county of Saint Patrick. After the discovery of ...

were admitted into the league. **

withdrew from the league and will return in

. **

were re-admitted after sitting out the 2008 season. **Caledonia AIA changed the name of the club to ''

''. **The Trinidad and Tobago U20 national team were admitted to the Pro League to prepare for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, but eventually did not enter. **Applications for admission by Marabella Flames, 1976 Phoenix, and St. Clair's Coaching School to join the Pro League were rejected. *The

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

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 named the '' Lucozade Sport Goal Shield'' took place in May and June with a unique prize money system. As a result,

Lucozade Sport Lucozade is a British brand of soft drinks and energy drinks manufactured and marketed by the Japanese company Suntory. Created as "Glucozade" in the UK in 1927 by a Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter (trading as W ...

will no longer sponsor the Big Six.

Teams

Team summaries

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Player transfers

Managerial changes

Regular season

Competition table

Results

Pro League Big Six

Competition table

Results

League table

Positions by round

Season statistics

Scoring

* First goal of the season: Walter Moore for

against Joe Public, (8 May 2009). * Last goal of the season: Akim Armstrong for

against Defence Force, (27 October 2009). * First own goal of the season:

Randy Harris Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolph, and Miranda, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them. '' Randi'' is approximat ...

(

) for

, (19 May 2009). * 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 (

) against

, 22', 40', 62' (23 May 2009). * 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). * Widest winning margin: 8 goals **

8–0

(4 September 2009) * Most goals in a match: 9 goals **

7–2

(18 August 2009) ** San Juan Jabloteh 5–4 Defence Force (15 October 2009) * Most goals in one half: 7 goals ** San Juan Jabloteh v Defence Force (15 October 2009) 1–1 at half-time, 5–4 final. * Most goals in one half by a single team: 5 goals **

(4 September 2009) 5–0 at half-time, 8–0 final.

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

* * Home team score first in result * ⁴ Player scored four goals * ⁵ Player scored five goals

Discipline

* First yellow card of the season: Nuru Abdallah Muhammad for

against Joe Public, (8 May 2009). * 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 **

0–1

– 2 for

( Eder Gilmar Aras & Gerard Williams) and 4 for

( Cyd Gray, Lyndon Diaz, Ghymo Harper & Nigel Daniel) (23 June 2009) ** Joe Public 1–1

– 3 for Joe Public ( Kerry Baptiste, Keyeno Thomas & Jason Springer) and 3 for

( Cyd Gray, Makan Hislop & Luis Andre Lima) (25 July 2009) * Most red cards in a single match: 2 **

0–1

– 2 for

( Eder Gilmar Arias &

Marvin Phillip Marvin Phillip (born 1 August 1984) is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for AC Port of Spain and the Trinidad and Tobago national team. He made his debut for Trinidad and Tobago against Panama on 31 January 2007 ...

) (23 June 2009) ** San Juan Jabloteh 3–0

– 1 for San Juan Jabloteh ( Noel Williams) and 1 for

( Devon Bristol) (3 July 2009)

Awards

Round awards

Annual awards

The 2009 TT Pro League awards distribution took place on 7 April 2010, at Cascadia Hotel in St. Ann's,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, prior to the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. Joe Public took home the majority of the league honours including ''Team of the Year''. ''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. Baptiste also received the Golden Boot and was named the ''Best Forward''. Joe Public manager Derek King became the youngest manager in the Pro League to win the league championship and claimed the ''Manager of the Year''. 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

for the ''Most Disciplined Team of the Year''.

international referee,

Neal Brizan Neal (Neil) is a given masculine, and sometimes feminine name and surname of the Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicisation of Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victor ...

, 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.

References

External links

Official Website
{{2009–10 in North and Central America, and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) TT Pro League seasons 1