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

Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Ja ...

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. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

league for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

clubs, since its establishment in 1999. A total of eleven teams contested the league, with

San Juan Jabloteh San Juan Jabloteh Football Club is a football club located in San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago that plays in the country's TT Pro League. The team plays its home games in Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Trinidad. History The club was founded ...

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 exam ...

with its attempt to qualify for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

were re-admitted into the league following a one-year absence, whereas

FC South End FC South End was a football team from Trinidad and Tobago based in Point Fortin/ La Brea and is a former member of the TT Pro League, the highest level of football in Trinidad. History Founded in 2008, it played its home games at the Manny Ramjo ...

were admitted as a new club. However,

North East Stars Athletic Club Port of Spain (previously known as North East Stars) is a Trinidad and Tobago professional football club, based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, that plays in the TT Pro League. The team plays its home games at the Hasely Crawford Stad ...

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 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. 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 Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting ...

Laventille Laventille is a ward of Trinidad and Tobago. Etymology The name ''Laventille'' hearkens back to colonial times, especially when the French dominated the cultural traditions of the island. One etymological derivation of the name is because the no ...

''. 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 wic ...

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 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 based at the Point Lisas Industria ...

Manny Ramjohn Stadium The Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, located in Marabella, 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 international sporting event. The stad ...

to clinch the regular season crown on 41 points.

, 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 The 2010 CFU Club Championship was the 12th edition of the CFU Club Championship, the annual international club football competition in the Caribbean region, held amongst clubs whose football associations are affiliated with the Caribbean Footb ...

. By finishing runners-up in the league,

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 Tobago United Football Club was a football club from Trinidad and Tobago, that played in Professional Football League of Trinidad. The team's home stadium was Dwight Yorke Stadium, 3 km from Scarborough, Tobago's main town. History Ensuri ...

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 y ...

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

Changes from the 2008 season

The following changes were made since the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

season: *The

TT Pro League The TT Pro League (formerly known as the Professional Football 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 ...

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 (O ...

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

, and other domestic fixtures. *There were a number of changes to the clubs competing in the 2009 season. **

, 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 pe ...

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 The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confedera ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, but eventually did not enter. **Applications for admission by

Marabella Flames Marabella is a former town in southern Trinidad, between San Fernando (to the south) and Pointe-à-Pierre (to the north). Early 19th-century maps highlighted it as Marabella Junction because of the railway intersection to Williamsville and other ...

, 1976 Phoenix, and

St. Clair's Coaching School ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

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 (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

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 drink manufactured and marketed by the Japanese company Suntory. Created as "Glucozade" in the UK in 1927 by a Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter (trading as W. Owen & Son), it was acquired by the ...

will no longer sponsor the Big Six.

Teams

Team summaries

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

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, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

(

) for

, (19 May 2009). * First penalty kick of the season:

Reginald Payne Reginald is a masculine given name in the English language. Etymology and history The meaning of Reginald is “King". The name is derived from the Latin ''Reginaldus'', which has been influenced by the Latin word ''regina'', meaning "queen". Th ...

(scored) for

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) **

5–4 Defence Force (15 October 2009) * Most goals in one half: 7 goals **

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

, (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 Cyd Gray CM (born 21 November 1976) is a former professional footballer from Trinidad and Tobago. He previously played as a defender for San Juan Jabloteh, as well as the islands' national team. He made his debut for the Soca Warriors against ...

, 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

(

Makan Hislop Makan Hislop (born 3 September 1985) is a Trinidad and Tobago football (soccer) player, who plays for United Petrotrin of the TT Pro League. Career Before playing professionally in Trinidad, Hislop played for four years at the University of Sout ...

Luis Andre Lima Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish language, Spanish form of the originally Germanic language, Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese language, Portuguese and ...

) (25 July 2009) * Most red cards in a single match: 2 **

0–1

– 2 for

( Eder Gilmar Arias & Marvin Phillip) (23 June 2009) **

3–0

– 1 for

(

Noel Williams Noel Williams may refer to: * Noel Williams (Northern Ireland politician), Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician * Noel Williams (South African politician), South African politician and anti-apartheid activist * Noel Williams Jr., Am ...

) 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 Cascadia and Cascadian are terms that derive from the Cascade Range and may refer to: Places * Cascadia, Oregon * Tehaleh, Washington, formerly known as Cascadia * Cascadia State Park * Diocese of Cascadia Regional * Cascadia Channel, a d ...

in St. Ann's,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, prior to the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

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 Derek King (born February 11, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger who currently serves as an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. King played 14 seasons in the ...

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 Trent Noel (born 14 January 1976) is a Trinidadian football midfielder. He currently plays for Joe Public of the TT Pro League. He has also represented Trinidad and Tobago on national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national ...

, 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 name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hono ...

, 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