The Introduction of Professional Football

We highlight our transition to Professional Football.

1998:

The Club wins its Fourth Major Trophy - the prestigious FA Trophy. The Club engages Mr. Ronaldo Borba, a Brazilian National as its Coach.


1999:

The TTFF establishes the Professional Football League and San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club becomes one of the eight (8) teams in the fully professional league. The offering of a career path to young people with skills and talent in the San Juan area and its environs is central to the mission of the Organisation.

The San Juan area and its environs had always been a substantial source of players for a number of teams in national competitions, principally those teams which were able to provide employment opportunities – the Defence Force, Police and Fire Services. Some corporate entities also fielded teams, for example, Petrotrin and National Flour Mills Limited.

Many of the players nurtured by San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club eventually played for Trinidad and Tobago. In the early years there were Mr. Richard Chinapoo who became a Coach in the indoor soccer league in the United States; Mr. Miguel Hackett who is a former Coach with Defence Force; Mr. Bertram O' Brien who is a former Coach of the San Juan Senior Secondary School and Mr. Roderick Gibbs who is no longer in football.

The establishment of a professional league in Trinidad and Tobago provided San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club with a framework for developing and keeping young players. During this period Messrs. Dale Saunders and Rolston James were members of the national team. Mr. Joseph Peters, a member of the National Under 23 Team and Mr. Hector Sam a member not only of the Under 20 but also of the Under 23 teams.

April 1999:

In another step at institutional strengthening, San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club was dissolved and San Juan Jabloteh Sports Limited was incorporated. This limited liability company is the franchise holder of San Juan Jabloteh Club which fields one (1) senior team and four (4) junior teams in football and three (3) teams in netball.

June 1999:

The Company made a successful offer for sale of forty-nine percent (49.0) of its issued share capital to fifty-nine (59) individuals who were members, former members or well-wishers of San Juan Jabloteh Sports Club. The other fifty-one percent (51.0) was taken up by the San Juan Sports and Cultural Organisation.

1999:

The Club wins its Fifth Major Trophy in the newly inaugurated fully professional football league cup: the League Cup. The Club wins the Under 15 CLICO/ICN National Trophy.

2000:

Mr. Hector Sam, was transferred in June 2000 to Wrexham Football Club which participated in the Second Division of the English Football Association (EFA).

The Club begins to train at the Woodbrook Youth Centre, Port of Spain.

The Club wins the TTFF Under 16 National Tournament.

The Club wins its Sixth Major Trophy on September 29 2000 - the First Citizens Cup formerly the League Cup.


2001:

The team undertakes a fundamental restructuring and engages an English coach, Mr. Terry Fenwick – a former English National Player.


2002:

The Club wins its Seventh Major Trophy – the Pro League Championship.

Mr. Collin Samuel is transferred to Falkirk FC in Scotland.


2003:

The Club engages as its coach Mr. Ricky Hill, a British National.

The Club wins its Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Major Trophies by repeating as champion of the Pro League, winning the First Citizens Cup, the DIGICEL Pro Bowl and winning the Caribbean Football Union Cup (CFU).

The club qualifies as one of the 8 teams to participate in the CONCACAF Club Championship Tournament.

2004:

The Club wins the Big Six Trophy – Twelfth Major Trophy. The Club is eliminated in the Quarter Final of the Concacaf Club Championship. After defeating Chicago Fire 5-2 in Port of Spain it loses the return match in Chicago 0-4 playing with 10 men from the 37th minute when the score was 0-0.

The Club engages as its coach in June 2004 Mr. Stephen Rutter, a United Kingdom national. For 2-3 Years the Club has a large number of players representing Trinidad and Tobago at the Under 23 and the Senior levels. The Under 23’s have also represented Trinidad and Tobago at the senior level. In the case of the Under 23’s there were eight (8) players:

  • Kerry Baptiste
  • Michael Celestine
  • Nigel Daniel
  • Josh Johnson
  • Devon Mitchell
  • Kerry Noray
  • Ronald Primus
  • Daurance Williams

In the case of the Senior team there were ten (10) players:

  • Ancil Elcock
  • Angus Eve
  • Cyd Gray
  • Ian Gray
  • Travis Mulraine
  • Trent Noel
  • Aurtis Whitley
  • Keyeno Thomas
  • Kerwyn Jemmott
  • Stokely Mason

Additionally, Mr. Kelvin Jack was transferred to Reading Football Club in the United Kingdom and Mr. Cornell Glen to New York Metro Stars in the United States.

2005:

The Club finishes second in the 2005 TT Pro League Competition and wins it's Thirteenth Major Trophy, the Pro Bowl; was the defeated finalist in the First Citizens Cup, the defeated finalist in the Toyota Classic Cup and ended the year by winning its Fourteenth Major Trophy – the FA Trophy. The Club now wins the FA Trophy in 1998 and in 2005.

2006:

The Club has three (3) players on the National team which participates in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany – Cyd Gray, Aurtis Whitley and Anton Wolfe. Several other players participated at the qualifying stage including Kerry Baptiste, Nigel Daniel, Trent Noel, Keyeno Thomas and Daurance Williams.

The Club wins its Fifteenth Major Trophy, the Pro Bowl and the Sixteenth Major Trophy, the Lucozade Big 6 Trophy and finished third in the TT Pro League competition, but on the decision of W. Connection not to participate in the CFU competition, the Club is granted a spot in the 2007 CFU competition.

2007:

The Club becomes the Champion team of the TT Pro League Competition winning its Seventeenth Major Trophy. It was the beaten finalist in the Toyota Classic Cup. The Club now has three championships – 2002, 2003 and 2007.

The Club was the beaten finalist in the 2007 CFU competition, losing on penalty kicks against W. Connection, another team from Trinidad and Tobago.

2008:

The CONCACAF Club Championship Competition was re-organised with three (3) teams from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). The club is now nominated to participate in a home and away game for that third spot. On May 5 2008, the team lost 0-1 in Puerto Rico against Puerto Rico Islanders and the return game on May 25 2008 in Trinidad and Tobago was drawn 0-0. Puerto Rico Islanders moved to the 2008 CONCACAF Club Championship.

In 2008, the Club participated in the TT Pro League competition with the following successes:

  • the 2008 champion of the TT Pro League, the premier football league in Trinidad and Tobago, after a similar achievement in 2007: our fourth Pro League Championship – the Eighteenth major trophy;
  • the 2008 champion of the Lucozade Sport Big Six tournament: our second Lucozade Championship – the Nineteenth major trophy;
  • the 2008 champion of the Toyota Classic competition: our first Toyota Classic Championship – the Twentieth major trophy;
  • the 2008 champion of the under 16 competition in the TT Pro League;
  • the 2008 champion of the under 18 competition in the TT Pro League;
  • the 2008 Women’s Football Association FA champions in the East Zone;
  • the 2008 champion in the under 18 Republic Bank Girls’ Cup;
  • the 2008 champion in the Eddie Hart Women’s Football League;
  • the 2008 knock-out winners in the Eddie Hart Women’s Football League; and
  • the 2008 American-styled tournament champion in the Port of Spain Netball League.

Additional to these superb performances there were many other sterling achievements:

  • the Pro League team was the beaten quarter-finalist in the FA Trophy competition, and the beaten semi-finalist in the First Citizens Cup Trophy competition;
  • the Inters and Championship netball teams continued to establish themselves as credible participants in the Port of Spain Netball League; the A team finished second in both the Pearl Francis Division and the knock-out competition. The inters team placed third in the Intermediate Division and in the Black Pool and Republic Bank Leagues placed first;
  • the Women’s football team finished second in the East Zone competition;
  • the under 14 football team finished in fourth place in the under 14 Pro League Competition; but incredibly did not lose a match.

2009:

The Club qualifies for the 2008 TT Pro League Championship. It qualified as one of the three teams for the 2009 CONCACAF Club Championship Competition, the team qualified through two preliminary matches against San Francisco from Panama: losing 2-0 in Panama and winning 3-0 in Trinidad and Tobago.

The team did not win any one of the six (6) matches it played in the 2009 CONCACAF Club Championship:

  • Aug 20 2009 Toluca 0-1 Trinidad and Tobago
  • Aug 26 2009 Marathon 3-1 Honduras
  • Sep 15 2009 DC United 0-1 Trinidad and Tobago
  • Sep 23 2009 Toluca 3-0 Mexico
  • Sep 30 2009 DC United 1-5 United States
  • Oct 22 2009 Marathon 2-4 Trinidad and Tobago

In 2009, the team placed second in the TT Pro League Competition and qualified for the 2010 CFU Club Championship Competition.

There were limited successes: it did not win any one of the knock-out trophies: First Citizens Cup, Toyota Classic, Digicel Pro Bowl, Lucozade Sport Shield and FA Trophy.

The under 17 and under 15 won their respective groups in Round 1, but in the final and championship round, the under 17 placed fifth and the under 15 placed second.

The under 13 team won the TT Pro League Competition, placed second in the Eddie Hart Competition, second in the knock-out competition and second in the North Zone Competition.

CLICO continues sponsorship at diminished levels in the light of that company’s financial difficulties which emerged in January 2009. TSTT through its Blink brand sponsors youth programme and regional tournaments: CFU Club Championship and CONCACAF Club Championship. Caribbean Airlines Limited sponsors the womens’ team.

2010:

The Club wins its 3rd FA Trophy- the Twenty- first major trophy and the team participates in the 2010 second round of the CFU Club Championship and qualifies for the final round from which three (3) teams would qualify for the 2010 CONCACAF Club Championship. In the final round, the team won its game 2-0 against Alpha United from Guyana and 1-0 against River Plate from Puerto Rico. The games were played on Wednesday April 14 2010 and Sunday April 18 2009.

The final round was played in Trinidad and Tobago during the period May 5 – 9 2010 with the following results:

  • May 5 2010 Joe Public - Trinidad and Tobago
  • May 7 2010 Bayamon FC - Puerto Rico
  • May 9 2010 Puerto Rico Islanders - Puerto Rico

The team did not qualify for the 2010 CONCACAF Club Championship since it lost its two (2) preliminary games: home and away against Santos of Mexico 0 – 1 and 0 – 5.

2011-2012:

The TT Pro League changes its Season format from a calendar year to August – May.

2012-2013:

The Club disengages from the TT Pro League in light of funding difficulties.