After concluding the 2017 football season on a high note, the Saint Lucia Football Association Inc. as encapsulated in its mission statement “Propelling Saint Lucia Football to Higher Heights”
has transferred the momentum of last season into 2018. The New Year opens a season which is anticipated to be hyperactive for the governing football body on the island. With less than a month into the season, the transfer market has been bustling with activity. First division clubs have been able to entice footballers from subordinate leagues resulting in them being the main recipients of club transfers. Other clubs which are still competing in hopes of promotion to the President’s Cup are also endeavouring to re-strategize, lure in new players to strengthen their squads and most importantly they’re working feverishly to impede the apparent exodus of their players to promoted clubs.
The first division this year has surmounted an unprecedented amounted of interest and hype. Defending champions Northern United All-Stars will find it a daunting task to retain their title. This is due to the formidability of newly promoted club Uptown Rebels from the Vieux Fort South League who has been tipped as favourites to walk away with the prize. The two clubs have been the busiest this season with both of them striving to bolster their arsenal with the most competent players to strive for the prize. Other juggernauts such as Platinum and VSADC will be prying the coveted title and will be intent on joining the anticipated title showdown between Uptown and Northern.
The SLFA this year, as they do each and every year has enrolled a number of national teams in regional competitions and World Cup Qualifiers. The association particularly fancies the chances of the women to be dominant this year in qualifiers and possibly even qualify for a youth World Cup. A new U15 female team will be adopted this year as the association continues to consolidate its already firm and relatively successful female football foundation. In the male category, the U17 and U20 teams are set to take part in this year’s World Cup qualifiers which will commence with the initial CFU stage. The core of these teams will be players from the former U15 and U17 teams who would have by now ascertained ages to compete in a higher age category. Trials and competitions will be held by the association in an effort to scout available talent to reinforce the existing teams. The resurgence of the national male and female senior teams is also on the cards for the year 2018.
Club licensing again will be another heavy weight item on the SLFA’s long agenda this season. Now that the deadline for provisional licenses has passed, the association will now slim line its focus to those clubs which have fulfilled this preliminary requirement. With this provisional license, existing clubs will now be obligated to ensure that they muster up all the requirements if a full time license is desired. In order to facilitate this process, the SLFA will be conducting spot checks with the administrators of clubs with provisional licenses in effort to determine whether or not clubs are indeed ready for full time licenses.
As is customary, a compilation of competitions to be held for 2018 has been constructed by the administrators at the SLFA. For the women, a U23 competition is slated for very early in the year. From this competition, reinforcement for the U23 women’s national team will be sort. This team will be in competition towards the latter part of the year as they seek first time qualification at the Olympic Games. The SLFA has also planned the hosting of a boy’s under 15 tournament which would assist in selection of a national under 15 team. Within the leagues and across the zones, age limited competitions and promotional competitions will be played. The association’s premier club tournaments (The First Division and The President’s Cup) will be huge fixtures on the SLFA’s agenda this year. Once again plans are in the pipeline for a collaboration between the SLFA and Blackheart productions for the hosting of arguably the most popular district football competition on island; The Blackheart Tournament. With the prevalence of club licensing, certain districts have benefited due to their solid structure while others have been weakened significantly. This year’s Blackheart will be one of the most intriguing competitions from since the tournament’s inception. Nonetheless, Vieux Fort South remains favourites to further impose their dominance on a district level. Over the past two years, Vieux Fort have been very near to flawless in their on-field football display. With the fortification of their clubs at this early stage of the transfer season, it is almost impossible to ponder on a different victor of the Blackheart tournament than Vieux-Fort South.
In 2017, interschool’s football pushed a notch higher after thoroughly exciting tournaments. Brilliant football interplay, huge crowds and a high level of participation made last year a tremendous success. This year, the SLFA is seeking to augment its relationship with The Ministry of Education to improve on the standard of school football. SLFA president Lyndon Cooper has made it abundantly clear, that the intention of the SLFA is to organize an interschool’s league in the very near future.
It is expected to be an extremely busy year for the SLFA and also a year of great triumphs!