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Prison FC have formally withdrawn from the Trinidad and Tobago Premier Football League’s (TTPFL’s) Tier One for the 2025–26 season, citing what they describe as ongoing financial inequities and a lack of support for service teams. Prison FC currently sit at the top of the early-season Tier One table and were scheduled to face fellow frontrunners Club Sando in a top-of-the-table clash on Sunday at the Mahaica Oval, kicking off at 6 p.m. The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) administrators of the TTPFL, had not issued an official public statement up to yesterday. Attempts to reach TTPFL CEO Yale Antoine, also proved futile as he did not answer calls to his phone. However, Prison’s withdrawal was confirmed by both director Lee Davis via telephone, and also head coach Dexter Cyrus via a Facebook post. Davis, former head of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Referees Association, revealed that Prison FC could no longer sustain a professional team with the Government subvention it was receiving, given the current make-up of the squad. Davis indicated that Prison FC president Jude Gordon had written to the TTPFL, indicating the Prison organisation’s position, but had not received a response. Davis hinted that Prison FC were willing to negotiate, but as a contingency, had planned to drop to the TTPFL Tier Two and also focus on their youth programmes. “We would have written indicating out inability to continue,” Davis noted. “We indicated the expenses we have to incur and the inability to meet those expenses (with) the lack of sponsorship; and also, the subvention we had been granted would not be able to cover the expenses.” Head coach Cyrus also revealed that the club had pulled out via a strongly worded Facebook post. Cyrus also indicated that the club had written officially to the TTFA to terminate Prisons FC’s participation in the competition. Cyrus explained that the decision followed years of diminishing subventions and increasing financial strain. According to figures he shared, the club’s seasonal funding fell from TT$250,000 during the 2022–23 campaign to TT$129,000 over the next two seasons, before a modest rise to TT$175,000 this year. “Please observe carefully that Prisons FC’s subvention drastically deteriorated by more than two-thirds after the 2022–23 season,” Cyrus wrote. “This team is now made up almost entirely of civilians, yet we continue to receive less support than fully civilian clubs.” The coach said the club currently had only one prison officer registered—a complete reversal of the traditional service-team structure. He also claimed that TTFA officials had previously assured clubs that subventions for service teams would be calculated based on the number of civilian players in their ranks. Prison FC reportedly structured their entire 2025–26 campaign, including new coaching appointments and player acquisitions, with the expectation that this policy would be applied. Despite sitting top of the Tier One table, Cyrus said the club could no longer sustain operations without adequate financial backing. “Prisons FC does not want to be relegated,” he stated. “But when promises are not kept and funding remains unequal, the Director has simply had enough.” Beyond finances, Cyrus highlighted the club’s broader social role, revealing that an intern client from the Youth Training Centre (YTC) had been given permission by the High Court to represent the team—an unprecedented move that offered the young man a rare opportunity for rehabilitation through sport. The player notably scored the team’s first goal of the season. “When we told him the team was being pulled from the competition, he cried until both eyes were swollen shut,” Cyrus wrote. “Football had given him hope, and that was taken away.” Cyrus called for an investigation into the distribution of subventions and urged the business community to consider sponsoring the club.
