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TT Premier Football League (TTPFL) CEO Yale Antoine described Prison Service FC’s withdrawal from the remainder of the 2025-26 season, citing financial challenges and insufficient funding to sustain operations, as “regrettable.” Antoine did not want to comment further on the matter, and said the league expects to reach a determination on the situation by November 10. Prison FC head coach Dexter Cyrus confirmed the club’s decision in a detailed Facebook post on November 6. He said the club recently notified the TT Football Association (TTFA) of the team’s withdrawal. Prison FC are currently atop the league standings after two rounds of competition. Cyrus said the Prison FC’s decision stemmed from a “drastic deterioration” in the financial subvention provided by the TTFA over recent seasons, making it increasingly difficult to operate competitively. According to figures shared by the coach, Prisons FC received a subvention of $250,000 for four months during the 2022-23 season, but only $129,000 over seven months for both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns. For the current 2025-26 season, the club was allocated $175,000 over seven months, or $25,000 per month. “Please observe carefully that Prisons FC's subvention drastically deteriorated by more than two thirds after the 2022-23 season,” Cyrus posted, saying the club now functions primarily as a civilian outfit rather than a traditional service team. He confirmed that only one player is a prison officer while the remainder are civilians. Cyrus said the club’s approach this season was influenced by statements made at a stakeholders’ meeting held earlier this year. “The most important thing that Prisons took out of that meeting was when a TTFA official said…‘This season we intend to deal with the service teams differently as it pertains to subventions...instead of giving them a fixed figure...we will give them subventions based on how many civilians they have. This will make the competition a bit more even for teams like Prisons.’” Believing that subventions would increase for Prison FC with a more civilian-based squad, the club recruited younger civilian players and coaching staff from across the country. The coach described the sacrifices made by the squad, many of whom travel long distances from “deep south” communities such as Point Fortin, Palo Seco and Siparia to train at the Youth Training Centre Ground in Arouca, late on evenings. He said some players left their jobs to represent the club, while members of the coaching staff balance full-time employment with nightly training sessions. Cyrus said Prison FC pulling out has affected much more than the club, as it is also taking an individual toll on some players, particularly an intern client within the team, a young man who was granted the opportunity by the High Court to play for Prisons FC as part of his rehabilitation. “This young man was registered and played as a starter in our first match versus Caledonia. Only God can write the script of what happened next. This young man scored the first goal of Prisons FC 2025 football season.” Cyrus said the decision to withdraw left the player devastated and he “cried until his both eyes were swollen shut.” The coach expressed hope the matter can still be resolved amicably. “There are too many major ramifications at stake here for this not to be resolved positively for both parties,” he wrote, while keeping optimistic that the business community might step in to support the club financially.
