San Pedro Pirates pull out of Premier League of Belize 2023-24 Season

Photo Credit: San Pedro Pirates

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: The San Pedro Pirates are not going to be participating in the upcoming 2023-24 Premier League of Belize (PLB) Season.

At the end of the past season, reports said that the San Pedro Pirates and Altitude had asked the PLB for permission to sit out the upcoming season. However, there was no confirmation from the PLB nor either of the two clubs. Shortly afterwards news transcended about a buyout of the San Pedro Pirates franchise by a foreign investor. Big plans were on the table. The team even announced the hiring of coach Charlie Slusher saying they were gunning not to win the PLB, not the Central American Cup, but the Concacaf League. That deal, however, fell through.

The owners of PLB Subchampions San Pedro Pirates allegedly found themselves in a bind not being able timewise to register the team under Concacaf for the upcoming tournament. San Pedro have now proceeded to ask the PLB for a one-year hiatus.

On Monday, the San Pedro Pirates sent out a release that confirmed their non-participation in the upcoming season.

“We would like to thank all past sponsors, fans, technical staff, and players that have stood with us in every single way with our San Pedro Pirates FC Male team,” San Pedro Pirates FC said in a press release.

“It’s with great regret that we inform our faithful fan base that have been in our joyful times and even more on those turbulent times that the San Pedro Pirates FC male team is taking a year sabbatical to Rebuild, Reconstruct and Renovate the club.

“We are still around focusing on building our youth teams in both males and females. We owe it to our beautiful community.

“We will be back BIGGER and BETTER,” the San Pedro Pirates FC said.

The pullout of the San Pedro Pirates men’s team follows the withdrawal of the San Pedro Pirates women’s team last season from the National Amateur Women’s League (NAWL).

The Pirates also had a fallout with the PLB towards the end of the past season, after the failed Verdes game in February, that led the Pirates to threaten to pull out of the PLB.

Altitude nor the PLB have confirmed if the southern team will play next season. Additionally, word has it that with the San Pedro pullout, a Benque team would step in and fill the gap. Benque United played last season in the PLB leasing the Police United franchise. The word from the grapevine is that Benque United will continue in the PLB but the Police franchise will now play under the name Police Benque FC.

And the final note is that Griga Conquerors would also join the PLB and compete locally with Wagiya for fan and sponsorship support in Dangriga.