LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
A NEW Manning Cup champion will be crowned in the 90th year of the competition when Bridgeport and Excelsior square off in the final at the Harbour View Mini Stadium at 2:45 p.m. today.
Defending champions and favourites up until last Saturday when they were beaten, Norman Manley, play in the curtain-raiser against Dunoon at 12:45 p.m. at the same venue.
Although the final champion will not be 'new' seeing that Excelsior have won five times ('53, '69, '80, '89, '93) and Bridgeport once (in 2001), a novel trend has been taking place over the past nine years of the competition.
The past nine Manning Cup titles have been won by non-traditional High Schools Technical High Schools and promoted Comprehensive High schools.
Traditional high schools, such as Kingston College, Jamaica College, Wolmer's, St. George's College and Excelsior have won the Manning Cup title a combined 65 times with the majority of those wins between 1914-1970.
Many suggestions have been kicked around as to the 'change of guard' in schoolboy football. It has been argued that the location of the non-traditional schools, such as Norman Manley and Charlie Smith, greatly impact the strength of their teams as these schools lie in the heart of the inner city where they are being fed natural talent.
Another opinion is that skilled players stopped leaving secondary schools to attend traditional high schools as well as traditional schools being outnumbered by non-traditional schools.
Though not located in the inner city, Bridgeport represent the upgraded Comprehensive schools with the talent to dominate the Manning Cup. On the other hand, Excelsior are the 'last of a dying breed' the last dominant traditional institution in schoolboy football.
The final this afternoon adds more interest because both teams met in the semi-finals where they played to a 0-0 scoreline. This time around, Bridgeport's strikers Andrew Dryden and Kemar Grant most certainly will be pressing harder to score as well as Excelsior's Ricardo Ximines and Narado Brown will be looking to counter any attempts by their opponents.
What is clear, no matter the outcome, is that there is a mutual respect for each team from the opposing coach. "They (Excelsior) show a high level of discipline and we have to match that discipline and maintain concentration for the entire game," Bridgeport's coach, Anthony Patrick, said of the Excelsior team.
Excelsior's coach, Lebert Halliman, said of Bridgeport after their semi-final game: "Bridgeport are a good team and I think they are the best team in my zone. They play very hard and they have some skillful players."
