Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU: THE PEPSI/Sports Plus schoolboy football competitions, the daCosta and Manning Cup will start this week with games set to start on Wednesday or as soon as schools can get their facilities and teams in place.

The competition was supposed to kick off last Saturday with the traditional opening ceremony and games with a double header at Jarrett Park, featuring the respective champions, Frome Technical in the daCosta Cup and Excelsior in the Manning Cup.

However, those plans had to be scrapped because of hurricane Ivan.

George Forbes, competitions co-ordinator for the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), told The Gleaner yesterday they planned to start calling the over 100 schools taking part in both competitions this morning, and would liaise with the chairpersons of each committee ­ Elroy Ricketts for the daCosta Cup and Mrs. Cynthia Cooke for the Manning Cup ­ to get a better idea when they can start the competition.

A decision would be made by 10:00a.m. today, Forbes said, adding that "unless something else comes up we see us starting the competitions no later than this week".

TIGHT TIME FRAME

He said given the tight time frame they had already set aside for rescheduling games due to several factors, including rain, they needed to start as soon as possible.

Forbes said they are cognisant of the fact that some schools were used as emergency shelters during the hurricane, and might not be open before tomorrow or Wednesday, but they would have to see how that situation works out.

He said games scheduled for today and tomorrow will be postponed, but those set for Wednesday would go on as scheduled, as long as the fields and other conditions were okay.

Twenty games are scheduled to be played in the daCosta Cup competition on Wednesday. Games were scheduled for the Manning Cup today and tomorrow, Friday and Saturday.

Rescheduling games in the Manning Cup, which consists of just over 30 schools, was not that big of a problem, Forbes said, but added that the daCosta Cup, which has over 70 schools participating, might prove to be a challenge, especially in the early stages.

ORIGINAL SCHEDULE

The original schedule shows games in the daCosta Cup set for today, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, defending daCosta Cup champions Frome Technical, who were scheduled to play former champions Rusea's in the opening game on Saturday, will not play their first game in Zone B until next week Wednesday, September 22 when they face Grange Hill at the Bog Sports Complex in Westmoreland.

A number of daCosta Cup games are slated before that though, as early as Wednesday. The matches are: Zone A - Anchovy will host Cornwall College at Jarrett Park and Herbert Morrison takes on St James High; Zone B - Grange Hill hosts Merlene Ottey; Zone C - Little London and Godfrey Stewart will meet and Petersfield and Mannings; Zone F - May Day meets Belair, Winston Jones faces DeCarteret College, Porus vs Manchester High; Zone G - Holmwood vs Knox, Alston vs Christiana, Mile Gully vs Spalding; Zone H - Kellits vs Edwin Allen, Clarendon vs Lennon and Claude McKay vs Denbigh; Zone I - Garvey Maceo vs Kemps Hill, Bustamante vs Vere Technical, Central High vs Glenmuir; Zone L - Titchfield vs Happy Grove, Seaforth vs Yallahs and Port Antonio High vs St Thomas Technical.

Back to Sport

Go-Jamaica | Jamaica Star | Go-Local Jamaica | Sports Jamaica | Letters to the Editor