Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

( l - r ) Forbes, Clarke, Halliman

The decision by the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) to include cards carried over from the Walker Cup KO into the second round of the Manning Cup not only has some coaches confounded, but bemoaning the loss of key players for the start of the tougher series of the league competition.

Ordinarily, teams playing in a knockout and league competition do not see cards carried between both. However, there are no hard-and-fast rules in that respect and the configuration is up to whoever's running the league.

Unimpressed

In the Manning and daCosta Cup competitions, players will also have to deal with cards carried over from the first round.

One of those unimpressed by the situation is Excelsior High's coach, Leebert Halliman, who saw his team play against Calabar in last Friday's Walker Cup final.

The game will have to be replayed as bad light halted the fixture midway a penalty shoot-out with both teams scoring eight penalties apiece, following a 1-1 regulation and extra-time scoreline.

"In addition to being tired, we have to contend with several key players being out because they picked up cards in the extra Walker Cup games," Halliman said.

Stay motivated

"We will try to stay motivated but that is a lot to overcome in some ways, it even feels like the end of the season," Halliman added.

While agreeing that it can be a big disadvantage to the teams, however, Calabar High coach, Alrick Clarke, pointed out that some teams taking part in the Walker Cup could see it as an advantage.

The issue has to do with the fact that players almost facing suspension for accumulated cards can sit out games during the Walker Cup and return with a clean state for the start of the second round.

"I think that it works both ways. It is kind of unfair in some respects, but there are coaches that use it to their advantage," Clarke reasoned.

"It needs to be examined carefully because you can benefit as well as suffer from it, both need to be taken into consideration," he added.

One competition

George Forbes, competitions officer of both the Manning and daCosta Cup, explained that the competitions, which include the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup KO, were currently viewed as one competition.

"We have realised that the volume of the games is a lot, so we are looking at making an ammedment next season that will give them some sort of break," Forbes said.

"However, it is strange because these are the sort of things that we speak about in the preseason meetings and nobody ever says anything," he added.