Changing the Manning Cup format

The Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association schoolboy football season is in high gear. Every year, there are questions about the toll these competitions have on young players' lives. One fan wrote our sports department to suggest ways in which the competitions may be adjusted. This is the final part.

To ensure that a decent surface is used for all these games, each school should be asked to identify their choice location for the semi-final round home games.

If the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) deems the proposed location not up to the required standard, then it reserves the right to host all the home games for that school or dictate that they are played elsewhere.

There may also be another opportunity for both ISSA and the schools here as some schools are unable to collect for admission at their gates for home matches. ISSA could decide to offer an event management service to schools, in which ISSA would host those games and share in the gate proceeds with the home school under some agreed formula.

Now what happens to Flow Super Cup? If we insist on maintaining the current format, then nothing really changes here as, while we now take the top three from each of the four zones from the first round for the Manning Cup semis, we will take only the top two of the second round for the Super Cup to maintain the current format of eight urban teams in that competition.

We encourage ISSA to play their part and help us save the future of the sport in Jamaica.

From

The Ball Germs