FOLLOWING what appears to be a travesty in schoolboy football, the ruling InterSecondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) have launched a probe into the suspicious 16-0 and 12-0 victories recorded by Jamaica College (JC) and Excelsior High over Denham Town High and Holy Trinity High, respectively, on Wednesday.

George Forbes, ISSA’s competitions director, revealed to the Jamaica Observer that if schools are found to bring the sport into disrepute, serious sanctions could be imposed.

All four teams will be under investigation, Forbes insisted, especially the losing teams.

“We will be talking to the schools why they performed so badly. We will investigate Holy Trinity, who had a chance going through because I am hearing that they used their second and third string players. Why would you have done that when you have a chance of going through!” Forbes pointed out.

“We will have to ask Denham Town… a mean six goals in six minutes in time added on. These (questions) need answers and they will have to service us with answers,” said Forbes.

Holy Trinity, who will be contesting the $1-million LIME Super Cup final on Saturday, finished third in the group with three points after resting several of their starters against Excelsior at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.

Holy Trinity, in eight games in the inter-zone round, had a tight defence that conceded just six goals, five of which were scored by the high-riding Wolmer’s Boys’ in two games.

They also conceded just once in three games in the LIME Super Cup on their way to the final — drawing 1-1 with Clarendon College, before winning 4-3 on penalties and defeating Garvey Maceo 4-0 and Wolmer’s Boys’ 1-0.

Yet they conceded 12 times and it could have been worse had Excelsior been sharper in front goal. Excelsior had scored 20 goals in eight inter-zone matches, with their biggest margin being a 5-0 win over Mona High.

Meanwhile, defending champion and howling favourites JC were facing possible elimination from the competition, having started the day level with Excelsior in Group J on four points, but second on goal difference.

With both teams playing to a 0-0 draw in their first encounter, Excelsior went on to beat Denham Town 3-1, while JC edged Holy Trinity 2-1.

So entering the final group match, Excelsior with a plus-two goal difference were ahead of JC with plus-one before the 28-goal debacle.

JC went on to demolish Denham Town 16-0 and Excelsior trounced Holy Trinity 12-0. Both teams ended with seven points, but the boys from Old Hope Road finished with a plus-17 goal difference to Excelsior’s plus-14, which saw JC advancing to the semi-final of the Manning Cup.

“We are not satisfied with the performances of the teams and the results, so we have launched an investigation as to why we would have gotten a 16-0 and a 12-0 result from teams with equal ability,” Forbes told the Jamaica Observer.

“Six goals in six minutes and 12 goals and 16 goals… the stakeholders are not happy with it,” he noted.

“We have to protect the reputation of the competition. If sponsors think this is a joke league and you can do anything, are they going to put up their money?” Forbes asked.

Although it’s early in their investigations Forbes noted that sanctions could vary and indicated that guilty schools might not be invited to participate in the future.

“Remember, ISSA’s competitions are by invitation. We can say to schools that we are not going to invite you to play. There is no rule that says you must play. We can say we not inviting you next year and there is nothing you can do about it,” Forbes warned.

“But we can’t think about sanctions yet. We have to find out what happened, and see if a team brought the sport into disrepute,” he pointed out.