ISSA president wants ‘respect’ from JFF
INTER-SECONDARY Schools Sports Association (ISSA) President Keith Wellington is urging Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to show the schools’ body more respect ahead of the start of the football season.
With high school football credited as a major factor in the growth of the sport locally, Wellington believes the Michael Ricketts-led federation needs to be more mindful of ISSA’s contributions to the sport.
“It would be nice when our national youth teams are named, you recognise the schools that these young men come from because we invest so much in them,” he said during the launch of the 2024 edition of the ISSA urban Manning Cup and rural daCosta Cup competitions at the National Stadium on Wednesday.
“No disrespect [to] Mr [Rudolph] Speid and other club owners but when a young man turns up to attend national training, the first place he goes is to his coach or principal to say: ‘Sir, I don’t have a boots’ or ‘I need fair to go to camp.’
“Give us a little respect and at least say that this boy played for Clarendon College or Mona High in the ISSA competitions because the truth is, without it, as bad Jamaica’s football is now, it would be worse. I’m asking our partners, the JFF, to give us some credit,” Wellington added.
The ISSA boss called on the local football governing body to make a greater investment in the sport.
“Help our competitions to be better. Train more referees so we don’t have to take our kids out of school on a Monday to play a match because we have to be spreading the games over five or six days of the week — focus on that,” he said.
The opening games of the season are scheduled to kick off on September 14. Those contests are set to return to Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall, St James, for the first time since 2019.
Significantly, 12 schools are to return to the rural area competition, taking the tally to 80. However, 40 schools are to compete in the urban area competition, a slight drop compared to 2023.
The format of the daCosta Cup, Champions Cup, Ben Francis Cup and Walker Cup remains the same but there will be an introduction of a group format for the round of 16 in the Manning Cup, instead of the typical round-of-32 knockout format.
Mona High are the defending champions in the Manning Cup while Clarendon College are the title holders in the daCosta Cup and the all-island Olivier Shield play-off.