The so-called non-traditional schools have been making their presence felt in the ISSA/ Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboys’ football competi-tion for rural area schools this season.

Of the seven schools left in contention for title honours, nearly half, – Lennon High, Spalding High and Lacovia High – fit the billing as ‘non-traditional’.

While fans of these schools have been basking in their success, supporters of other more high-profile schools that were expected to do well, are looking back and thinking what could have been.

Not many would have expected the likes of defending champions Garvey Maceo, Munro College, St Elizabeth Technical and Glenmuir High to do no better than they did.

While a number of ‘under dog’ schools have done well in the past and have reached the quarterfinals, this season is the first that three of these ‘new’ schools have managed to

stay in contention this far into the season.

Additionally, another new school, Paul Bogle High just missed out on advancing to the last eight while Bog Walk

and St Mary Technical, schools with no real football pedi-

gree were also in the Inter-zone round.

Last season Fair Prospect High had made it all the way to the quarterfinals after Glengoffe and Brimmervale had qualified for the Inter-zone round.

The emergence of the new schools is not unique to the rural area as Eltham High won the Walker Cup KO in 2006 in their third season in the competition.

Several reasons have been given for the emergence of these new schools on the football scene but the

most plausible, to me, is that football has spread from the main centres.

As one Irwin High supporter pointed out as his team were on their way to a win over 11 time champions Cornwall College in the first round, while the schools might be new to the competition, the players have been playing football in age group club competitions for several years.

Schools like newcomers Hopewell High who emulated Anchovy High feat of winning their first ever daCosta Cup game and Green Pond High are stocked with players who have been playing in the St James FA youth competitions for a number of years.

Despite playing in their first season, Green Pond’s defender Javes Morrison is a national player.

Some will also argue with some merit that better coaches in the system have also helped to lift the overall standard of the football product.

Whatever the reasons proffered, the rise of the ‘new’ schools must be good for schoolboys football and in the not-so-distant future we could see two of them playing for the Olivier Shield..