TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Digicel yesterday extended its commitment to the development of high school football with another three-year contract under the brand of its recently launched Digicel 4G Broadband.

The announcement came during the launch of the prestigious ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Schoolboy Football Competition (Manning Cup and daCosta Cup) at the Terra Nova Hotel.

“Technology and our youth are both critical to the future development of our country and so Jamaica’s fastest wireless broadband ad schoolboy football are a perfect fit,” chimed Donovan White, head of marketing at Digicel Jamaica yesterday.

Digicel has just completed a three-year sponsorship contract and this second deal is expected to end in December 2012.

The season kicks off next Saturday, September 11 with a triple header at Jarrett Park. Defending Manning Cup champions St George’s College will open against St Jago, before St James High entertain Spot Valley, followed by defending daCosta Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) opposing Lacovia.

Title sponsor Pepsi Cola Jamaica will provide the Manning Cup champions with $175,000 and the daCosta Cup runners-up with $75,000, while the other title sponsor, Digicel, will provide the rural area winners with $175,000 and the Manning Cup runners-up with $75,000.

The two sponsors will provide $90,000 each for a total of $180,000 for the all-island Olivier Shield champions. The Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup KO competitions do not have prize monies.

Forty-one schools will contest the Manning Cup up from 31 last year — while 74 schools will vie for daCosta Cup honours — down from 80 last season.

The Manning Cup is divided into six groups, while its rural counterpart has 12. Two teams advance from each group in the preliminary round, which ends on Thursday, October 21.

The second round of the Manning Cup is slated to begin on November 2, with the semi-finals and final set for November 20 and 27, respectively.

In the second round, the 12 teams will be placed in the following three groups: Group One – Zone A winner, Zone F winner, Zone C runner-up and Zone D runner-up; Group Two – Zone B winner, Zone E winner, Zone A runner-up and Zone F runner-up; Group Three – Zone C winner, Zone D winner, Zone B runner-up and Zone E runner-up.

Meanwhile, the urban area Walker Cup KO will start on October 26 and will comprise the six group winners and the two best second-placed teams.

The semi-finals are slated for October 30, with the final set for November 27 if neither school is contesting the Manning Cup final, and December 1 if any of the participating schools is in the Manning final.

Similar to the Manning Cup, two teams will advance from each zone in the preliminary round of the daCosta Cup, which ends on Saturday, October 16.

And in the Interzone round, the 24 teams will comprise six groups as follows: Group One – Zone A winner, Zone B runner-up, Zone C winner and Zone D runner-up; Group Two – Zone A runner-up, Zone B winner, Zone C runner-up and Zone D winner; Group Three – Zone E winner, Zone F runner-up, Zone G winner and Zone H runner-up; Group Four – Zone E runner-up, Zone F winner, Zone G runner-up and Zone H winner; Group Five – Zone I winner, Zone J runner-up, Zone K winner and Zone L runner-up; Group Six – Zone I runner-up; Zone J winner, Zone K runner-up and Zone L winner.

The Inter-Zone round begins on November 3 with the group winners and two best second-placed teams advancing to the quarter-finals, which start on November 13 with two groups.

Zone One will consist of the winners of Group One, Four, Five and the best second-placed team, while Zone Two will comprise the winners of Group Two, Three, Six and the next best second-placed team.

The winners and runners-up will advance to the daCosta Cup semi-finals on November 27, with the final slated for December 4.

The daCosta preliminary round group winners will qualify for the Ben Francis Cup KO, which will kick off on October 20, with the quarter-finals set for October 23, the semis for October 27 and the final for October 30.

The season-ending Olivier Shield to be contested by the Manning and daCosta champions will be played on December 8 (urban leg) and December 11 (rural leg).

Meanwhile, Digicel 4G Broadband has provided a full suite of 4G Broadband services to the ISSA organising committee, including a selection of eight Netbooks, four USB Dongles and four DIgicel Broadband Modems to enable them with super-fast wireless broadband to assist in their day-to-day work, whether in office or on the go.

Associate sponsor Scotiabank Jamaica, through Monique Todd, its vice-president marketing, public and corporate, noted that the company will be offering two bursaries valued at $50,000 to the respective Manning and daCosta Cup MVPs, which will be geared specifically towards their school related expenses for the following year.

She said sports is one of the fastest growing areas to positively impact the development of the future generation, and that football reinforces the importance of discipline, hard work, diligence and team spirit, which are vital attributes needed in today’s world to succeed.

President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Captain Horace Burrell, lauded ISSA for its efforts in having its coaches respond positively in acquiring the minimum certification to do their jobs.

However, Burrell promised that for next year the JFF will be raising the bar for these coaches. He also asked for co-operation from ISSA, as the JFF charts qualification routes with the National Under-17 and Under-20 teams.

Burrell noted that the JFF will recognise with trophies the top strikers, midfielders, defenders, goalkeepers and coaches from the Manning and daCosta Cup competitions.

Meanwhile, a firm but passionate ISSA president Dr Walton Small promised swift action against incidents of indiscipline this season.

“Stakeholders must be aware that the prestige of the competition must be protected… and they need to understand that swift action will be taken against anyone who breaches the rules,” he said.

“Sponsors have invested significant sums in the competition and ISSA will not allow anybody to run away these sponsors. Trust the system and abide by the rules,” he urged.