MONTEGO BAY, St James — Former national representative Fabian Davis has urged players in the St James Football Association’s Victoria Mutual Building Society’s Under-13 football competition to pay as much attention to their books as they do to their game.

“Education is key, nothing can replace a solid education,” Davis told the players at yesterday’s press launch of the 21st staging of the event at the UDC field in Montego Bay.

The former Arnett Gardens player/coach and former Kingston College Manning Cup player urged the youngsters to strive for a solid educational background as “the more you focus in the classroom, the better your game on the field will be as the more intelligent you are, the better player you will become”.

Davis said the players should “play hard but study harder”, and told them to enjoy doing what they were doing now and stay away from bad influences.

A record 30 schools will take part in the competition which started with defending champions Howard Cooke beating Green Pond 1-0 in the opening game at UDC.

The increase in teams has forced the organisers to change the format, adding a fifth first-round group. Three teams from each group, along with the next best team, will advance to the next round, the ‘Inter-zone’ phase.

Among the 30 schools are four newcomers in Salter’s Hill Primary, St Noels Prep, Bogue Primary and Vaughnsfield Primary.

Additionally, two schools who missed last season, in Heinz Simonitsch and Barrett Town All-Age, will return.

Three games are down to be played today: Mt Alvernia vs Glendevon, Heinz Simonitsch vs Success and Barracks Road Primary vs Albion.