MONTEGO BAY, St James — The Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), the umbrella body for high school sports in the island, has described the relaxing of restrictions to allow for the playing of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup Inter-zone game at Jarrett Park as “a major boost”.

Jarrett Park is one of the four training facilities that will be used by the eight teams taking part in the CONCACAF Girls Under-17 Finals starting next Wednesday, which were closed, along with the Montego Bay Sports Complex, the host venue for all the games.

George Forbes, competitions coordinator for ISSA, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday, however, that they had been given the go-ahead by both the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and the Local Organising Committee (LOC), headed by Councillor Glendon Harris, Mayor of Montego Bay, for games to be played at Jarrett Park on October 30 and November 2 and 6.

Additionally, the Ben Francis Knockout final was also scheduled to be played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex tomorrow, but Jasford Gabriel, headmaster of Manchester High, protested and the game was switched to St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex, where they will face three-time defending champions STETHS.

Forbes told the Observer they were pleased that both the JFF and the LOC were able to allow the games to be played, given the chronic shortage of proper facilities to host these important games, and also showed the “importance of having dialogue”.

Having the use of Jarrett Park, Forbes also said, would enhance revenue from patrons and add to the number of quality venues available to ISSA.

Jarrett Park will host double-headers on the game days and next Wednesday will see William Knibb vs Green Pond High and St James High vs Muschett; on Saturday, November 2, the games will be Green Pond vs Grange Hill and Rusea’s vs St James, while on November 6 it will be Green Pond vs Green Island and Rusea’s vs Muschett High.