BOURBON House Sports and Gaming Lounge in East Kingston and the Jamaica National Domino Association (JNDA) Ltd have joined forces to elevate domino to the centre of sporting activities in Jamaica.

The aim, according to JNDA president Patrick Austin, is to organise domino players to become more professional. Austin said that the sport was far too popular to be treated as the “bastard child” of the local sporting fraternity.

Last Sunday the association launched the one-day community competition which Austin said would be used as one medium towards this goal.

The one-day competition, which will be staged annually, will give domino players, especially those at the community level, an opportunity to showcase their talents while having fun. Additionally, “we hope to organise a number of domino clinics where players will be exposed to the rules and latest developments in the game”.

Austin intends to take the sport to schools as part of his vision to expand and deepen the game.

Players from four teams — LeMirage, Movie Star, Pub Angelique and Starlight — battled for supremacy

at the opening event at Bourbon House.

At the end of a day of fun and stiff competition, Pub Angelique walked away with the top prize.

Phillip Tabanna of the Rockfort-based Jamaica Private Power Company, who was instrumental in getting his organisation to sponsor the event, was pleased.

“I am very happy that we were able to contribute to this effort to use domino as a vehicle to unite people,” he said.

Tabanna promised to convince his company to continue supporting the event.

Meanwhile, The Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s Marketing and Communications Manager Clinton Clarke said that the JUTC would continue its support of community-based sporting events. The company, he said, was in the process of building stronger links with communities via sports and other social activities. Hence, the company was in the process of reorganising its sporting department, which will be used as a vehicle to reach the people.

Speaking at the opening event Jamaica Observer Editor-at-Large HG Helps noted that a recent survey showed that domino was more popular than cricket and football in Jamaica.

“At some stage during their respective careers, cricketers and footballers must retire, while domino players continue playing,” Helps told his audience.

Austin is working to replicate similar events across communities starting in the corporate area this year.

The president of the JNDA, which has been organising competitive domino in Jamaica for the past two decades, said that he was committed to lifting the standards so that the sport can be given the recognition it deserved.